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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Ellis Island reminds us that immigrants were once welcome in America
Ellis Island: A People’s History By Małgorzata Szejnert Translated from Polish by Sean Gasper Bye Scribe, 384 pages, $28 Between 1892 and 1954, Ellis Island processed 12 million newcomers. About 40 percent of today’s Americans are descended from the men, women, and children who passed through the country’s principal immigration absorption center. If the United…
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He may be our lox expert, but his heart belongs to clamming
He had opened about two dozen top necks, separated the meat from the juice, and was ready to put up the water for the linguini. Another pot on the stove, above a low flame, was some simmering Greek olive oil, mixing it up with two cloves of chopped garlic. The aroma in the kitchen was…
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Remembering Murray Schisgal — the consummate Jewish playwright with the eyes of a basset hound
The American Jewish playwright Murray Schisgal, who has died at age 93, baffled generations of actors and theatregoers with his bittersweet plays redolent with Yiddishkeit. Author of such acclaimed works as “The Typists and The Tiger (1963),” “Luv (1964),” and “Tootsie” (1982), Schisgal mystified even astute actors who specialized in performing his works but were…
The Latest
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Gloria Steinem is having a moment — so why doesn’t she seem more relevant?
In the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and the controversy surrounding her successor’s impact on the lives of everybody (most pointedly women), the surfacing of Gloria Steinem in three bio-dramatizations — on stage, television, and in film — couldn’t be timelier. In the film, “The Glorias,” we see the feminist icon at various stages…
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Melania Trump dunked on Christmas decor — like my dad has been doing for years
My family is an interfaith one, so we have a lot of holiday rituals between us. But no tradition is more hallowed than my father’s complaints about other people’s over-the-top Christmas decorations. As long as bloated Santas and sleighs profane his neighborhood, my father can go nowhere without remarking on the collapse of separation between…
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Harvey Weinstein hit with 6 new assault charges in LA case
Harvey Weinstein was charged with six new counts of sexual assault on Friday following a Beverly Hills police investigation that concluded last month. The charges arise from accusations made by two women. One accused Weinstein of raping her at a hotel between September 2004 and 2005; the other claimed the producer raped her twice, in…
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Reimagining sukkahs in a time of plague
Each year on Sukkot, Jews invite guests over to their sukkah — a temporary shelter where we eat, schmooze and mark the end of the harvest while recalling our ancestors’ 40 years traveling the desert. This year, sukkah socializing may be a no-go for many, but for a new art initiative timed to the Feast…
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Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis has a Biblical precedent
President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and subsequent quarantine has got me thinking about the dramatic life of Uzziah, King of Judah, who contracted tsara’at — traditionally translated as leprosy, and who is described in II Chronicles as making a power grab that led to contracting a contagious disease that required quarantine. Uzziah’s reign, from c. 791–739…
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In 2020, voter access is a defining issue — just like it was on the old Lower East Side
This is the second installment of a special series exploring The Forward’s election coverage throughout its 123-year history. Click here to sign up to receive it through our email newsletter, and find our first installment here. With President Trump repeatedly challenging the integrity of the 2020 balloting during his first debate with Vice President Joe…
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s signature collar will go on display in Tel Aviv
During Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s tenure on the Supreme Court, collars arrived to her door from all corners of the world. Gifts from law clerks and tributes from admirers, they arrived from cities as distant as Cape Town and entered her much-scrutinized rotation of judicial decor. Now, one of those collars is embarking on a journey…
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The ‘Borat’ sequel trailer proves America’s still divided — on whether or not people know Borat
There are benefits to Sacha Baron Cohen’s supreme secrecy. He is, as far as we know, the only major star to make and release a feature film in media pandemic — and hardly anyone knew he was working on it. Following a few months of rumors and speculation, Baron Cohen dropped the trailer for “Borat…
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