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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These 16 Jewish Heroes Rescued Books From The Jaws Of The Censors
It started in 1982. A former reference librarian named Judith Krug was working as the director of the Office of Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association. It was Reagan time in America, the era of televangelist Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority. Falwell had recently put out a letter, suggesting that “Our Bodies, Ourselves,”…
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Belgian Politician’s Swastika Painting Displayed At Brussels Gallery — And Jews Protest
JTA — Jewish community leaders in Belgium protested a local politician’s placing of a swastika painting titled “God created A. Hitler” in the window display of an art gallery in Brussels. The painting by Fatmir Limani, an artist and the Socialist Party alderman in charge of cultural affairs in the Brussels-area municipality of Koekelberg, is…
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A Happy 85th Birthday To Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen would have turned 85 today. Here’s how Ezra Glinter, a Forward editor and fellow Montreal native, profiled the master composer on the occasion of the artist’s 80th birthday in 2014. When I moved to Montreal in the summer of 2004 the city was about to experience two end-of-an-era events, though I knew nothing…
The Latest
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The Secret Jewish History Of Stephen King
Author Stephen King was really born with that name. Not for him the path from Irwin Alan Kniberg to Alan King. He came out all ready, at least in name, to become one of the best-selling authors of all time, just as he was. Although when it came time for the prolific writer — as…
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The ‘Downton Abbey’ Film May Not Be Jewish – But The Show Was Once
I stopped watching “Downton Abbey” right after that milk truck ran Matthew Crawley off the road at the end of Season 3. Apparently, while I was gone — seeking my blue-blooded intrigue elsewhere (Westeros, mainly) — the series introduced some Jewish elements. Who knew! Well, if you are one of the millions who plan on…
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How Roy Cohn’s Shame Made Him – And Trump – Shameless
Everyone was afraid of Roy Cohn — until no one was. A fixer, a liar, a self-loathing Jew and viciously homophobic homosexual, he seized on the Big Lie advanced by Adolf Hitler to advocate for his clients, smear his opponents and shield himself from a mountain of indictments. His first case to gain national attention…
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Who Owns Leo Strauss?
Political philosopher Leo Strauss was born on this day in 1899. For his 120th birthday, we look back on this essay that the Forward published about Steven Smith’s 2006 book “Reading Leo Strauss.” During his lifetime, the German émigré political philosopher Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was barely noticed, except by students at the University of Chicago…
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Exhibit On Nazi Design Sparks Concern And Protests
A Netherlands museum’s multimedia exhibit on design in Nazi Germany has drawn protests and condemnation over fears that the show does not do enough to contextualize its provocative content. “Design of the Third Reich,” now running at the Design Museum Den Bosch in the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, features the propaganda films of Leni Riefenstahl…
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Brian Epstein: A Timeline Of The Jewish Beatle
On this day in 1934, Brian Epstein — future manager of The Beatles — was born. In celebration of what would have been Epstein’s 85th birthday, here’s a look at some of the highlights of the life of “The Fifth Beatle.” 1934 Born on Yom Kippur to Jewish parents who lived on Rodney Street in Liverpool…
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Jonathan Safran Foer Is ‘Extremely And Very Cautiously Hopeful’ On Climate Change
On page 64 of Jonathan Safran Foer’s latest book, “We Are The Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast,” he admits he’s been burying the lede. “This is a book about the impacts of animal agriculture on the environment,” Foer writes, owning that he evaded the issue for 63 pages because he feared readers would…
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How Judaism Helped Me Find Meaning In Washington, D.C.
Sarah Hurwitz, who worked in the White House from 2009 to 2017, served as First Lady Michelle Obama’s head speechwriter. Her book, “Here All Along,” from which the following essay has been excerpted, describes the author’s spiritual journey as she rediscovers and re-embraces her Judaism. I know I disappoint people when I give them honest…
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