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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Louise Glück’s ‘minstrel show’ Nobel speech draws ire
On Dec. 7, newly-minted laureate Louise Glück delivered her Nobel acceptance speech outside of her Massachusetts home. In it, the poet expressed her lifelong interest in a kind of confessional poem, in which the speaker intimately addresses the reader. And in making her point, she lauded a work many found tone-deaf in the current climate,…
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FKA twigs sues former boyfriend Shia LaBeouf for ‘relentless abuse’
The musician FKA twigs has filed a civil lawsuit against Jewish actor Shia LaBeouf citing physical, sexual and emotional abuse during their year-long relationship. The lawsuit details the experience of FKA twigs, born in England as Tahliah Debrett Barnett, and that of another of LaBeouf’s former girlfriends, the stylist Karolyn Pho. It describes LaBeouf’s behavior…
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Oh, great, Benjamin Netanyahu performed a duet with an Israeli pop star
Whenever a head of state sings, it’s a risky endeavor. How does one look fun without sacrificing the dignity of the office? Or, on the flip side, austere and on-pitch enough to honor a serious occasion? President Obama is the leader who’s pulled it off most successfully in recent memory: At various points in his…
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Why are there so many Christmas trees in Hallmark’s Hanukkah movies?
In the year 2019, a Hanukkah miracle occurred — sort of. In what seemed like a divinely-ordained response to thousands of Jews pleading for a few shreds of Hanukkah content in a sea of Christmas cheer, the Hallmark Channel added two flicks about the Festival of Lights to its infamously corny line-up of holiday movies….
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Music How a search for Jewish inclusion helped create ‘Puppy for Hanukkah’
By now we all know Daveed Diggs’ “Puppy for Hanukkah” is a certified bop. But it was also meant to be something more than just a fun ode to the Festival of Lights. If you wade your way through the effusive social media comments — and some parents playfully cursing the Walt Disney Company for…
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Battered by the pandemic, the Tenement Museum looks ahead with arrival of new president
The Tenement Museum, a New York City icon that found itself in severe financial straits during the coronavirus pandemic, has named a new president. Dr. Annie Polland, the first woman to lead the museum since it was founded in 1988 by Ruth Abram and Anita Jacobson, will take office in January 2021. She arrives at…
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My New York accent problem — and ours
You Talkin To Me: The Unruly History of New York English. By E.J. White. Oxford University Press, 320 pages, $19.95 I distinctly remember the moment, around age 10, when I realized that the word “quarter” had two “r”s in it. As the great-grandson of immigrants, three generations into an American journey from the Lower East…
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The forgotten Sidney Poitier film that helps explain our current political moment
It is a tribute to the civil rights movement and its recent incarnation as Black Lives Matter that, according to recent polls, a majority of white Americans believe that Black people are not treated fairly in our society, not only by police but also by other institutions. In fact, only 10% of American voters believe…
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How ‘Big Mouth’ became bigger than me
When we last left our heroes, a sinkhole had swallowed much of the state of Florida. They escaped unscathed, parting a tidal wave with the help of a Menopause Banshee voiced by Carol Kane. Of course it was “Big Mouth” — and a Passover episode. The animated series, which debuted its fourth season on Netflix…
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Remembering Kirk Douglas — a movie legend like no other
Kirk Douglas died in February of this year at the age of 103. On the occasion of what would have been his 104th birthday, we reprint this tribute to the movie legend who was born Issur Danielovich to immigrant parents. Kirk Douglas was both a movie legend and a Hollywood anomaly: a star divided. Most…
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Why the Dreyfus Affair has now become our affair
This year marks the 125th anniversary of Alfred Dreyfus’ arrival at Devil’s Island. On April 14, the former captain in the French army, found guilty of treason a few months earlier by a military tribunal, began his life sentence as the sole prisoner on this malarial rock off the coast of French Guiana. As guards…
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