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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For Israeli Air Force pioneer Al Schwimmer, WWII never really ended
Today, Wednesday, September 2, marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. For decades, we’ve romanticized the conclusive resolution of a global calamity that killed 30 million more people than the 1918 Spanish flu and 100 times more than COVID-19. With a nostalgic gleam in our eyes (even if most of us…
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Army officer makes Holocaust joke on TikTok
TikTok, whatever your feelings on the security of its Chinese ownership, is a hub for creative content — much of it Jewish. But like any other platform, it’s also vulnerable to the contributions of the crass, misguided and offensively unfunny. On Monday, 2nd Lt. Nathan Freihofer, a popular TikTok user with nearly 3 million followers,…
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1200-year-old soap factory discovered in Israel
Archaeologists in the southern Israeli city of Rahat have discovered remains of a 1,200-year-old soap factory — complete with break room games. The Israel Antiquities Authority has determined that the factory is likely the oldest one ever found in the country, according to Atlas Obscura, and date it back to the early Islamic period during…
The Latest
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Why Emmett Till still matters
Next July will mark 80 years since Emmett Till was born, months before America entered the Second World War with segregated troops. He grew up on Chicago’s South Side, turning 14 in 1955, after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka that American schools must desegregate. Till wasn’t part of…
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William Shatner sings the blues – we wish he wouldn’t
“Hubris,” the muse of music whispers each time William Shatner makes a new record. But will he not hear? Th 89-year-old actor, who has spent his quarantine attacking Twitter users who dare to call him a “cis” man, has a new album coming out October 2. This time he’s tackling that most doleful and soulful…
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He collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, Allen Ginsberg and Captain Beefheart — can you name this guitarist?
Born in 1952, the eclectic American Jewish guitarist Gary Lucas has collaborated in performance with Captain Beefheart’s band and Jeff Buckley, but also with Leonard Bernstein, and Allen Ginsberg. Anticipating the release early next year of “The Essential Gary Lucas,” a 2-CD retrospective from Knitting Factory Records, the Syracuse-born musician has regaled fans during the…
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Itzhak Perlman at 75: Celebrating a life in music and Yiddishkeit
On August 31, Itzhak Perlman turns 75, and a new 18-CD set tribute from SONY, complements a 77-disc set from Warner Classics issued for his 70th birthday. It is time to take stock of the Tel Aviv-born violinist’s storied career. Possibly overfamiliar to audiences from his TV chat show appearances and in crossover Hollywoodiana, Perlman…
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On Tik Tok, ‘dybbuk girl’ is mashing up Jewish history and culture
Golems and teens do not typically meet outside of the Prague Ghetto, but on the popular video app Tik Tok, Dybukk.girl.03 (aka Leonora Tepper.) is making sure they do. Tepper, a high school senior in Brooklyn, started making videos as a way to combat quarantine boredom, but soon found herself a niche and a following…
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Books Out of a stereotype of beauty, Elena Ferrante has created something beautiful
Halfway through Elena Ferrante’s new novel, “The Lying Life of Adults,” the narrator, a teenage girl named Giovanna, runs into a priest. Don Giacomo has fallen into disfavor at his church. Previously buoyant, his skin has turned sallow, and a mysterious, violet rash is creeping over one of his hands. Giovanna, ever curious, asks Giacomo…
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Music Why Trump has to stop playing ‘God Bless America’ and ‘Hallelujah’
Leonard Cohen died, poetically enough, the day before early returns ushered in the era of Trump in America. That meant the lifelong Canadian national, who made his home in Los Angeles, was spared the Trump presidency. He didn’t have to endure Kate McKinnon’s cloyingly despairing rendition of his song “Hallelujah” performed in character as Hillary…
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How Scooby-Doo became TV’s most Jewish cartoon dog
The American Jewish animator and producer Joe Ruby, who co-created the TV series character Scooby-Doo, died on August 26 at age 87. His family announced in The Los Angeles Times the following day that Ruby’s “Jewish faith played an increasingly important role in his life, and Joe was bar mitzvahed at the age of thirty-nine.”…
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