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 Jewish and Jew-ish nominees for a strange 2020 Tonys
The 2020 Tony Awards, like weddings, vacations, work commutes and so much of the other stuff of life, went missing this summer. But, the show must go on — however belatedly. The nominees for this year’s ceremony were announced Thursday and like so much else in this strange new normal, they are incomplete but also…
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Meet the last surviving Jewish member of ‘The Chicago 7’
At 81, Lee Weiner, the last surviving Jewish defendant among the Chicago Seven, published a memoir, “Conspiracy To Riot” before the October 16 release of the Netflix film “Trial of the Chicago 7” written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Sacha Baron Cohen. Over a half-century ago, Weiner, a Chicago native, was charged with…
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‘Sister!’: From the tenements to city council, how the Forward pushed for the women’s vote
This is the fourth installment of a special series exploring The Forward’s election coverage throughout its 123-year history. Click here to sign up to receive it through our email newsletter, and find our earlier installments here. October, 1918: As the Spanish Flu pandemic ravaged the United States and the midterm elections approached, The Forward attempted…
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‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ finds triumph in a moment of national shame
In a recent interview with Variety, Aaron Sorkin revealed how he’d script a speculative end to the Trump presidency. After the election, Sorkin predicted, in the face of a clear win for Biden, Trump will try to claim the Democrats cheated. But then a reckoning arrives. “For the first time, his Republican enablers march up…
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The scariest part of ‘The Vow’ is that it makes a cult look consensual
“There’s a Jewish word, mishpucha, which means family. As soon as I met Lauren, I knew she was mishpucha,” Sarah Edmondson says of Lauren Salzman, the woman who would eventually coerce her to brand her pelvis in an excruciating initiation rite into a secretive enclave billing itself as a women’s empowerment group. It’s a particularly…
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WATCH NOW: December 8: Innovate or Die: How Jewish nonprofit leadership weathered 2020 and is leaning into 2021
WATCH THE RECORDING. A global pandemic, a racial reckoning and the most divisive political campaign in memory were among the unprecedented challenges our community organizations faced this year. Join Joan Garry, whose second edition of the “Guide to Nonprofit Leadership” will be published in paperback Dec. 22 (preorder here); Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the…
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Shtetl-inspired sweatshirts are creating controversy online — but is ‘shtreetwear’ really beyond the pale?
Call it shtreetwear. Call it shtetlcore. The era of extremely Ashkenazi athleisure is here, and it’s forcing Jews to contend with a pressing question: What are “shtetl vibes,” and should you be able to sell them? On Tuesday, the Jewish Twitterverse took note of Shtêttl, a streetwear-cum-lifstyle brand inspired by shtetls — yes, the small,…
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‘The Simpsons’ reminds us of Trump’s ‘disloyal’ Jews comments
While the question of cultural sensitivity and “The Simpsons” remains fluid, the show has always been attuned to the unique concerns of American Jewry. So it’s no real surprise that the forthcoming “Treehouse of Horror” special reminds us of the worst thing President Trump ever said about our voting trends. In the episode, which opens…
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This Central Valley cannabis brand is stamped kosher all over
Colloquially, both Jews and non-Jews often use the word “kosher” to mean acceptable, suitable or even, according to Urban Dictionary, “cool or chill.” Most assume that’s what Darron Silva meant in naming his cannabis company Cali Kosher, which sells marijuana flower, vape cartridges and concentrated extracts to hundreds of retailers across California. “A lot of…
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In ‘Raised by Wolves,’ a warning about our pandemic isolation
In HBO’s timely new dystopian drama, “Raised by Wolves,” two human-like robots are raising a small group of children on a distant, unforgiving planet. The show’s release happened to coincide with a worldwide pandemic, and, in many ways, its little nuclear family trying to survive now represents all of us. Without large gatherings or extensive…
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WATCH NOW: December 3: Healing Racial Divides – Lessons from Chicago
Watch the recording here. How can Black and Jewish congregations find meaningful ways to help heal America’s racial divisions? What role can Jews of Color play in communal approaches to racism and justice? Join Cydney Wallace, activist and co-founder of Kol Or, JCUA’s Jews of Color Caucus; Pastor Chris Harris of Bright Star Church; and…
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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