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
-
‘Lighting Hanukkah Candles in Death’s Kingdom:’ A story by Elie Wiesel
Editor’s note: This story by Elie Wiesel was first published in the Forward in Yiddish on December 12, 1969. This Hanukkah, we decided it was time to give the original Yiddish new life. This new translation, including aspects of the story not included in previous English translations, is by Myra Mniewski and Chana Pollack, the…
-
Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday with ‘Ode to Joy’ in Yiddish
Read this article in Yiddish. This week marks the 250th anniversary of what is believed to be the birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most influential composers of all time, and a favorite among the Jews in Eastern Europe. Beethoven’s popular “Moonlight Sonata,” for example, is the topic of a wonderful children’s tale…
-
How sweet it is to (finally) return to Zabar’s!
I slept until about 12:30 p.m. today. When I woke up, I noticed that I was not tired. I had been tired upon awakening for previous days, maybe weeks, months? But this day, I was wide-awake. As I looked around the room, I noticed that everything that came into view did so with great definition….
The Latest
-
Thanks to outdoor dining, it’s beginning to look a lot like Sukkot
Most years, Sukkot lasts about a week. But in this year of plague, the holiday has become a months-long event, with no sign of ending anytime soon. Secular sukkahs are all around us. They’re just going by a new name: “outdoor dining.” On daily walks through my neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, I’ve watched…
-
Why the mayor of Ramallah does it all
Musa Hadid, the middle-aged, mustachioed and overextended mayor of Ramallah is meeting with staff to discuss a Christmas tree lighting. Among the details to be ironed out: several Santas rappelling down buildings, a flash mob and zeppelins. Well, not really zeppelins. An aide suggests that this word sets up expectations that would be tough to…
-
Even dictionaries couldn’t keep up with language in 2020
So much happened in 2020 that not even the Word of the Year folks at the Oxford English Dictionary could come up with just one word to describe the past year; instead, the august dictionary folks issued a 38-page report on “words of an unprecedented year” — complete with colorful bar charts distilling how we…
-
For Joseph Epstein and The Wall Street Journal, the control is the point
You might have heard about a little Wall Street Journal op-ed that went viral this weekend for arguing that future First Lady Dr. Jill Biden should drop the title “Doctor” from her name. Many decried the column, by the Jewish essayist and former editor of The American Scholar Joseph Epstein, as sexist from its first…
-
The dinosaur menorah started as a hobby. Here’s how it became the internet’s weirdest Judaica trend.
Eleven months out of the year, Benjamin Packard is a pretty normal guy. Packard, 37, lives in Oakland, California. He enjoys a rewarding career as a “mild-mannered financial advisor who helps millennials prepare for retirement.” He’s an enthusiastic dad to two young kids. But as Hanukkah approaches, everything changes. “Every holiday season, for about thirty…
-
Tinker, tailor, soldier, philosemite – John le Carré’s strange relationship with Jews
John le Carré, the prolific espionage author and former MI5 spy, died Saturday Dec. 12 at the age of 89. His bibliography of nearly 60 years long outlived its major subject — the Cold War — and expanded to explore geopolitical conflicts that have yet to be resolved. In 1983, he turned his attention to…
-
Smokey Robinson stumped about how to say ‘Hanukkah’
Some say the Jews control the entertainment industry. If that’s the case, riddle me this: How could Motown legend Smokey Robinson, a six-decade veteran of major record labels, not know how to pronounce Hanukkah — or even have any idea what it is? We can thank Twitter user Jeff Jacobson for an unforgettable record of…
-
Is there anything Jewish about Taylor Swift’s new album? Actually, yes.
In this lockdown year, Taylor Swift decided once and for all to shed her upbeat, country-pop-electronic-dance queen musical approach in favor of a sound more befitting trying times. To paraphrase Leonard Cohen, she wanted it darker. To help her along with her stylistic transition, Swift engaged the services of producer, songwriter, and musician Aaron Dessner,…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
- 2
Fast Forward First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
- 3
Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
- 4
Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion When my children decorate for Hanukkah, I don’t just see pride. I see pluralism in action.
-
Fast Forward ‘The most Australian name’: Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach attack, embodies a nation’s grief
-
Fast Forward A Wider Bridge, a pro-Israel advocate in LGBTQ spaces, is shutting down
-
Yiddish פֿאַר וואָס הערט מען ניט וועגן דעם גלעצנדיקן וווּקס פֿון דער ישׂראל־בערזע? Why aren’t we hearing about the dramatic growth of the Israeli stock market?
וואָלט דער אָפּרוף געווען אַנדערש, ווען דער ציל פֿון די טעראָריסטן וואָלט ניט געווען ייִדן, נאָר אַן אַנדער גרופּע?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
