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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The Berlin Jewish Museum’s Director Resigned Over A BDS Controversy. Scholars Are Rallying To Support Him.
Days after the resignation of Peter Schäfer from his role as director of Berlin’s Jewish Museum, nearly 500 scholars from around the world voiced support of his leadership and admiration for his contributions to the field of Jewish studies. Schäfer resigned on June 14 following backlash over a tweet, sent from the Museum’s Twitter account,…
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Nintendo Opens Its Second Official Store In Tel Aviv
We hope Mario likes shawarma. On June 24, Nintendo opened its second ever brick-and-mortar store in Tel Aviv, Israel. The video game company, known for its stable of colorful characters and inventive hardware, launched its first official retail location in 2005 at Rockefeller Center. With the Tel Aviv location, its second ever, we sense a…
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‘Ishtar’ Is Still Far From Perfect — But It’s Still Unlike Anything Else
Elaine May’s 1987 flop, “Ishtar,” might well be the most accomplished punching bag in cinematic history. The reasons aren’t hard to figure out, but are almost too numerous to name. Well before the film hit theaters, reports of infighting between May, her cinematographer, Vittorio Storaro, the post-production team and the cast leaked to the press…
The Latest
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The Terror Attack That Wasn’t — Pride And Poetry in Dupont Circle
I was not shot as I lay on the floor of a Japanese restaurant in Washington D.C. while the city’s Pride Parade erupted into panic. Not a scratch on me. I didn’t suffer a sprained ankle or other light injuries as others did, from running through the streets that radiate out from Dupont Circle. This…
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Former Mueller Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann To Write Book On Special Counsel Investigation
What do you do when you conclude a highly secretive, nearly two-year-long investigation into a sitting president? Get a book deal, of course. Andrew Weissmann, one of the top prosecutors on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, is breaking his silence on the inner workings of Mueller’s probe into the president and his advisors, The…
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Q&A: Author Julie Salamon On Leon Klinghoffer And The Hijacking That Horrified The World
In October 1985, guerrillas connected to the Palestinian Liberation Front hijacked an Italian cruise ship called the Achille Lauro. All of the passengers survived — save for Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled 69-year-old Jewish-American retiree. Klinghoffer was shot twice by the leader of the hijackers, Majid al-Molqi, and tossed into the ocean by two crew members…
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The Secret Jewish History Of ‘The Wizard Of Oz’
On its 80th anniversary, “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) remains one of the most influential musical films ever made in Hollywood, in part because of its Jewish inspiration. The film’s wide audience has always included Jewish spectators. The historian Adele Reinhartz has recalled the “religious” devotion with which her Canadian Jewish family binge-watched WoO, followed…
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Q & A: Stephanie Burt On Whether Poetry Matters
Does poetry matter? If you ask Stephanie Burt, the poet, Harvard University English professor and co-editor of poetry at The Nation, the answer is no. Well, almost. Burt, author of the newly-released “Don’t Read Poetry: A Book About How to Read Poems,” thinks the word “poetry” does a disservice to poems, obscuring the diversity of…
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David Mamet’s Harvey Weinstein Play Is As Bad As We Expected
In January, we reported with all due chagrin that David Mamet was premiering a play based on Harvey Weinstein on London’s West End. That play, “Bitter Wheat,” opened June 19 and early reviews have us even more confused — not about the play’s quality, but about its baseline reason for existing. In the production, John…
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Chagall’s ‘The Lovers’ Covered At The Met In Recognition Of Refugees
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is making a bold statement with one of its boldest holdings. “The Lovers” by Marc Chagall is covered this week in recognition of World Refugee Day on June 20, Artnet reported. The move is part of a partnership between the Met and the International Rescue Committee to draw attention to…
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For Garry Winogrand, All Great Photography Had To Be Jewish
Garry Winogrand was the restless omnivore of photography, the artist who surveyed all of midcentury America and swallowed it whole. In the work he produced between the 50s and the 80s, he embraced everything without ever quite endorsing or prettifying it. He approached his subjects, instead, with a kind of hard-won gusto: a willingness to…
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