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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Yavilah McCoy: A Force For Inclusion
When the Women’s March expanded its steering committee as part of a response to allegations of anti-Semitism, Yavilah McCoy was one of three Jews who joined. On the morning of this year’s rally in January, McCoy opened her speech with a ringing “Shabbat Shalom.” Later, she told Essence magazine that for Jewish women of color,…
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Gabe Fleisher: The Boy Who Scooped Bill De Blasio
One Wednesday in May after a school exam, Gabe Fleisher tripped across a Facebook event from a county Democratic Party page in Iowa that said Sioux City was the first stop on Bill de Blasio’s “Presidential announcement tour.” This was interesting — because de Blasio had not yet announced he was actually running. So Fleisher,…
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Forward 50 | Max Kellerman: The pundit of sports passion
Nearly 17 years ago, the Forward’s Rukhl Schaechter wrote a short, and endearing, portrait of Max Kellerman, who at the time was not yet 30 years old but was already becoming widely known as a sports commentator on ESPN. Kellerman, it turned out, had gone to Yiddish classes every Saturday with his three brothers while…
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Forward 50 | Bari Weiss: The commentator the left loves to hate
Sassy, smart, savvy and supremely connected, Weiss, 35, was everywhere in 2019: speaking, Tweeting, columnizing and otherwise engaging on the year’s top Jewish concern: How to Fight Anti-Semitism, which also happens to be the title of her first book, published in September. A former Forward staffer, her day job is as a writer and editor…
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Forward 50 | Adam Serwer: Voice of the devastated left
Adam Serwer, 37, is one of the most important journalists on the left writing today. A staff writer at The Atlantic, he delivers trenchant analysis and gives voice to the devastating frustration many feel with the Trump Administration. In the wake of the family separation policy that tore migrant children from their mothers’ arms, Serwer,…
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Ilana Kaufman: The Outsider’s Insider
A queer Jewish woman of color, Ilana Kaufman, 47, has emerged as a national voice for diversity and inclusivity. For years she has pushed for policy changes to make Jews of color and LGBTQ Jews more welcome in Jewish institutions. It’s only fitting that this year she was named director of the Jews of Color…
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Forward 50 | Mikhl Yashinsky: Yiddish Renaissance Man
Mikhl Yashinsky has been casting a spell as the evil Bobe Yakhne in the Folksbiene’s revival of Abraham Goldfaden’s “The Sorceress.” Earlier this year he appeared as Mordkhe the Innkeeper in the Folksbiene’s smash-hit revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish, even pulling double duty for a time attending rehearsals for both shows. A…
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Adeena Sussman: Chef Of The Modern Middle East
In the U.S. it’s fairly easy to think you know all there is to know about Israeli cuisine. It’s all about hummus and falafel, right? With “Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors from My Israeli Kitchen,” Adeena Sussman, 48, became the latest in a line of cookbook authors — think Yotam Ottolenghi and Michael Solomonov — to…
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Forward 50 | Elliot Kukla: Pastor for the planet
Rabbi Elliot Kukla, 45, has always lived and worked with one foot in the future. In 2006, after co-founding TransTorah, he became the first openly transgender rabbi ordained by a recognized Jewish movement (Reform). Today, as a rabbi at San Francisco’s Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, he provides spiritual care around grieving, illness and dying….
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Dana Czapnik: New York Chronicler
Some people’s heroism can be seen in charitable works and mitzvot. Others favor the more quiet and reflective mitzvah — like writing a Great American Novel. Czapnik, 40, the New York-based granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, blazed onto the scene this year, demonstrating the kind of rare natural prowess usually ascribed to athletes — like teen basketball…
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Jordana Horn & Shannon Sarna: Mothers Of The Year
This year, Jordana Horn and Shannon Sarna started a Kveller podcast, “Call Your Mother,” to connect with fellow Jewish mothers. With nine — yes, nine! — children between them, Jordana, a journalist and lawyer, and Shannon, an author and editor of The Nosher, share the joys and chaos of life and parenting. The duo has…
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