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 Dead Sea Scrolls are in self-isolation — but they mean more than ever
In the weeks since the Israel Museum temporarily closed due to the coronavirus, Hagit Maoz, a curator there, has been dreaming of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In one of her dreams, the Great Isaiah Scroll, the oldest full version of the Book of Isaiah, has somehow come loose from its case. The parchment, free, flies…
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When Native Americans were the lost tribes of Israel
Old Canaan in a New World By Elizabeth Fenton NYU Press, 272 pages, $35 When I lived in West Jerusalem, I regularly walked past a large poster which featured a Native American man. He was wearing traditional clothing and a feathered war bonnet, and the caption said, “Ask me about land for peace.” Nothing could…
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Yesterday was fear, but today is serenity
Editor’s Note: The Forward’s Youth Writing Contest is asking middle and high school students to submit essays, short stories and poems on the topic “What It Means To Be Free.” We’re still accepting entries at [email protected] — you can find the entry guidelines here.The deadline is Friday, May 1. Today, we’re proud to publish this…
The Latest
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How to remember this socially-distanced Yom HaShoah
The evening of April 20, 2020 marks the begining of Yom HaShoah, when we honor the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust. This year, the ceremonies, which typically involve public gatherings with candle-lightings, have gone online only. But the project of remembering continues. Here are some ways to pay your respects. YAD VASHEM,…
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ABC’s ‘The Baker and the Beauty’ is a half-baked remake
The epoch of coronavirus is a time of quarantined batch-baking and sourdough starter. Many are now learning that when it comes to baking, the rules of chemistry apply. Things can’t be rushed and from scratch is better than a mix. ABC’s latest soapy import, “The Baker and the Beauty,” should take a lesson. Working from…
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How Trump uses blood libel rhetoric against ‘invisible enemy’
When President Trump uses the phrase “invisible enemy” to describe the coronavirus, he is using the vocabulary of medieval libels against Jews. Once we OPEN UP OUR GREAT COUNTRY, and it will be sooner rather than later, the horror of the Invisible Enemy, except for those that sadly lost a family member or friend, must…
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Coronavirus has made flaunting wealth taboo. What’s an influencer to do?
When Arielle Charnas developed symptoms of the novel coronavirus in mid-March, she found herself in the same boat as many New Yorkers: Sick, and scared. What happened next was less common. While the city’s medical system was even then stretched thin and tests for the virus were — as they remain — hard to come…
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The preliminary burdens of freedom
Editor’s Note: The Forward’s Youth Writing Contest is asking middle and high school students to submit essays, short stories and poems on the topic “What It Means To Be Free.” We’re still accepting entries at [email protected] — you can find the entry guidelines here.The deadline is Friday, May 1. Today, we’re proud to publish this…
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“She didn’t like it salty” — A tale from the Zabar’s lox counter
Her left arm was securely held by the health care worker who accompanied her. They approached the fish counter very slowly and carefully. With total disregard for who was next in line, she looked me in the eye and spoke. “I don’t want salty” she said in a belligerent tone. “I don’t want salty,” she…
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Finding freedom in the epicenter of a plague
Editor’s Note: The Forward’s Youth Essay Contest is asking middle and high school students to submit essays, short stories and poems on the topic “What It Means To Be Free.” We’re still accepting entries at [email protected] — you can find the entry guidelines here.The deadline is Friday, May 1. Today, we’re proud to publish this…
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Joseph Feingold, survivor and documentary subject, dies at 97
Joseph Feingold, a Holocaust survivor, architect and memoirist whose gift of music brought a unique friendship to a South Bronx community died April 15 of pneumonia and COVID-19. He was 97. Jozef Fajngold was born to socialist parents on March 23, 1923 in Warsaw. His father, Aron, a carpenter, and mother Ruchele (nee Jakubowski), a…
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