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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‘The Undoing’ undid the Jewishness of the book that inspired it. Here’s why the author doesn’t mind
Sarah Silverman has mixed feelings about “The Undoing.” To be sure, there’s plenty to love in HBO’s latest contribution to the prestige TV scene, a miniseries centered around marriage counselor Grace Fraser (Nicole Kidman) who discovers after a gruesome murder that her own seemingly perfect husband (Hugh Grant) may in fact be a philandering sociopath….
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What I learned from the work of Claude Vigée
To write about my own encounter with the work of Claude Vigée is to try to speak with the same clarity, his clarity, which I now must try to make my own. There is nothing more difficult than paying homage to someone whom one admires – for his work, his courage, and the brilliant lucidity…
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Kurt Russell compares made-up Santa language to the Aramaic of ‘Passion of the Christ’
Bearded, magic men promising mystical rewards or punishment, however jiggly their bellies or toned their midsections, do not hold much interest for most Jews. But sometimes, on matters of Santa or Jesus, we must break our respectful silence. Such a rare occasion presented itself on Nov. 18, smack-dab in the middle of nitl season, when…
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The real ‘Queen’s Gambit’: Meet the first woman to qualify for the World Chess Championship
This article contains spoilers for “The Queen’s Gambit.” When it comes to the real queen of chess — not the orphaned, sedative-addicted, fashionista variety now in vogue courtesy of Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” — Susan Polgar is a model grandmaster. Two decades after Beth Harmon took on the fictional Russian champion Vasily Borgov in Moscow,…
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The Forward’s Batya Ungar-Sargon chosen for ADL and Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellowship
Opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon has been selected for the 2021 ADL and Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellowship. Launched in 2019, the Fellowship gives the next generation of community leaders and problem-solvers the opportunity to refine and hone their leadership skills while building relationships across the issue areas and movements from which they come. Ungar-Sargon is…
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Sarah Palin compared Obama to Moses. There may be something there.
When Sarah Palin clapped back at Barack Obama, derisively likening him to, uh, Moses, she wound up sounding like someone who’d worship at the hooves of the Golden Calf. Fox News host Sean Hannity read the former VP candidate an excerpt from Obama’s new memoir, “A Promised Land,” which referred to her running mate status…
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The secret Jewish history of the condom
If you have bought or used a condom in the United States or Britain, you most likely have a Jewish person to thank. While Jews didn’t invent them – penis sheaths have a long history stretching back to ancient times – Jews certainly played a huge role in the development of the modern rubber prophylactic….
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So, what did Agatha Christie really think of Jews?
With “Death on the Nile,” Kenneth Branagh’s latest film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot tales due for release in December, along with a new book-length study of Poirot, who is celebrating the centenary of his creation, it’s a moment to recall just how antisemitic the early detective novels of Agatha Christie were. “The…
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More than 90 years later, how Jewish Book Month became a tradition
Many months on the calendar honor various groups of Americans. November is American Indian Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. February is Black History Month. There’s Irish-American Heritage Month in March, and May celebrates the heritage of both Asian Pacific Americans and Jewish Americans. Less common are ethnic literary…
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How Leonard Cohen’s messianic childhood prepared him for a sort of priesthood
Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years. by Michael Posner Simon & Schuster, 496 pages, $30 We already know that rock poet Leonard Cohen was a profoundly Jewish songwriter and a deeply spiritual man. But a new oral biography, “Leonard Cohen — Untold Stories: The Early Years” (Simon & Schuster), by Michael Posner, recounts in…
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Chagall’s massive ‘Magic Flute’ curtain is up for auction
In his long and varied career, painter Marc Chagall created stained glass, fine ceramics and a massive ceiling mural for the Paris Opéra — but only one opera set. Now, if you have unlimited income and vertical space, the centerpiece of the Chagall-designed opera can be yours. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, Bonhams is auctioning the…
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