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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‘The Plot Against America’ is truer than even Philip Roth knew
The book and HBO series reflects real-world Nazi movements in Newark and across the United States
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On his birthday, Albert Einstein’s true relationship to Judaism — and Zionism
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on November 22, 2015, the 100th anniversary. Is any name more synonymous with Jewish genius than Albert Einstein? By speaking out against anti-Semitism and lending his brand to institutions like the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Einstein became a standard-bearer for the Diaspora. As a prominent booster of…
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Paul Caplan was the Sherlock Holmes of the human body
You could not miss Paul Caplan. Everyone called him a dapper dresser who would come to Saturday Shabbat at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill in a natty sports coat, shirt and tie. He liked nice clothes. He wore them well. But flashy he was not when interacting with his patients, his family, his…
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Harvey Weinstein spoke — about himself — at sentencing
Harvey Weinstein didn’t speak at his New York rape trial, but the film mogul and now-convicted rapist did deliver a statement at his sentencing March 11. You can read the transcript here. Before the court handed him a 23-year-prison term, Weinstein spoke of the great relationships he had with his victims Miriam Haley and Jessica…
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Why Trump’s ‘foreign virus’ speech is as dangerous as coronavirus itself
President Trump’s speech on what he called a “foreign virus” left the overwhelming impression that foreigners are the virus. The President’s disturbing phrasing echoed centuries of dangerous anti-Semitic rhetoric blaming Jews for widespread disease. Take a close look at this sentence, which Chris Cillizza of CNN had to tweet out for those who couldn’t believe…
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Music The Secret Jewish History of James Taylor
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in the Forward on August 3, 2015. This past June, James Taylor finally achieved a feat that had eluded the folk-pop singer-songwriter for the past 45 years or so: His new album, “Before This World,” shot to No. 1 in its first week of release. The last time…
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How my father’s photos changed a changing world
My father, Arthur Rothstein, was a social documentary photographer. In the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, he used his camera to bring attention to problems in society, taking social action in the pursuit of social justice, doing what he could to help repair the world. His parents had been forced from their homes in Europe…
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As coronavirus fears escalate, Broadway goes affordable
The spread of coronavirus has sent financial markets into turmoil, closed Harvard University and emptied supermarket shelves of surgical masks and hand sanitizer. It’s also forced Broadway to do something unprecedented: Sell reasonably-priced tickets. Scott Rudin, one of Broadway’s biggest producers, has slashed the price of all remaining tickets for his five Broadway shows to…
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What to watch if you’re quarantined with coronavirus
With coronavirus cases on the rise and over 2,000 people in quarantine in New York City alone, it’s looking increasingly likely that many of us will have to spend some quality time at home in the next few weeks. Wondering how not to go crazy while eating canned goods in your closet-sized bedroom? The answer,…
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Art The radical transformation of Madame D’Ora
Can an art show be fascinating without containing a single truly fascinating artwork? The Dora Kallmus exhibit at the Neue Galerie in Manhattan is full of competent, uneccentric photographs of eccentric geniuses from the early 20th century: Gustav Klimt, Colette, Josephine Baker, Picasso. Just as the show seems to be running out of famous faces,…
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When Max von Sydow entertained Holocaust survivors
Actor Max von Sydow was not Jewish or German, and yet, through much of his English-language film career he played Holocaust survivors or Nazis. A favorite of Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish performer, who died March 8 at the age of 90, was a presence in film from his time in “The Seventh Seal” and “The…
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Fast Forward Connie Francis, 20th-century star turned TikTok sensation, recorded an album of Jewish songs in 1960
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