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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In bringing back ‘Hunters,’ Amazon fails the test of history — and good taste
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum condemned it for welcoming “future deniers.” So did the USC Shoah Foundation. But Amazon’s “Hunters” is moving forward with a second season, all the same. Somehow, the outrage over the series’ invented Holocaust atrocities — most notably a game of deadly “human chess” — wasn’t enough to squash interest in a…
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I Was Hesitant To Write About The Holocaust — Until Toni Morrison Lit The Path
Editor’s note: This essay, originally published on August 8, 2019, was republished for the first anniversary of Toni Morrison’s death on August 5, 2020. Toni Morrison leaned forward in her chair, watching my face as she spoke. It was clear, she said, that I had a story to tell. “But this —” here she pointed…
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On Writing An Opera With Toni Morrison: ‘She Was The Voice Of The Nation’s Conscience’
Editor’s note: This Q & A, originally published on August 6, 2019, has been republished for the first anniversary of Toni Morrison’s death. On August 5, 2019, the revered novelist Toni Morrison died at age 88. News of her passing was met with grief around the globe, as writers, artists, political leaders and readers reflected…
The Latest
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How a Jewish marketing whiz tried to save old-time Russian hockey
Though some knowledge of (and interest in) the national ice hockey team of the former Soviet Union (CCCP) might help you to appreciate Gabe Polsky’s new documentary, “Red Penguins,” it’s not essential. Even without a solid hockey background — for that, see Polsky’s earlier doc “Red Army” — this is an oddly fascinating story. It’s…
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Jonathan Swan is the meme hero we need right now
Jonathan Swan’s agile interview with President Donald Trump for Axios on HBO was revelatory. The 40-minute conversation exposed the president’s dismissiveness of pandemic-related deaths, his unwillingness to praise critics like the late John Lewis and his remarkable lack of concern over Russia’s reported aid to Taliban soldiers. But for the internet, the biggest takeaway was…
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Trump: ‘Yo-Semites.’ Us: ‘Hello!’ Listen to our rap!
In an August 4 speech at the White House, President Trump was invoking the beauty of our national parks when he stumbled on the words “Yosemite’s towering sequoias.” He said “yo-Semites,” to which we say: “Hi!” Here’s the clip pic.twitter.com/b4NtCuEa2z — Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) August 4, 2020 Jewish Twitter, naturally, had a field day. In…
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Yiddish gets its star turn in Seth Rogen’s “An American Pickle”
Read this article in Yiddish When the trailer dropped for “An American Pickle,’’ starring Seth Rogen as Herschel Greenbaum, a Yiddish-speaking immigrant rat-chaser who finds himself in 21st century Brooklyn after a century preserved in pickle brine, the reaction among Yiddishists was mixed. While the Yiddish in the trailer sounded promising, some feared that Rogen…
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What Nick Cannon learned from Bari Weiss’ anti-Semitism book
In her review of Bari Weiss’ “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” Forward deputy culture editor Talya Zax asked, simply enough, “Who is it for?” Well, it might be for Nick Cannon. The actor, who has embarked on a learning tour since making anti-Semitic comments on his podcast, “Cannon’s Class” which led to an end to his…
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How Leon Fleisher overcame adversity to become the Rembrandt of the piano
The pianist Leon Fleisher, who died on August 2 at age 92, was part of an aspirational generation of American Jews. Born in San Francisco, he was the son of impoverished immigrants from Odessa and Poland who managed two hat shops. By age four, Fleisher already showed talent at the piano. He studied with Lev…
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In Seth Rogen’s ‘American Pickle,’ a salty tale of preserving (at least some) Jewish traditions
It’s surprisingly easy to read “An American Pickle,” a fable about Jewish continuity as told through the pickled personage of an Eastern European immigrant preserved 100 years in brine, as an allegory for Seth Rogen’s most recent controversy. Based on Simon Rich’s New Yorker novella “Sell Out” and developed with Rogen, who also produced, the…
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How a Holocaust survivor’s daughter found a passion for horses
“We’re horse people!” I recall dad saying when I was about seven years old. “They’ve been in our family for generations!” Even when I was that young, even before I fully understood what it meant when dad told me he survived the Holocaust, masquerading as a Catholic with a false baptismal certificate when he was…
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