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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That time Yiddishists met extraterrestrials a short while ago in a galaxy not far away
It was a normal summer internship at the Yiddish Book Center ... until the Jedi invaded our turf
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Are ‘14’ And ‘88’ Nazi Dog Whistles In Border Security Document — Or Just Numbers?
Sometimes a dog whistle can be a number, not a word. The number “88” appeared in a strange context in a press release from Homeland Security calling for building a border wall, along with a headline that had a total of fourteen words — but until today, no one seems to have noticed. Today, the…
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‘The Cakemaker’ Finds Eroticism In Baking And Grief
Set in Berlin and Jerusalem, “The Cakemaker” is just another boy-meets-boy, boy-loses-boy, boy-meets-boy’s-widow, widow-falls-for-boy story. In other words, it’s unlike anything you’re likely to see this year, and an unflinching, ravishing look at a broken romantic triangle. In the film, married-with-kid Israeli businessman Oren, a frequent visitor to Berlin, falls for German baker Thomas —…
The Latest
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Why A Hebrew Phrase Is Causing A Hullabaloo In Austria
Over beers in Jerusalem, a writer I know shared a fascinating linguistic tidbit from his recent research trip to Austria. He said he had heard the Hebrew phrase tohu va’vohu, from Genesis 1:2, memorably translated by Everett Fox as “wild and waste,” used in Vienna. As slang, he thought. In any case, tohu va’vohu seemed…
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Why JGirls Is More Than Just Another Teen Publication
When I was a teenager, I wasn’t at all interested in the magazines targeted to girls my age: Seventeen, Young Miss (which became YM), Sassy. They talked reverently about movies and TV shows I didn’t particularly like and bands I didn’t listen to. And the girls on the covers certainly didn’t look like me. Today,…
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CIVILITY — Why Donald Trump Has Never Used That Word
As the language of public life has declined from dinner-table English to something previously considered unprintable, the word “civility” is suddenly everywhere — except Donald Trump’s lips. While Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that she has the right to be served dinner at any restaurant, no matter what she says or does, her father,…
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How Should A Mother Be?
Motherhood By Sheila Heti Henry Holt, 304 Pages, $27 Reading Sheila Heti’s new book “Motherhood” in public presents a particular challenge: Twice, in recent days, I was asked, by people clearly unfamiliar with Heti’s work, if I’m expecting. Which I am not, thank you very much. But, even considering the potential for bruised feelings, reading…
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Art What A Netflix Score And Time Blunder Say About The Business Of Progressivism
On August 12, 1958, the photographer Art Kane positioned himself on the south side of East 126th Street and shot a photo that would become iconic. Kane was on assignment for Esquire, which was preparing an issue on jazz, and he had gotten the most remarkable talent in Harlem to assemble for the occasion. Sonny…
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July 3: Chautauqua, New York: ‘Being Jewish In Trump’s America’: In Chautauqua, Jane Eisner Discusses Jewish Life
Every summer, the Everett Jewish Life Center in Chautauqua, New York, hosts a series of programs to engage religious leaders and communities, creating dialogue and a space for interfaith learning and understanding. This year, Forward editor-in-chief Jane Eisner will be one of its featured speakers. Jane will take the stage July 2 at 3:30 p.m….
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Film & TV LISTEN: Roseanne Cries With Shmuley About Torah, Family And That Tweet
(JTA) — Actress Roseanne Barr became emotional and expressed regret for her tweet against a former Obama administration official during a podcast interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. The interview took place two days after ABC canceled her popular show, a reboot of her late 1980s sitcom, over the tweet mocking Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser…
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A ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ In Yiddish — The Way It Ought To Be
Barely two years after Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” made its groundbreaking 1949 debut, a Yiddish production starring — and translated by — Joseph Buloff opened in Brooklyn, with Miller’s blessing. The title of a review by George Ross in Commentary described it as “‘Death of a Salesman’ in the Original,” and the witty…
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Could ‘Bubbes For Babies’ Change The Immigration Debate?
A group of passionate senior citizens in their eighties and nineties is organizing to protest the separation of children from their parents at the border, hoping that their age will “shine a spotlight” on the pain being inflicted on children. The effort is being spearheaded by 89-year-old Debbie Sherman and 82-year-old Susan Milliken, according to…
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Fast Forward Rep. Max Miller says driver called him a ‘dirty Jew’ and threatened to kill his family. A local doctor turned himself in.
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News As Israel attacks, what is life like for Jews in Iran?
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News An Alabama millionaire offered Jews $50,000 to move to his town. 16 years later, what’s left?
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Culture Why is Israel’s attack on Iran called ‘Rising Lion’ — and what does the Bible have to do with it?
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Opinion If war with Iran goes badly for the U.S., Jews will be the scapegoat
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Fast Forward Israel puts civilians on high alert as Iranian leaders vow response to US strikes
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Fast Forward Trump meets gratitude, criticism after claiming total destruction of Iran’s nuclear program
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Opinion The US and Israel could seek to topple Iran’s regime. They should choose negotiation instead
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