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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For Adrienne Rich, On Her 90th Birthday
At some point in your life, you will likely hear the maxim that the personal is political. Afterward, you will look at the paraphernalia of your existence, and wonder which parts, exactly, are covered by that idea. Your routine when you wake up? What you choose to cook? What you say when you greet a…
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Is ‘Catch-22’ About Joseph Heller’s Jewish Air Force Peer?
In spirit if not content, Joseph Heller’s World War II satire “Catch 22” (1961) is a very Jewish property. When Mike Nichols directed the 1970 film adaptation of the novel, he cast fellow Yid Alan Arkin as the lead character, Captain John Yossarian, a defiant air force officer who tries to end his flying days…
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As Opioid Lawsuits Pile Up, Met Decides To Refuse Money From Sacklers
In a landmark development, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has a decades-long connection to the Sackler family, the primary owners of Purdue Pharma, has decided to refuse future donations from family members connected to the business. The move follows the Met’s previously announced plan to reconsider its donor policy after a Massachusetts court…
The Latest
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A Harvard Magazine Made A Sex Joke About Anne Frank. It Wasn’t Just Offensive — It Was Boring.
You can see why the staff of the Harvard Lampoon found the idea funny. Photoshop Anne Frank’s head onto the body of a woman showing off a belly button piercing and surgically augmented breasts in a string bikini. Make sure a sufficient number of shirtless men in the background are staring appreciatively at her. And…
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Film & TV WATCH: Is Robert DeNiro’s New Ad Complicit In The Assimilation Of Bagels?
What is Jewish about Robert De Niro, Bolton, and Warburtons? On the surface, nothing. One is an actor known for primarily playing Italian-American roles. Another is a town in northwest England that once had a synagogue. And the other is a traditional English bakery firm. But what all these things have in common is the…
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June 25: Manhattan: Screening Of ‘To A More Perfect Union: U.S. v Windsor’
The Forward is excited to co-present a screening of “To A More Perfect Union: U.S. v Windsor,” a documentary exploring the history of the Gay Rights and Marriage Equality movement in the country, from the perspective of Edie Windsor and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan. Following the film, Forward writer-at-large Jane Eisner will interview Kaplan about…
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No Gefilte Here, But There’s Plenty Jewish At The First Academic Conference On Phish
Begining Friday, May 17, Oregon State University will host the first ever academic conference on the jam band Phish, a rock quartet formed at Vermont’s Goddard College and known for its virtuosic improvisation, legendary concerts and devoted following. One of the panels will be devoted exclusively to Phish and the Jews. What’s Jewish about Phish?…
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7 New Books To Read This May
I once read an interview with a book critic who noted that if, as a professional critic, she read five books a week for 50 years, she would only have read 13,000 books by the end of her career. 13,000 isn’t small change. But seeing the number of new and upcoming books that cross my…
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Film & TV The Secret Jewish History Of Doris Day
She was the iconic, American girl-next-door. She was wholesome, blonde, perky, Midwestern – a bubbly cheerleader who liked hunky guys. She was white bread with mayonnaise, with perhaps a frisky dollop of mustard. Singer and actress Doris Day – who died on May 13 at age 97 – was a lot of things to a…
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Did Susan Sontag Write Her Ex-Husband’s Most Famous Book?
A new biography of Susan Sontag reveals that the late author’s first published book may well have been released under another name: That of her ex-husband. The sociologist Philip Rieff, whom Sontag married in 1950, launched his career with his 1959 book “Freud: The Mind of the Moralist.” (The book was released in the same…
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Stan Lee May Be Getting A Statue In New York City — Here’s What We Think It Should Look Like
The world today hardly needs a reminder of comic legend Stan Lee’s contribution to our culture. The latest Marvel movie, “Avengers: Endgame,” is currently the second-highest grossing film of all time. A quick trip to Times Square will yield sightings of building-length billboards with Lee’s super-powered creations and about a score of people in bootleg…
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