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
-
Music
Barbra Streisand urges relief for essential workers — through song
“You’ll Never Walk Alone” is having a moment, but Barbra Streisand is eternal. In a new video posted to her YouTube channel, the singer, known for her exceedingly rare live vocal performances, used the song to laud those working through the coronavirus pandemic. While the video, with its images of healthcare workers, grocery store cashiers…
-
WATCH NOW: Talking Shavuot with Ben Katchor, author of The Dairy Restaurant
Watch the recording here. You can’t eat at dairy restaurants for Shavuot, but you can hear all about them. Join MacArthur Fellow and author Ben Katchor as he discusses the holiday and his critically-acclaimed new book, The Dairy Restaurant, with Rob Eshman, national editor of The Forward. This is part of our new series, “#ForwardFocus:…
-
What all the critics of “Unorthodox” are forgetting
“Unorthodox” is, if anything, entirely orthodox. That is to say, the much-viewed and reviewed Netflix offering about a young woman who flees her insular hasidic community follows the typical convention of a number of books and documentaries portraying the ostensibly suffocating lives of hasidim and the quest of some of the braver souls among them…
The Latest
-
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…
-
WATCH NOW: The Future of the Jewish People…and Cocktails
Watch here. Join Jay Sanderson, President & CEO of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and Rob Eshman, National Editor of The Forward, for cooking, cocktails and discussion. Both foodies will make a sensational Shavuot dish and special dairy-based cocktail while talking food, the Jewish response to Covid-19, and the post-Covid Jewish future. This…
-
A recently uncovered letter explains why ‘anti-Semitism’ wasn’t in the first Oxford English Dictionary
On July 5, 1900, James Murray, founding editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, penned a letter to Claude Montefiore explaining a conspicuous absence in an upcoming volume compiled some years before: An entry for the word “anti-Semitism.” The oldest hatred did appear in the first edition, but only within a list of “anti” combinations. In…
-
WATCH: 300 musicians perform ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to lift socially-distanced spirits
The key to the success of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II lies in how well their music works outside of its original context. It’s easy to forget — or to not even not know — the South Pacific setting of “Some Enchanted Evening” or to adapt “My Favorite Things” into a Christmas song or…
-
Your questions about “Unorthodox” and leaving Hasidic communities, answered
More than 2,000 of you joined our virtual conversation last week titled “Unorthodox: Reality vs. Fiction.” Alexa Karolinski, one of the creators of the blockbuster Netflix hit, was joined by our Yiddish editor, Rukhl Schaechter, and three people who, like the four-part series’ title character, Esty, had left Haredi communities: Chavie Weisberger of Footsteps, a…
-
Your guide to everything Jewish about ‘Star Wars’
The temporally distant and far-flung galaxy of “Star Wars” is, like the Torah, a text touched by many hands over the years. While creator George Lucas’ initial narrative impulse — relying on dull arcana like the “Journal of the Whills” — was Midrashic, the many Jews who worked on the script, and eventually assumed the…
-
Pandemics have always incited anti-Semitism. Here’s the history you need to know.
Every pandemic begins with a terrifying moment in which it seems impossible to explain what is happening. Often, whoever is considered the “other” in society is blamed, a scapegoating we see happening here and now. President Trump’s administration has drawn criticism for periodically insisting on calling the coronavirus “the Chinese virus,” a move many see…
-
Sometimes freedom means leaving America behind
Editor’s Note: The Forward is featuring essays, poems and short stories written for our Young Writers Contest. Today’s entry was written by Cienna Olenick, a student at the College International in Fontainebleau, France. You can find more work from our young writers here. “Est-ce que vous etes demi-pensionnaire ou externe?” our teacher asked. The blank…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
- 2
Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
- 3
Fast Forward Hanukkah shooting leaves at least 15 dead at Australia’s most popular beach
- 4
Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward As Australian Jews call for action on antisemitism, prime minister unveils moves to curb hate speech
-
Opinion I’m a 25-year-old semi-Zionist. Here’s what that means this Hanukkah.
-
Fast Forward Ben Shapiro denounces Tucker Carlson at Heritage, urges policing of conservative movement
-
Fast Forward Citing Sydney attack, police in London say they will now arrest those who chant ‘globalize the intifada’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
