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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Remembering Sasson Somekh, Who Insisted On Arab Literature’s Place In Israel
Editor’s note: This piece was originally published on September 22, 2012. It was republished on August 19, 2019 after Sasson Somekh’s death at age 86. Translations have the potential to communicate one culture to another, strengthening humanistic ties. Translators can be peacemakers, self-abnegatingly finding compromises in the perilous confrontation of languages. No one exemplified this…
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Hal Fischer’s Groundbreaking Photos Of Gay Life In San Francisco Find Permanent Home
The photographer and critic Hal Fischer worked on the front lines of history, recording gay life in San Francisco in the 1970s in the period between the Stonewall riots and the AIDS crisis. He captured the era’s vibrancy, pleasures and hazards through images of his ex-boyfriends, street scenes and idiosyncratic menswear. Now, over 40 years…
The Latest
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The ‘Lolita’ Story Nabokov Kept Hidden
Editor’s Note: On this date in 1958, Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” was published. Today, we return to our coverage of Sarah Weinman’s “The Real Lolita,” which looked at that book’s real-life inspiration. Sarah Weinman probably reads more than you do. According to tallies she has shared on Twitter (where she has more than 400,000 followers), she…
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Q & A: Why The Citizens Of A French Plateau Saved Hundreds During The Holocaust
The windswept plateau of Vivarais-Lignon in south-central France has a history of remarkable acts of sacrifice. For centuries, its residents have taken in refugees. In the 16th century, the largely Protestant plateau sheltered its coreligionists during religious wars. Two centuries later, the population hid Catholic priests during the French Revolution’s anti-clerical Reign of Terror. In…
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The Secret Jewish History Of Robert De Niro
Actor Robert De Niro, who turns 75 years old August 17, is perhaps best known for playing the roles of Italian gangsters and assorted crazies in his much lauded, 55-year career in film. An entire subgenre of his work, however, has been devoted to portraying Jewish characters: gangsters and otherwise. Far from being typecast in…
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October 23: Manhattan: Opening Reception For ‘Pressed: Images From The Jewish Daily Forward’
Join the Forward in celebrating the opening of an exhibit at the Museum at Eldridge Street in Manhattan, featuring the storied publication’s treasured vintage photographic press plates. “Pressed: Images from the Jewish Daily Forward” is a collaboration with Eldridge Street and the Bowne Print Shop at the Seaport Museum. The opening is Wednesday, October 23…
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Woodstock Changed The World. Here’s The Inside Story Of How Max Yasgur Made It Happen.
On the afternoon of August 17, 1969, during a rare clear-skied moment in a weekend of driving rain, dairy farmer Max Yasgur addressed a crowd of thousands assembled on his Bethel, New York property for the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. “I’m a farmer,” Yasgur said to the applause of the 400,000 people gathered for…
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Ken Cuccinelli Isn’t The First Trump Official To Go After Emma Lazarus — Just The Latest
Updated on August 14: This article has been updated to reflect more recent comments made by USCIS acting director Ken Cuccinelli. Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, caused a stir Tuesday morning by misquoting “The New Colossus,” the poem that famously occupies the base of the Statue of Liberty, while…
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He Costumed The Great Jewish Films Of The 20th Century — Including Some That Were Never Made
The Oscar-winning Italian costume designer Piero Tosi, who died on August 10 at age 92, proved that even the most storied showbiz careers can include unrealized projects that provide a tantalizing glimpse at lost opportunities. The Florence-born Tosi, once described by the essayist Alberto Arbasino as “modest to a pathological level,” had much to be…
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The Secret Jewish History of the Rocky Horror Picture Show
“Rocky Horror,” which opened in London cinemas on this day in 1975 is the cultural phenomenon that simply refuses to die. Rather, since its first incarnation as a 1973 London stage musical, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has been continuously reborn on the silver screen, in subsequent Broadway stage productions, and, in 2016, as a…
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Paula Vogel’s ‘How I Learned To Drive’ Will Debut On Broadway With Some Familiar Faces
Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “How I Learned to Drive” will make debut on Broadway, 23 years after its Off-Broadway premiere. And its original main cast and director will return for the occasion. Tony Award winner Mary-Louise Parker and Tony nominee David Morse, who originated the roles of Li’l Bit and Uncle Peck in 1997,…
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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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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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward As Supreme Court considers religious charter schools, Justice Kagan speculates about publicly funded yeshivas
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Fast Forward A Jewish city attorney is going after pro-Palestinian protesters. Her Oct. 7 tweets are making it complicated.
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Fast Forward Kehlani responds to Cornell concert cancellation: ‘I am not antisemitic’
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Fast Forward David Horowitz, ’60s radical turned right-wing firebrand and critic of Islam, dies at 86
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