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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How An Orthodox Businesswoman Rose In The Ranks At The NSA
Forty-two-year-old Anne Neuberger, an Orthodox Jewish woman, was tapped by the National Security Agency as its first chief risk officer, a senior slot if ever there was one. She took the job in 2014 in the wake of Edward Snowden leaking classified NSA information to the world, thus throwing the Pentagon, along with pundits of…
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The Straight Line From 5,000 Trump Lies To 11 Jews Murdered In Pittsburgh
‘There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in America,” Donald Trumptold the Future Farmers of America following the mass murder in a Pittsburgh synagogue at a Sabbath service — the same Trump who said that some of the neo-Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville were “very fine people.” “This wicked act of…
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Film & TV Will Kushner And Spielberg ‘West Side Story’ Cause Rumble With Sondheim?
Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist for “West Side Story,” dislikes the movie version of the seminal musical for sticking too closely to the source material. “I don’t think ‘West Side Story’ [is] a good movie at all because it’s not a movie. It’s a photograph of a stage,” the Tony-winning composer said in a 2016 interview…
The Latest
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The Forgotten Jewish Composer Who Was McCarthy’s First Victim
The composer Hanns Eisler was once called “the Karl Marx of Communism in the musical field” by House of Un-American Activities chief investigator Robert Stripling. That description might be an overstatement, but not by much. Eisler scored some of the most pivotal moments of the first part of the 20th century. His populist anthems were…
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Why We Must Pay Attention To What ‘Pay Attention’ Means
In the age of the smartphone, it is getting harder and harder to get human beings to give their all to one person, one subject and one moment. Maybe that’s why a tweet on how various languages express the idea of “paying attention” went viral recently, amassing 28,000 likes and over 7,000 retweets at last…
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60 Years Ago Pasternak Won The Nobel Prize — And The Soviet Union Went After Him
60 years ago today, the Swedish Academy got Boris Pasternak in a whole lot of trouble. In awarding the 68-year-old Russian poet and novelist a Nobel Prize for Literature, the Nobel Committee elevated Pasternak, and his epic novel, “Doctor Zhivago” to a conspicuous place on the world stage. The Soviet Union did not look kindly…
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Alice Shalvi Is Still The Queen Of Israeli Feminism At 92
I met Alice Shalvi in 2009, on my first trip to Israel as editor of the Forward. Honestly, I was apprehensive, unsure of the purpose of my visit other than to connect with a legendary feminist whose backstory seemed brave but vague in my mind. I remember impressions more than details of that first visit….
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Art In Skokie, Memories Of Genocide Retold In Stories Of Everyday Objects
Objects and images, linking memory and history, are a mainstay of museum exhibitions. They are the embodiment of synecdoche, the part standing in for the whole. A photo album, a china set, a teddy bear — even the most quotidian of artifacts — all resonate with special poignancy when associated with stories of persecution and…
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November 27: Manhattan: From Jean Carroll To Mrs. Maisel
‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” captured hearts with its sharp-witted, fast-talking Jewish protagonist, who finds her voice as a comedian in the late 1950s after leaving her unfaithful husband. The inspiration for Miriam “Midge” Maisel came from a host of real-life groundbreaking comedians, including the one and only Jean Carroll. On the eve of the second…
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November 27: Manhattan: Jews In The Modern World
Explore the big questions of modern Jewish life and their impact on Judaism with Forward editor-In-chief Jane Eisner, as she moderates a panel with two of the American Jewish community’s most prominent leaders and thinkers. In “Jews In The Modern World: Looking Back, Looking Forward,” Rabbi Shai Held and Rabbi David Ellenson will discuss topics…
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November 15: Manhattan: ‘Across The Divide’ — Getting Candid About Israel
It’s time to speak candidly — and listen openly — about Israel. Join Forward Opinion Editor Batya Ungar-Sargon in Part 1 of “Across the Divide,” a series designed to discuss Israel from a political, denominational and generational view. On the panel, 7 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Streicker Center at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, she’ll…
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Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
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Culture Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
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News How Mamdani became New York’s next mayor, with Jews divided between fierce opposition and fiery support
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Culture Mamdani quoted Eugene Debs in his victory speech — there’s a long Jewish history there
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Opinion Why a concert hall should be the last place for a protest — particularly an antisemitic one like this
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Looking Forward What Hailey Bieber smoothies and instant matzo ball soup reveal about American Jewish taste
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Culture Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
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Film & TV On the trail of a priceless dove, a group of Palestinians and Israelis find that peace is for the birds
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