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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Judaism In The Digital Age, By Way Of Nathan Englander
kaddish.com By Nathan Englander Alfred A. Knopf, 224 pages, $24.95 Religious rituals can seem cumbersome or constricting. It helps to believe that they matter — that they are, in fact, essential to righteousness or redemption. The possibilities of the digital world, by contrast, can seem liberating — a promise of entertainment, distraction, ease and convenience….
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Film & TV ‘Us’ Gives Viewers A Biblical Warning
Jordan Peele’s second film, “Us,” all but demands a second viewing. The box-office-breaking horror flick, while light on its feet, is packed with pop culture signposts, character pay-offs and a script-flipping twist that has audiences lining up for a later showing before the lights come up on the end credits. But one reference that may…
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EXCLUSIVE: How Poet Emma Lazarus Inspired Laurie Anderson
This tale features feminist heroes not normally paired: the 19th-century poet Emma Lazarus and the (very alive) avant-garde musician and artist Laurie Anderson. Of Emma Lazarus, most know only that she wrote the line “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” — iconic words emblazoned on the pedestal of…
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If We Are Really Going To Tackle Jewish Poverty, Here Are The Questions We Need To Ask
If the American Jewish community seriously confronted the persistence of Jewish poverty, it could look like this: More than 200 people from 19 states and the District of Columbia gathered on March 19 at a large San Francisco hotel for a convening sponsored by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to examine why a surprising…
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J.D. Salinger: The Lost Bar Mitzvah Boy
The myth about J. D. Salinger I like best is this: Well into his 80s, the famously frugal author would often arrive early for the $12 roast beef dinner at First Congregational Church, in Hartland, Vermont, and would always sit in the same seat, as close to the pies as he could get. This little…
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Was Meyerbeer Forgotten Because He Was Jewish — Or Because Of A Goat?
The composer Giacomo Meyerbeer got pushed out of the operatic canon because of anti-Semitism. That much is fact. But if you’re looking for a reason that Meyerbeer’s 1859 opera “Dinorah” hasn’t been performed in the United States since 1925 — that is, until now — the first thing you really have to reckon with is…
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Who To Read For Women’s History Month, Part Five: Rahel Varnhagen
If you know about Rahel Varnhagen, it’s probably because of Hannah Arendt. Arendt called Varnhagen, born Rahel Levin in 1771, “my closest friend, though she has been dead for some hundred years.” The two shared a background; both were well-off German-born Jews. They shared an intellectual daring and determination; while Arendt, born in 1906, would…
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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: How It Was Covered Through The Years
When the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire broke out on March 25, 1911, the Forward was on the scene. For days it dominated the news — 146 workers, mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant women perished in the fire, still known today as one of the worst industrial tragedies in America. The coverage was abundant in the…
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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: What Happened?
On March 25, 1911, a rag bin caught fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, killing 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women — and exposing the unsafe, exploitive working conditions that led to their demise. The industrial tragedy is remembered as one of the worst in American history. In the early 20th…
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Film & TV 9 Questions For ‘Working Woman’ Director Michal Aviad
It’s a familiar story that nonetheless demands retelling: A woman, a job and a boss who doesn’t respect boundaries. So runs the plot of Michal Aviad’s “Working Woman,” which premieres in New York March 27. The film arrives in the United States amid a monumental cultural reckoning surrounding the way we behave in the office,…
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Anish Kapoor Does His Part For Refugees While Another Artist Sets A Trap For Him
After Anish Kapoor was awarded the 2017 Genesis Prize, he pledged to donate the $1 million that accompany the award to causes aiding refugees. But the sculptor, most famous for his Chicago work “Cloud Gate,” colloquially known as “The Bean,” is also planning to make a difference with his art. A new drawing by Kapoor…
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