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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‘Sesame Street’ Writer Confirms: Bert And Ernie Are Gay — And One Is Jewish
In a September 16 interview “Sesame Street” writer Mark Saltzman put years of speculation to rest, letting the world know that Ernie and Bert are a gay couple — at least, he wrote them that way. Saltzman told Queerty that while he worked on scenes between the odd couple roommates, he drew from his own…
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Music Paul Simon’s 7 Most Jewish Songs
This past summer, Paul Simon has been touring across North America, the United Kingdom and Europe on what is billed as “Homeward Bound — The Farewell Tour.” This month, the singer-songwriter brings the traveling show to its conclusion with one last mad dash across the Eastern United States, including stops in New Orleans; Florida; Atlanta;…
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The ‘Lolita’ Story Nabokov Kept Hidden
Sarah Weinman probably reads more than you do. According to tallies she has shared on Twitter (where she has more than 400,000 followers), she read 462 books in 2008, 400 books in 2010, 340 books in 2011 and 380 books in 2013. She started reading at two and a half years of age, she explained…
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Film & TV Bert And Ernie Are Lovers, Says ‘Sesame Street’ Writer Mark Saltzman
Putting to rest decades of speculation, former “Sesame Street” writer Mark Saltzman has confirmed to Queerty that Ernie and Bert are an item – at least in his eyes. Not only are the couple lovers, Saltzman says they are avatars of himself and his late partner Arnold Glassman. “I always felt that without a huge…
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From Phyllis Chesler, A Politically Incorrect Memoir Laden With Gossip And TMI
A Politically Incorrect Feminist: Creating a Movement With Bitches, Lunatics, Dykes, Prodigies, Warriors, and Wonder Women By Phyllis Chesler St. Martin’s Press, 320 pages, $27.99 Women of a certain age will remember Phyllis Chesler’s landmark book, “Women and Madness.” Her 1972 examination of how psychiatry failed women has never been out of print, as she…
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The First-Ever Yiddish-Cuban Opera? Probably.
‘ Frank London’s “Hatuey: Memory of Fire,” a good bet to be the world’s first Yiddish-Cuban opera, is enjoying its U.S. premiere at the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University through September 23. Given the story, which is based on a Yiddish epic poem written by Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant Asher Penn in Havana in 1931…
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Virtual Reality, Rare Artifacts And More At The Museum Of Jewish Heritage’s New Exhibit
Like many institutions devoted to Holocaust education, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan is confronting a problem: How to tell the stories of survivors when their numbers are dwindling. “In Confidence: Holocaust History Told By Those Who Lived It,” a new exhibit that opened at the museum on September 16, poses a variety of…
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Heroic Teacher, Pugnacious Union Thug — Remembering My Grandma Doris
My grandma was what I like to call O.G (original gangsta) union thug. Doris “Heavy D” Joravsky was a Chicago Public School teacher for thirty years. She taught in schools all over the city from Burr Elementary in a pre-gentrified Bucktown to George Armstrong Elementary in Rogers Park. She was a straight-shooter, who was dedicated…
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WATCH: A Yiddish Version of ‘The Sound of Silence’
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Paul Simon has been prominent in the zeitgeist recently. Ever since the legendary folk-rock singer announced his pending retirement, numerous musicians have paid tribute to the songwriter who has provided a soundtrack to three generations of American life. The small world of contemporary Yiddish-language pop music is…
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A New Film Shows Garry Winogrand’s Life Up Close
When photographer Garry Winogrand died in 1984, he left the world thousands of rolls of undeveloped film. Since that time, those who knew him best have been reckoning not just with his backlog, but also with the legacy of the man himself. In the documentary “Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable,” opening Wednesday September 19…
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Art Nan Goldin Cries ‘Shame’ Over Purdue Pharma’s Anti-Opioid Patent
On September 10, 2018 photographer Nan Goldin continued her protest of Purdue Pharma, which she believes is turning a profit off of opioid addiction — and this time she brought backup. Hyperallergic reports that Goldin’s organization P.A.I.N. Sackler, the Appalachian-based arts collective Queer Appalachia and leadership group the Voices Project joined forces in a statement…
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