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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Is it really time to cancel ‘Blazing Saddles?’
It’s morning in America, and protestors have toppled yet another Confederate monument. But as that trend gains traction both on the streets and in the halls of Congress, a different sort of tribute to Old Dixie was placed on the chopping block. The new streaming service HBO Max announced it was removing “Gone with the…
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In ‘Gone With the Wind,’ a complicated Jewish subtext
The news that HBO Max streaming service has temporarily removed “Gone with the Wind” from its library to be refurbished with historical information and a “denouncement” of its ethnic and racial prejudices raises the question of how the film’s Yiddishkeit influenced this content. The 1939 film based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel had Jewish elements, starting…
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A portrait of Israel’s first family — and Israel, itself
Moshe Dayan was an icon with an eyepatch. He commanded the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, marched victorious through the Lions’ Gate in the 1967 Six Day War and served six prime ministers in matters of war and state. But he wasn’t alone either in his achievements or his eventual decline. The Dayans,…
The Latest
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After Whitney row and Minneapolis outrage, Warren Kanders will stop making tear gas
Warren B. Kanders, the embattled former trustee of the Whitney Museum, will divest his company from divisions that produce tear gas, crowd-control munitions and riot equipment. Kanders, who stepped down as vice chair of the Whitney board following protests alleging that his company Safariland provided tear gas used at the U.S.-Mexico border and sponge munitions…
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MAD Magazine legend Al Jaffee folds it in at 99 — check out his last Fold-In
When it comes to comics, Fold-In king Al Jaffee has had a record-setting run. Now, the veteran cartoonist is retiring just shy of his 100th year. Jaffee, who holds the title for the longest-working comic artist of all time, worked for MAD Magazine for 65 years. In that time, he was something of a waggish…
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Mark Cuban: Being Jewish ‘allowed me to be more empathetic’
On June 1, Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner and “Shark Tank” staple made a direct appeal to white people on Twitter, asking them to change their ways to improve the world for people of color. Dear White People: We are the ones that need to change. This is not one man’s story. This is…
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A daughter of Vienna returns to a traumatic past — and finds her home
I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family’s Story of Exile and Return By Anna Goldenberg Translated from German by Alta L. Price New Vessel Press, 207 pp, $16.95 Burdened by the legacy of trauma, children of Holocaust survivors such as Eva Hoffman, Thane Rosenbaum and Art Spiegelman face the challenge of penetrating their parents’ obdurate…
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Why Christo didn’t matter — and why that matters
Christo, who passed away last month at the age of 84, had a lot in common with some other famous one-namers. Like Ozymandias, he’s remembered for building big, eye-catching things that don’t exist anymore. Like Cher, he was around for most of the back half of the 20th century and a good chunk of 21st,…
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Why Jews loved Charles Dickens — and even Fagin
When Sholem Aleichem’s stories were translated into Russian, renowned critic Alexander Amfiteatrov likened him to Charles Dickens. The great Yiddish writer balked at the comparison. “He imagines that our literature has the amplitude of English literature and can produce a Dickens!” Sholem Aleichem wrote to his son-in-law, Y.D. Berkowitz. “Were Amfiteatrov to spend even a…
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His ads changed how Jews were perceived — do they still matter?
Advertising is a form of history. That’s the overwhelming thought you get when you listen to the legendary Gary Wexler discuss his 20 years of arresting, moving, and often simply heart-stopping advertisements about Jewish community and identity that will now be an archive at the National Library of Israel. While Jewish history is often told…
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What was Jewish about Jimmy Durante? More than you might think.
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of the entertainer Jimmy Durante (1893-1980), whose artistry was linked with Yiddishkeit. Durante’s nickname, Schnozzola, is an American adaptation of the Yiddish slang term schnoz for nose. An able jazz pianist and endearing comedian, Durante was also capable of poignant singing. When he performed the German…
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News ‘It’s the Jews’: San Diego mosque shooters decried ‘the universal enemy’ in hate-filled manifesto
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Music For Bob Dylan’s 85th birthday, an 85-minute playlist
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Opinion Netanyahu is facing electoral catastrophe — and could place Israel in existential peril
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Culture Proposal to ban Israeli products roils a Brooklyn members-only grocery
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Fast Forward Massive fire breaks out at kosher supermarket in London’s Golders Green
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Books Reading a Pakistani author’s 30-year-old novel helped me understand my parents’ views on intermarriage
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Yiddish נײַ־אַנטדעקטע פּרטים וועגן די סאָוועטישע ייִדן צווישן 1945 און 1953Newly discovered details about Soviet Jewry between 1945 and 1953
אַנאַ שטערנשיס האָט געזאַמלט הונדערטער בעל־פּהיִקע גבֿית־עדותן פֿון מענער און פֿרױען פֿון פֿאַרשײדענע סאָציאַלע שיכטן.
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Fast Forward Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Coop votes to boycott Israeli products