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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Sketches of Emile Zola and Alfred Dreyfus’ trials open a window to a scandalous past
History fated Emile Zola and Alfred Dreyfus to forever be footnotes in each other’s stories. Dreyfus, a military officer wrongly convicted of treason, sparked an antisemitism scandal that split French society into factions. Zola, the celebrated writer who penned the famed pro-Dreyfus open letter “J’Accuse,” would face legal trouble of his own for doing so….
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Pfizer’s CEO tells his parents’ Holocaust story
The modern miracle of the Pfizer vaccine has an equally remarkable backstory. Dr. Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer who shepherded the vaccine’s development, spoke about the “fantastic luck” of his family history on Thursday. It’s a tale of defying the odds and one whose lessons he keeps with him. In a Zoom discussion for…
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The first blind female rabbi is making sure she won’t be the last
I met Rabbi Lauren Tuchman at a Shabbat lunch, a year or two ago; I arrived late, missing half the meal and all of the introductions. I was still figuring out who everyone was when Tuchman began to lead the table in Shabbat songs from a binder filled with Braille pages. Tuchman, who was ordained…
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Forget ‘Cruella,’ meet young Fruma-Sarah. The Jewish character origin stories you definitely don’t need.
In answer to the question no one asked, Disney will soon make us privy to how exactly Cruella de Vil became so cruel and devilish. Sadly, it appears that it has less to do with a Dalmatian bite and a wasting smoking addiction than the‘70s, Sex Pistols London, Manic Panic hair dye and the stifling…
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Masks, musicals and mixology — your guide to virtual Purim
Purim 2021 will be a tamer affair than what we’re used to. While 2020’s festival was the last dangerous gasp of the old normal — replete with mixed drinks and droplets for many — we now know what we’re dealing with. COVID is determined to put a damper on our typical revels. But then, we’ve…
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There’s a modern-day golem at the heart of this frozen yogurt romance
In 2017, the Netflix film “To the Bone” provided an excellent primer in how not to talk about eating disorders. Before it even debuted, the film sparked criticism. Many argued the trailer romanticized anorexia with intense shots of its painfully thin protagonist (played by Lily Collins), who was presented not so much as a patient…
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Who murdered a Nazi fugitive — and does the answer actually matter?
The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive By Philippe Sands Alfred A. Knopf, 417 pages, $30 “It is more important to understand the butcher than the victim,” the Spanish novelist Javier Cercas told Philippe Sands, professor of international law at University College London. That seems a questionable assertion, not least…
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In Mexico City, a young artist’s affair threatens her Syrian-Jewish community
Set in Mexico City, “Leona” is a coming of age tale that follows a young female muralist who falls in love with a non-Jewish Mexican and winds up essentially disinherited from her own community. The Spanish-language film, which marks the impressive debut of writer-director Issac Cherem — who hails from the tightly-knit, Syrian-Jewish community where…
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The Secret Jewish History of Snow
Jews have always had an ambivalent relationship with snow. On the one hand, we trace our origins to a desert land that typically features extremes of heat rather than cold. On the other hand, it does snow in Tiberias and Jerusalem — to that I can attest personally, having lived in both places in the…
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A Jewish veteran’s apparel line celebrates the Maccabees’ fighting spirit — and space lasers
Jack Perez makes clothes for Jewish soldiers. In a way, Mel Gibson is to blame. In 2011, a few years after spouting that “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” during a DUI arrest, the filmmaker announced that he was making a biopic of one of our most celebrated warriors, Judah Maccabee….
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The secret Jewish history of everyone nominated to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame this year
If you quickly scan the list of the 16 artists and groups nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, only one name jumps out as Jewish: Carole King. But a deeper dive into each nominee reveals some surprising or unlikely Jewish stories. First, a little more about King. How, you might ask, is…
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