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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Walter Bernstein — a writer who outlived the Hollywood blacklist knew how to choose his battles
The American Jewish screenwriter Walter Bernstein, who died Jan. 23 at the age of 101, knew how to choose his battles. Perhaps most celebrated for “The Front” (1976), a semi-autobiographical evocation of his experiences during the Hollywood Blacklist, Bernstein fought for social progress while astutely side-stepping some life-threatening conflicts. Bernstein was born in Crown Heights,…
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Remembering Larry King, a broadcast legend and a consummate entertainer
The TV host Larry King, who has died at the age of 87, applied a celebrity interviewing approach to broadcast journalism in a career lasting well over a half-century, with his Brooklyn Jewish roots as a constant element of his public persona. Born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger, he attended Lafayette High School in the Bath Beach…
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In Brighton Beach, a gay teen seeks easy answers and finds only enigmas
When “Minyan” debuted in late February 2020, you were probably hoarding toilet paper or stocking up on the wrong kind of canned goods. In other words, doing anything but paying attention to the latest in indie Jewish cinema. That’s a shame. The film, which is getting something of a do-over at this year’s all-virtual New…
The Latest
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Schumer in for a hard time after calling out Trump’s ‘erection’
Chuck Schumer has been the Senate majority leader for less than a week and already his oratory has risen to our attention. Taking to the Senate floor on Jan. 22, Schumer pushed for the prosecution of ex-President Trump, saying “There will be a trial, and when the trial ends, Senators will have to decide if…
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Amanda Gorman’s Bible quote endorses religious liberty — but it’s still from the Bible
Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old National Youth Poet Laureate, shot into the spotlight instantly after she recited her powerful poem “The Hill We Climb” for Joe Biden’s inauguration. Her words, her Prada headband and her “Hamilton” references all drew chatter online; she tweeted that she is a big fan of the musical about the nation’s founding….
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Like mushrooms after the rain: The flourishing of Yiddish culture in the D.P. camps
Read this article in Yiddish Words Reaching for Life: Yiddish Culture in Displaced Persons Camps (Hebrew) Ella Florsheim Published by the Zalman Shazar Center and Yad Vashem Publications, 2020, 344 pp. My father was among the 250,000 refugees who lived in Jewish displaced persons camps throughout Germany and Austria after World War II. But unlike…
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In search of life after death — in Jewish tradition and 30 books
In my mind, last winter never happened. I have no memory of snow, of the hard and frozen ground, of salt sprinkled on the front steps, or of long stalagmites of ice hanging from the gutters. However hard I try, I remember nothing. I am like a woman whose limb suddenly becomes paralyzed, who tries…
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Bernie Sanders in his mittens is all of us
While many on Twitter obsessed over important inauguration fashion moments such as how great Michelle Obama looked, Gaga’s brooch and, of course, Ella Emhoff’s sparkly-shouldered coat, most of the internet’s attention was focused on a picture of Bernie Sanders, hunkered down in a folding chair and bundled up in a puffy coat and enormous mittens….
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Biden cites Psalms and a songwriter of Jewish themes at inauguration
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. began his presidency with a speech urging American unity as we move forward through a dark season of disease and uncertainty. In his address, he cited both Scripture and an operatic anthem penned by a songwriter known for works based on the lives of Holocaust survivors. Following a benediction by Father…
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Jews plead, once again: Listen to the lyrics of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’
Another state occasion, another misuse of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Across the internet, fans of the poet are pleading: Stop the madness! On Jan. 19, 2021, before the reflecting pool by the Lincoln Memorial, gospel singer Yolanda Adams concluded a somber memorial to the over 400,000 Americans dead of Covid-19 with Cohen’s storied song of sex…
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What are the most (and least) Jewish inauguration speeches ever?
On Jan. 20, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will deliver the 59th inaugural address, a tradition that began with George Washington, was denied to a handful of presidential replacements and — I’ve learned through a thorough study of the 58 other speeches — one that, like a particularly long Yom Kippur sermon, is given to a…
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