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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I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
San Wei, which serves pastrami sandwiches along with churros and biang biang noodles, represents an immigrant's fulfillment of the American dream
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Jeremy Borovitz: The Accidental Eyewitness
A New Jersey-bred rabbi’s son and Peace Corps member, Borovitz, 32, has long been drawn to Jewish Europe — it was the subject of his first conversation with Rebecca Blady, who became his wife, a rabbi as well, and his comrade in creating an irreverent, innovative outreach program called Base Berlin. Organizing largely through social…
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Forward 50 | Josh and Benny Safdie: The hoop dreamers
We have the Safdies to thank for pushing Adam Sandler outside of his sophomoric comfort zone for a career-best performance as gambling-addicted jeweler Howard Ratner. Their newly released film, “Uncut Gems,” elevates the brothers’ already remarkable, neon- and desperation-drenched oeuvre by taking on a different side of New York: The glitzy, Glatt-certified row of Manhattan’s…
The Latest
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Rachel Sumekh: The Supreme Swiper
As an undergraduate at UCLA in 2010, Rachel Sumekh and a few friends experimented with donating the excess funds on the meal plans to classmates who needed them. Now 28, Sumekh runs a national nonprofit, Swipe Out Hunger, which enlists students at 100 universities to donate their unused meal points to peers struggling to pay…
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Forward 50 | Catherine Cohen: The comedy chanteuse
Catherine Cohen, 28, leapt onto the comedy scene with musical monologues that pay jazzy, manic homage to anxiety, exhibitionism and her reproductive health. She hosts a weekly revue of young, diverse talent at Club Cumming. A Houston native, Cohen can now be seen beyond the crowded cabaret space, making scene-stealing appearances in HBO’s “High Maintenance”…
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Dr. Margot Kushel: Warrior For The Homeless
Dr. Margot Kushel is one of the nation’s leading researchers into geriatric homelessness, she approaches the topic with her Jewish values in mind. In 2006, Kushel co-wrote the first study on the issue, discovering that the average age of the homeless population in the United States was in the mid-50s. Since then, Kushel, who is…
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Sarah Hurwitz: Speechwriter for Judaism
What are Democrats to do in the Trump era? Sarah Hurwitz, who spent seven years as Michelle Obama’s chief speechwriter after doing the same for President Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton, decided to write for herself. Her book, “Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life — in Judaism,” was published…
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Moishe Ferencz: Supermarket Widower
Moishe Ferencz opened JC Kosher Supermarket on Martin Luther King Drive in 2017 after he and his wife, Mindy, moved from Brooklyn searching for more financial stability and space for their three children. Moishe and Mindy ran a successful business together, putting out hot kugel and cholent for their customers each Thursday and selling at…
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Hanukkah Then And Now: In Search Of The Historic Latke
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. A Latke Origin…
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I Wanted To Know The Real Etgar Keret. So I Took Him To A Clowning Class.
“I think all of us love this work because we see the humanity involved. We see the sweep.” Jean Taylor, an instructor in theatrical clowning with the Barrow Group, paced a few steps in a small, white-walled studio a few blocks from Times Square while Israeli short story writer Etgar Keret and I sat on…
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Every American Hanukkah Special, Movie And TV Episode Worth Knowing About
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Hanukkah’s profile has grown over the years due to its proximity to Christmas. It’s also true that because of this nearness, it is the Jewish holiday the most Christians are familiar with. And yet, while Jews are said to control the entertainment industry, we’ve made our greatest festive…
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UNESCO Cuts Ties With Belgian Parade Over Anti-Semitic Float
Following months of outrage over an anti-Semitic float included in a popular Belgian carnival, UNESCO has severed ties with the festival, which the cultural arm of the U.N. added to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2010. In March, the Aalst Carnival included a parade float featuring Jews with hooked noses and side-curls perched atop…
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Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
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Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
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Fast Forward Columbia staff receive texts asking if they’re Jewish, as government hunts antisemitic harassment on campus
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Special Report Trump and Jews: The first 100 days
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Fast Forward Ben-Gvir says he met with 4 members of Congress, rebuffed protesters at US Capitol
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