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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They were a kosher bakery success story — 80 years later, people are still trying to make a buck off their babka
The tale of Schick's Bakery is one of 20th-century ingenuity and 21st-century capitalism
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Music WATCH: That Time Leonard Cohen Was On ‘Miami Vice’
The late Leonard Cohen worked in many mediums – poetry, music, fiction – less remembered is his contribution to the realm of drama. And what a contribution it is! Visitors to the new exhibit “A Crack in Everything” at the Jewish Museum will find, amid relics more germane to the artist’s ongoing influence in the…
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Mother’s Day Honor Roll
Happy Mother’s Day! We’re pleased to honor our readers’ moms, bubbes and other beloved women in their lives. Thank you for supporting Jewish journalism, Jewish life and Jewish community. Esther Bar-lev (in memory) Paula Bennett (in honor) Leila Fisher (in honor) Suzi Fisher (in honor) Carole Garber (in honor) Judy Greenberg (in honor) Janet Hadda…
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How Vivian B. Mann Turned Deuteronomy’s Tears into Jewish Art Exultation
Vivian Beth Mann, who died on May 6 at age 75, exemplified the moral duty of art historians by rediscovering the cultural and religious past of the Jewish people. Her pioneering studies of Jewish culture in the Middle Ages in Spain; Italy; Turkey; and Morocco continue to inspire younger scholars. Whether writing on court Jews…
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Music How To Listen to Tchaikovsky While Looking Past His Anti-Semitism
Editor’s Note: Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky was born on this day in May 7, 1840. Here’s a look at the brilliant composer’s complicated history: When the conductor Semyon Bychkov arrived at a Russian-style cafe in midtown Manhattan to discuss the upcoming Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky festival at the New York Philharmonic, I handed the conductor a one-page…
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Film & TV WATCH: In The Latest Twist From ‘Game of Thrones,’ Author George R.R. Martin Learns He’s Part Jewish
One of the biggest paradigm shifts in “Game of Thrones” came this season when Jon Snow, that pouty-lipped warrior who grew up believing he was a bastard, learned of his true parentage and, in so doing, discovered he was the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne. But while fans of the show are now seeing…
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Seattle Times Suspends Journalist Mike Rosenberg For Sexually Harassing Messages
The Seattle Times has suspended journalist Mike Rosenberg after a female freelancer posted screenshots to Twitter of a conversation in which he appeared to have made sexually explicit remarks. The screenshots, which the freelancer, Talia Jane, posted as part of a thread the morning of May 5, began with Rosenberg encouraging Jane to seek out…
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Art Why Did This Pioneering Trustee Leave LACMA And Place His Prized Collection With The Getty?
Editor’s Note: This is the second story in a series about the work and art of Käthe Kollwitz and how it influenced artists, activists and collectors like Dr. Richard Simms. Read Part I here. Dr. Richard A. Simms devoted himself to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for 33 years. From the time it…
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The Odyssey Of Dr. Richard Simms — An Art Collector Like No Other
Editor’s Note: This is the first story in a series about the work and art of Käthe Kollwitz and how it influenced artists, activists and collectors like Dr. Richard Simms. Read Part II here. When Richard A. Simms told his grandmother that he wanted to become an artist, she fired back, “No, boy, you will…
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Robert Alter And The Art Of Biblical Disappointment
The Art of Bible Translation By Robert Alter Princeton University Press, 152 pages, $24.95 Students disappoint their teachers constantly, but we enjoy doing so only rarely. Only once have I pleasurably frustrated Robert Alter’s hopes. I was sitting in his office, where I had come to discuss my paper for a graduate seminar on Exodus….
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Art How Sex And Power Collude — The Uncompromising Art Of Nancy Spero
In a civilization neurotic with branding, some artists are identified as simply “artists,” while others get qualified. Nancy Spero, whose wonderful work is now a subject of a major show at MOMA PS1, is often called a “political artist,” or “artist and activist.” Even as they attempt to be merely descriptive, or even honorific, such…
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Folksbiene Plans Ambitious Season To Follow Yiddish ‘Fiddler’
The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene has a tough act to follow for its 105th season. Last year, the Folksbiene launched a remarkably successful Yiddish production of “Fiddler on the Roof” that, following a sold-out run at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, transferred Off-Broadway, where it is currently playing at Stage 42. In its 2019-2020 season,…
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Fast Forward Jewish postwar epic ‘The Brutalist’ picks up 10 Oscar nominations, with ‘A Complete Unknown’ close behind
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Yiddish װי די סאָװעטישע געהײם־פּאָליצײ האָט נאָכגעשפּירט די ייִדישע ליטעראַטןHow the Soviet secret police kept surveillance on Yiddish writers
נײַע אַרכיװאַלע דאָקומענטן אַנטפּלעקן אַ ים מיט מסירות, װאָס אײניקע ייִדישע ליטעראַטן האָבן געשריבן אױף זײערע קאָלעגעס.
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Fast Forward Alleged Nashville school shooter appears to have praised Hitler and shared neo-Nazi content
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Film & TV In the Oscar race: Bob Dylan and Laszlo Toth face the limits of Jewish reinvention
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