Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture. Here, you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music, film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of everything and everyone from The Rolling Stones to…
Culture
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On the northwest side of Chicago, my old Jewish neighborhood may soon live on in infamy
Albany Park was home to Rosenblum's Bookstore, Weinberg's Clothing — and also alleged DC shooter Elias Rodriguez
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The extremely problematic and incredibly harsh impact of Coronavirus on art
Most art is unfinished — quietly, unglamorously, pointlessly. Two and a half chapters of a novel yellowing in a bottom drawer; sets for a play nobody bothers to produce; a pilot never aired; a melody never resolved; a canvas never covered. That’s just the physical evidence — for every half-finished work, there are thousands that…
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The sturgeon will see you now — an expert’s guide to smoked fish
Smoked salmon or lox? That is the question. On Sunday mornings in the 1940’s and 50’s, Jewish people lined the streets of New York to get their lox fix from the appetizing stores around at the time. It was a ritual; there had to be lox on the Sunday breakfast table. Why did it happen?…
The Latest
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No, that Trump bible photo isn’t ‘beautiful’ — it’s terrifying
President Trump has made two ultra-clear and extremely dangerous points with deep resonances in the history of totalitarianism: that visuals matter more than people’s lives, and that some people’s opinions — and by extension, lives — matter more than others. “I think it was a beautiful picture,” President Trump said on Fox when asked about…
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Bob Dylan calls George Floyd’s killing ‘beyond ugly’
Bob Dylan’s reputation as a cipher has its occasional cracks. While he’s tight-lipped as ever about his recent politics, he did make his name in protest songs. When he sees injustice, he’s not shy about calling it out — particularly when it comes to race in America. In a rare interviewwith The New York Times,…
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For centuries, Jews have been battling epidemics like coronavirus
Decades after the Jews were expelled from Spain, a Jewish traveler worked his way through the medieval Jewish cemetery of Toledo, copying epitaphs from the gravestones there. One of them belonged to Joseph ben Meir Abulafia, a newlywed who, along with his wife, was among tens of millions of people — in Europe, as much…
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We need to talk about Ice Cube’s anti-Semitism allegations
Rapper, filmmaker, Eames chair enthusiast — anti-Semite? The internet is abuzz with allegations that Ice Cube was blowing the Jew-hate dog whistle. It started with a series of tweets. Last week, Cube tweeted an image of a London mural, “Freedom for Humanity,” in which a number of people who’ve been identified as Jews are seen…
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Is it really time to cancel ‘Blazing Saddles?’
It’s morning in America, and protestors have toppled yet another Confederate monument. But as that trend gains traction both on the streets and in the halls of Congress, a different sort of tribute to Old Dixie was placed on the chopping block. The new streaming service HBO Max announced it was removing “Gone with the…
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In ‘Gone With the Wind,’ a complicated Jewish subtext
The news that HBO Max streaming service has temporarily removed “Gone with the Wind” from its library to be refurbished with historical information and a “denouncement” of its ethnic and racial prejudices raises the question of how the film’s Yiddishkeit influenced this content. The 1939 film based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel had Jewish elements, starting…
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A portrait of Israel’s first family — and Israel, itself
Moshe Dayan was an icon with an eyepatch. He commanded the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, marched victorious through the Lions’ Gate in the 1967 Six Day War and served six prime ministers in matters of war and state. But he wasn’t alone either in his achievements or his eventual decline. The Dayans,…
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After Whitney row and Minneapolis outrage, Warren Kanders will stop making tear gas
Warren B. Kanders, the embattled former trustee of the Whitney Museum, will divest his company from divisions that produce tear gas, crowd-control munitions and riot equipment. Kanders, who stepped down as vice chair of the Whitney board following protests alleging that his company Safariland provided tear gas used at the U.S.-Mexico border and sponge munitions…
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MAD Magazine legend Al Jaffee folds it in at 99 — check out his last Fold-In
When it comes to comics, Fold-In king Al Jaffee has had a record-setting run. Now, the veteran cartoonist is retiring just shy of his 100th year. Jaffee, who holds the title for the longest-working comic artist of all time, worked for MAD Magazine for 65 years. In that time, he was something of a waggish…
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