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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Music
How A Jewish Kid From The Upper West Side Became The World’s Best Banjoist
Arguably the best banjo player in the world is — wait for it — a Jewish kid from the Upper West Side of Manhattan. His name is Béla Anton Leoš Fleck, and reached by phone at his home in Nashville, he agreed that what may at first seem an unlikely pairing of man and instrument…
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What Really Happened With Jason Blum’s Israel Film Festival Anti-Trump Speech?
On the night of November 6, as the polls for the midterm elections were closing on the west coast, America’s divisiveness was on raucous display at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center in Beverly Hills. Jason Blum, producer of “Get Out” and head of Blumhouse Productions, was accepting the Israel Film Festival’s Achievement in Film and…
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December 2: Brooklyn: Big BKLYN Hanukkah Fest
Celebrate the first night of Hanukkah at City Point Brooklyn. Co-sponsored by the Forward, the festivities will feature the best of the holiday: Katz’s latkes, candle lighting, dreidels, dancing and more. There also will be tastings, readings and a photo op with the Mensch on the Bench. Join the Party Sunday, December 2, 2 p.m….
The Latest
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Film & TV Telling Blaze Bernstein’s Story On ‘48 Hours’ — Just Days After Pittsburgh
Almost one year has passed since 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania sophomore Blaze Bernstein was killed allegedly for being gay and Jewish. On Saturday November 10, a special devoted to Bernstein’s story will air on CBS’ “48 Hours” which will include the first primetime TV interview with his parents. The show first approached Jeanne Pepper Bernstein…
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Pittsburgh’s Other First Jewish Mayor Wasn’t Named Sophie
Self-described “Old Jewish grandmother” Sophie Masloff was the first and only female mayor of Pittsburgh but was she, as has been widely-reported, the city’s first Jewish mayor? A week after the Forward ran a piece remembering Masloff, and repeating the claim that she was a Jewish as well as female first for the city, we…
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My Rabbi Grandfather Takes On Trump
My grandfather was right in the 1930s. Jews in America who can’t bear to hear criticism of Donald Trump would do well to hear his story. There’s no rule that say we Jews must be an ideological monolith… All progressive, liberal, Democrat. I’ve always had good Jewish pals in both the U.S. and the U.K….
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Roald Dahl Denied Commemorative British Coin Over Anti-Semitism
Roald Dahl, who passed away in 1990, would have turned 100 in 2016. But the Royal Mint, which has a tradition of issuing commemorative coins for notable British figures’ significant anniversaries — recent among them Jane Austen and Mary Shelley — never introduced the author of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and…
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Music On Her 75th Birthday, Joni Mitchell’s Secret Jewish History
Joni Mitchell is widely acclaimed, and rightfully so, for being one of the greatest lyricists and musical visionaries of the rock era: the equal of Bob Dylan and — well, there are no other equals. Mitchell and Dylan share the seemingly paradoxical status of being utter mavericks who have had unparalleled influence over everyone who…
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What To Read About Anti-Semitism After Pittsburgh
The history of anti-Semitism is sprawling and ugly. But as Americans look to understand this unique prejudice in the aftermath of the massacre in Pittsburgh, a number of books and essays can serve as useful primers on the subject. The New York Times recently suggested three such titles: “(((SEMITISM))): Being Jewish in America in the…
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Austria Confronts Kristallnacht — 80 Years Later
2018 is Austria’s Gedenkjahr, 12 months of landmarks, anniversaries and commemorations that reach their zenith and nadir in November. The 11th and 12th of this month mark 100 years since the abdication of the last emperor, Charles I, and the declaration of the Republic of German-Austria. November 9 and 10, however, will be 80 years…
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Film & TV Why The Hollywood Blacklist Is A Jewish Story (And Also A Milwaukee Story)
It started three years ago. I was the lone staff member welcoming guests to Jewish Museum Milwaukee (JMM) on an Air Show Sunday. It had been a pretty slow day. My office was filled with the droning of jet engines, and people who weren’t into watching the Blue Angels were avoiding the Milwaukee Lakefront. I…
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