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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In place of a proud emblem of Jewish immigration in NYC, million-dollar condos and a private garden
Gentrification comes for the Bialystoker Center and Home for the Aged
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The Real Amy Winehouse Surfaces In New Photo Book
When we imagine Amy Winehouse, the late and troubled singer-songwriter of “Rehab,” we may imagine her jet-black bouffant or her severe eyeliner. A new photo book, out in August from Taschen, appears to challenge and, at times, reinforce that image. Simply titled “Amy Winehouse,” the book seeks to strip away the patina of makeup to…
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How David Avidan Became Hebrew’s Most Experimental Poet
A new and important translation aims to introduce readers to David Avidan, the most experimental poet in the history of Hebrew poetry, and a poet unjustly unknown to nearly all English-language readers. Avidan was also a filmmaker, a conceptual artist, and a television and radio host. In all his pursuits, he was obsessed with the…
The Latest
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How Jewish Movie Moguls Quietly Helped To Fight The Nazis
Open Culture has published an article praising the Warner Brothers loud dissent against Nazis and censors in the 1930s by producing such films as “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” and the Hitler-lampooning cartoon, “Bosko’s Picture Show.” The Warners, children of Polish immigrants, were certainly outspoken among the cadre of Jewish studio heads at the time,…
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Film & TV Why Claude Lanzmann Still Matters
Claude Lanzmann, the French Jewish journalist, author, and filmmaker who died on July 5 at age 92, was not a believer in the proverb “live and let live.” As he explained in his memoir “The Patagonian Hare,” his celebrated film “Shoah” (1985) required aggressively pursuing Nazi murderers to demand explanations of their crimes. Fortunately, Lanzmann…
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Remembering Max Fuchs — A Cantor Of Heroism And Defiance
Mordechai (Max) Fuchs, who died on July 3 at age 96, was a survivor of a time when heard Jewish melodies were sweet, but those unheard were sweeter. An amateur cantor, he participated as a rifleman in the Normandy Invasion on D-Day, landing on Omaha Beach, where he was hit by shrapnel. Born in Rzeszów,…
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RBG Goes Classical For New Album Inspired By Her Life
With Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement threatening to throw the Supreme Court’s balance off kilter, all eyes are on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the famous dissenter and keeper of the progressive flame — but all ears? A new, nine-song cycle inspired by the liberal lion’s life is now available for those who can’t get enough RBG. While…
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Watch An Animated Introduction To Anna Freud
On July 4, 2018, Open Culture featured a video from Alain de Botton’s School of Life Youtube series wherein Freud’s favorite daughter, Anna, swats away blowfish and frolics among cutouts of a drunkard, a dejected child and a mustachioed gymnast with a bib and pacifier. It’s quite the ride. The six and a half minute…
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Forverts Seeks More Stories About Your Favorite Heirlooms
Earlier this year, the Forverts asked readers to submit anecdotes and photos of their favorite heirlooms. Heirlooms are not only a way of keeping us connected to our past; they are also a wonderful way to transmit family history to our children and grandchildren The response to our search was an enthusiastic one and 22…
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How A Daughter Of The French Resistance Learned The Truth Of Her Roots
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. This article is part of a series based on oral-history interviews with students of Yiddish and other members of the community at the Medem Library ~ Paris Yiddish Center. The first article appeared in Yiddish on March 18. Simone Virsube’s story begins in 1946, some months after…
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Film & TV Meet The Real Mrs. Maisel: Jean Carroll
I am a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University, where I am currently working on a monograph about the very first Jewish female comedian, Jean Carroll — which is an academic way of saying that I am very, very invested in the actual Jewish, female pioneer of stand-up. I wasn’t sure that “Mrs. Maisel” would do…
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How Hasidic Sages Supported Transgender People — 200 Years Ago
Editor’s note: We are republishing this interview with Abby Stein in honor of her new book, “Becoming Eve,” being published this week. This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Abby Stein, who grew up in a rabbinical family in Williamsburg, is the most prominent Hasidic person to come out as transgender after leaving her…
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