This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture where you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music (including of course Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen), film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of…
Culture
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Trump’s favorite Yiddish words should come as a surprise to no one
Like most New Yorkers of his generation, Donald Trump has a few Yiddish words in his back pocket. Because he’s Donald Trump, those words are limited and — by most accounts — phallocentric. On Jan. 3, The Washington Post reportedthat Trump deployed a well-known Yiddish vulgarity in a recorded conversation with Georgia Secretary of State…
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Were Freud and Mario Cuomo right about work?
We were on Delta 436 out of Memphis heading south to Cozumel, Mexico. Steven, my oldest son, and I have been taking annual scuba and snorkeling trips together for the past several years. Destinations have been Caribbean ports where the fish, coral and sea grass were exceptional to behold. Steve had a window seat, I…
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How Joan Micklin Silver captured the spirit of the Jewish immigrant experience
Joan Micklin Silver, who died on Dec. 31 at age 85, proved that for American Jewish women, being a film director means facing challenges of assimilation not unlike those confronted by immigrant ancestors generations ago. Silver based “Hester Street” (1975) on the novella “Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto” (1896) by Abraham Cahan,…
The Latest
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Remembering Howard Rubenstein, Jewish power broker extraordinaire
When the American Jewish power broker and public relations maven Howard Rubenstein, who died on Dec. 29 at age 88, wanted his clients to look especially sympathetic, they sometimes unexpectedly claimed ties to Yiddishkeit. Rubenstein represented many Jews during his long career, including the publisher Robert Maxwell, businessman Ron Perelman, sportscaster Marv Albert, and real…
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As ‘Gatsby’ enters the public domain, how to handle its one Jewish character
“The Great Gatsby” wades into the treacherous pool of the public domain on Jan. 1, 2021. Expect musicals that douse Broadway stages with green light, a Warby Parker ad campaign abusing the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg and the inevitable Ryan Murphy origin story, “Carraway.” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic tale of the tainted American dream is…
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In the face of a coronavirus diagnosis, a reminder of miracles
On the evening of Dec. 10, my family lit the first candle on our hanukkiah. The six of us huddled around the windowsill, watching the wick curl and the wax drip. We blessed the flame, said the Shehecheyanu prayer, and welcomed the festival of rededication, light and miracles. On Dec. 11, the day that the…
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91-year-old English synagogue saved by local artists
Read this article in Yiddish. A group of local artists, educators and celebrities successfully rallied to rescue a 91-year-old synagogue in the English sea town of Margate and plan to convert it into a cultural hub for the region. The effort began in early November, after musician Francesca Ter-Berg discovered the shul, formerly a cornerstone…
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What Philip Roth and Sandy Koufax have in common
When Philip Roth’s estate was auctioned off in July of last year, among his possessions was a 1963 Topps baseball card of Sandy Koufax. It sold for $950. “Roth, a baseball and Dodgers fan, was a lefty like Koufax to whom some felt Roth bore a resemblance,” Litchfield County Auctions wrote in the lot description….
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To understand 2020, I looked to the art of the past
Good art — the sort that endures and evolves and speaks clearly to what it meant to be alive at a certain moment — is rarely of its exact time. There is not yet any definitive work of the Trump presidency or the coronavirus pandemic. Critics and audiences are rightly suspicious of any artist who…
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Onstage wasn’t an option, so Jewish artists reimagined theater for the pandemic era. Here’s how
In a normal year, David Winitsky spends most of the spring on the road. Winitsky is the founder of the Jewish Plays Project, a theater incubator whose annual playwriting contest begins in March with a series of live readings staged at Jewish community centers across America. Usually, Winitsky travels to each location, rehearses a cast…
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Forever marked by his wartime experience, Pierre Cardin remained loyal to his Jewish customers
The French fashion designer Pierre Cardin, who died on Dec. 29 at age 98, likely acquired empathy for Jewish customers through his wartime experience as an Italian émigré to France. Cardin, who created futuristic garb for everyone from the Beatles to NASA astronauts, was born Pietro Costante Cardin in the province of Treviso, in the…
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