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
-
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
-
At 95, the heroes of the Ghost Army relive the battles of WWII
This top-secret unit used inflatable tanks, planes and phony encampments to dupe the German army
-
Film & TV The Trailer For Woody Allen’s New Film Has Us Concerned
One of the ironies of “A Rainy Day in New York,” Woody Allen’s recently-shelved film, is it may prove quite difficult to see in New York — or, really anywhere in the United States. While it’s still scheduled to make its way to parts of Europe, Amazon pulled the plug on the picture’s release last…
The Latest
-
Film & TV The Film Adaptation Of ‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ Looks Terrifying
Page for page, there may be no more frightening children’s books than “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” With apologies to the prolific but seldom shudder-inducing R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” series, Alvin Schwartz’s three-book collection of ghost stories and eerie folk tales has remained the juvenile nightmare fuel par excellence since the first volume dropped…
-
Film & TV Woody Allen Will Begin Production On His 51st Film This Summer
50 films would have been a nice, round number for Woody Allen to quietly end his career with. But it looks like we’re getting another anyway. Following ongoing litigation with Amazon Studios over breach of contract on a four-picture deal spurred in part by Allen’s comments about Harvey Weinstein and revived allegations that Allen molested…
-
High Constable Jacob Hays: New York’s Forgotten Jewish Super Cop
In the early years of the American republic, cities were different. Most of the young nation lived outside of urban areas, and at the turn of the 19th century, the now-sprawling metropolis of New York City contained a mere 60,000 souls mainly clustered at Manhattan’s southern tip. A modest city meant a modest form of…
-
Why Saul Bellow Really Matters Right Now
As I walked into the completely packed house for a performance of “The Adventures of Augie March” — the new play based on the Saul Bellow novel that is making its world premiere right now in Chicago — I thought of how Bellow was once everywhere. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature; taught at…
-
The Elusive Jewishness of “Eyes Wide Shut” — Stanley Kubrick’s Final Film
The inherent Jewishness of Arthur Schnitzler’s “Traumnovelle” — the source text for “Eyes Wide Shut” — presented early problems. Stanley Kubrick’s films rarely contained Jewish characters —Lt. Goldberg in “Dr. Strangelove” and David the Jew in “Spartacus” are rare exceptions. Typically, though, he removed Jewish characters from the source texts he adapted, including “The Killing,”…
-
Stanley Tigerman, Architect Behind Illinois Holocaust Museum, Dies At 88
Stanley Tigerman, the prickly and inventive Chicago architect known for designing the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center died Monday, June 4. The 88-year-old passed from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in his Chicago home, Architect magazine reported, citing his widow and work partner, Margaret McCurry. In his nearly 60-year-career, Tigerman designed over 450 buildings and…
-
Books Shavuot, The Jewish Festival Of Sex, Books And Cheese Is Upon Us. Let’s Rage.
The ancient harvest festival of Shavuot, which begins this Saturday at sunset, is an all-night bacchanal of reading, arguing, and cheese. It’s a celebration of a lot of things: the grain harvest season, God’s giving of the Torah to the people of Israel, and the right to eat dairy. On Shavuot, we read the Book…
-
Q & A: How Do You Write A History Of The Bible?
The Bible may be the most-recognized book in the world, but its origins remain obscure. We can’t say with certainty who wrote much of it, when the bulk of it was composed or even where. But we now have a handy primer to the most significant theories about those questions in John Barton’s “The History…
-
My Mother Survived Italy’s Bombing Of Tel Aviv. Her Life Was Never The Same
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. About 100 years ago my great-grandfather, Zvi Yaakov (Hirsh) Levin, who had immigrated to America with his family from Shat, Lithuania, decided to sell his share in the family business in Chicago and emigrate to Mandatory Palestine with his wife, children and grandchildren. His longing to live…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture What a lion, a rabbi, and a dog taught me about grief
-
Music After over decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
-
Art How a Lower East Side Jew conquered the multiverse
-
Fast Forward Right-wing activists riot outside Israeli-Palestinian memorial event at Reform synagogue in Israel
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
