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 impoverished immigrant who married an American prince — and became a socialist hero
Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes By Adam Hochschild Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 320 pages, $30 It’s tempting to think, as the 2020 election unfolds, that we’re living through the great American confrontation of capitalism and socialism. Has there ever been a figure who more compellingly captured…
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National Museum of American Jewish History files for bankruptcy
Faced with a decade-long deficit, the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, rocked in recent years by institutional changes, is hoping that filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy will move the institution toward financial sustainability. The museum, known for its exhibits on Leonard Bernstein, Richard Avedon and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has…
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Coronavirus scuttles China tour for Yiddish ‘Fiddler on the Roof’
Read this article in Yiddish. The Yiddish production of “Fiddler on the Roof” was scheduled to tour China this spring but has apparently fallen victim to coronavirus. On January 13th, cast members were informed via email of a three-city tour that would have taken place from April 13th to May 10th. But according to Zalmen…
The Latest
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When Turkey sent Holocaust refugees to their deaths — and let nationalism grow unchecked
Serenade for Nadia: A Novel By Zülfü Livaneli, translated by Brendan Feely Other Press, 417 pages, $17.99 Desperate refugees embarking on treacherous sea voyages. Unscrupulous guides making fortunes from humanitarian crises. Leaky boats destined for disaster. Governments colluding to evade responsibility. These sound like details from the humanitarian crises of the last few years. But…
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From an Israeli master, one final gift
And the Bride Closed the Door: By Ronit Matalon, translated by Jessica Cohen New Vessel Press, $128 pages, $15.95 Ronit Matalon died just one day after she received Israel’s prestigious Brenner Prize for her novel “And the Bride Closed the Door.” Matalon’s daughter, who accepted the prize for her mother, drew a parallel between the…
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Foraging for the perfect shtetl recipe: Mushroom barley soup then and now
What can a Jewish cookbook from 1946 tell us about the 21st-century Jewish-American experience? Liza Schoenfein, the Forward’s senior food writer, and Jane Ziegelman, a culinary historian, took our signature collection of Yiddish recipes off the shelf and found a direct line from the balaboostas of yore to the kitchens of today. In this installment,…
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Mourning ‘Actors Studio’ host James Lipton — and remembering his best moments
James Lipton, the oft-parodied host of “Inside the Actors Studio” has died at the age of 93. Famous for his pomposity, Mid-Atlantic accent and corny closing questions, Lipton was a meme-worthy figure before the advent of memes. “MadTV” and “Saturday Night Live” skewered him, with cast members playing up his pretension; for “The Simpsons,” he…
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In “Unorthodox” and “One of Us,” a balancing act of hope and despair
The top question I’ve been getting for the past month is “What do you think of ‘Unorthodox’?” As Executive Director of Footsteps for a decade I’ve seen over a thousand new members come through our doors, and watched a community of people leaving ultra-Orthodoxy blossom into a global movement. “Unorthodox” is beautifully done, and it…
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WATCH NOW: Virtual Conversation: Look to the Helpers: Caring for Vulnerable Populations
This event has already taken place. Watch the video recording here. On Passover, it is tradition to practice ma’ot chitim, providing the poor with matzah. This feels especially relevant this year amid a pandemic that is causing economic hardship and a public health crisis. How can we help our community in this critical time while…
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WATCH NOW: Virtual Conversation: A Plague of Our Own
This event has already taken place. Watch the video recording here. What do the Ten Plagues from the Book of Exodus have to teach us about the pandemic we are experiencing? And how can the coronavirus crisis deepen our understanding of the Ten Plagues? As we all think about how to do Seders in this…
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In Israel, a radical textbook for asylum seekers teaches Hebrew — minus Zionism
Timnit Ftwi, a 23-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker in Israel, speaks fluent Hebrew, which she picked up through her job as a house cleaner. But up until recently, she could hardly read or write in the language. When presented with a document to sign — like a bill, or an apartment lease — she would write…
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