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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I’m a rabbi and a lifelong reader. These are the books I’m turning to for comfort.
As we as a society take steps to stem the novel coronavirus outbreak, we have plenty of enforced time at home. But although your body may be stuck inside, your mind can still roam the universe. This is a time to read: long books you’ve never gotten to, or new kinds of books you never…
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How the Jews Made America Irish
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in the Forward on March 17, 2014. Even with St. Patrick’s Day upon us, it’s hard to say just when and where the first major alliance between the Jews and the Irish was forged in this country, but the Chicago office of Dankmar Adler, architect and engineer, back…
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Daily distraction: Ben Platt’s dance party, the Folksbiene online and ‘West Side Story’
As the novel coronavirus outbreak continues, social distancing remains the cool thing to do — just listen to Mel Brooks. Luckily, our favorite cultural figures and institutions continue to find creative ways to keep us entertained. In case you missed our first installment, as the country enters an unprecedented period of isolation to stem the…
The Latest
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Mel and Max Brooks’ father-son coronavirus PSA is a must-watch
“World War Z” author Max Brooks makes a living selling stories of the zombie apocalypse. But today, he’s enlisting his followers to help stave off the apocalypse at hand. On Twitter, the writer teamed up with his father, the veteran comedian and director Mel Brooks, to demonstrate proper social distancing techniques in the confusing era…
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We used to conduct weddings in cemeteries to fight epidemics — really
As the world confronts the novel coronavirus pandemic, many Jewish leaders are urging their communities to make changes in their lives to help cut the crisis short: Don’t kiss mezuzot, convene with your minyan online. Keep events like weddings small, if at all possible. But in past moments of public health crisis, our community wasn’t…
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Daily distraction: How to stay engaged — and entertained — through a time of isolation
Listen: If Arnold Schwarzenegger can absolutely revel in being quarantined with his miniature horse and miniature donkey (yes, really!), you can find some comfort and joy in isolation, too. Starting today, we’ll be sharing recommendations each day on how to stay engaged with the world in these times of quarantine and isolation. They’ll range from…
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The secret Jewish history of St. Patrick’s Day
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the Forward on March 16, 2018. If you are Jewish and you feel drawn somehow to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, there are more than a dozen good reasons why. St. Patrick’s Day and Purim typically appear on the calendar within a few weeks of each other. In…
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‘The Plot Against America’: How the Forward reported the transformation of Charles A. Lindbergh
Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America” is in some ways his least speculative book. Many of the characters, including Roth, his brother and his parents, are real, and most of the events that precede his counterhistory — where Charles A. Lindbergh becomes president in 1940 — truly happened. Roth’s Newark, was a thoroughly Jewish, if…
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David Simon on ‘The Plot Against America’ and our crisis of democracy
Anti-Semite, aviator and national hero Charles Lindbergh never ran for president — but isolationists thought of courting his candidacy more than once. The first time was in 1940, when some Republicans considered him for their ticket against incumbent Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The second time was in 1944, when Gerald L.K. Smith sought him as the…
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‘The Plot Against America’ is truer than even Philip Roth knew
The book and HBO series reflects real-world Nazi movements in Newark and across the United States
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On his birthday, Albert Einstein’s true relationship to Judaism — and Zionism
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on November 22, 2015, the 100th anniversary. Is any name more synonymous with Jewish genius than Albert Einstein? By speaking out against anti-Semitism and lending his brand to institutions like the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Einstein became a standard-bearer for the Diaspora. As a prominent booster of…
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