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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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…
The Latest
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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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To understand André Aciman, try reading Thucydides
If this interview aired on television, André Aciman would have earned himself a perfect score on Room Rater. The novelist, memoirist, essayist and scholar greeted me from the Upper West Side study where he spends most of his time. It’s the kind of home office about which most of us only fantasize: an Oriental-carpeted study…
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March 10: Vote 2021 – A Mayoral Candidate Forum Hosted by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan and The Forward
This talk will take place on Wednesday, March 10 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. Click here to register. NYC voters will be electing a new mayor in 2021. We are excited to partner with the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan for a conversation with leading candidates that will help you make an informed…
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How my Uncle Myer baked JFK’s birthday cake
Editor’s note: We have republished this story, originally published in 2019, for Presidents Day. During the early 1960’s my family and I would take two long train rides from our three-flight walk up in the East New York Section of Brooklyn to our Uncle Myer Keizerstein’s’s house in West Hartford, Connecticut. Uncle Myer would pick…
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The Forward was a socialist mainstay — until it endorsed FDR. What changed?
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2020 as the fifth installment of a special series exploring the Forward’s election coverage throughout its 123-year history. We’ve republished it for Presidents Day; find earlier installments of the newsletter here. “Nothing in this campaign happened to change my mind about there being no difference between the…
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What Donald Trump’s acquittal teaches us about empathy and compassion
The vote that ended Saturday’s second impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump will have, at least in the short term, clear political consequences for the country. What might seem less clear, though, but no less important, are the philosophical consequences. By their failure to convict their party’s leader, 43 Republican senators have just reminded…
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Is everything bagel ice cream bad for the Jews?
It was already dark when I laced up my boots and trudged over to Union Square. I trod carefully, and not just because of the icy sidewalks. Hanging from my shoulder in a reusable shopping bag was precious cargo: Four pints of ice cream more artisanal than any I’d ever tasted, each of which cost…
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