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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Film & TV 8 young Jewish comedians on what ‘SNL 50’ means to them
'Saturday Night Live' may be entering middle age, but these rising Jewish comics are just getting started.
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New Folksbiene Play: Singing Against Trump’s America
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Thirty-five years ago, Zalmen Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld co-wrote the script for a musical called “The Golden Land” in honor of the 85th anniversary of the Forverts, the world’s oldest Yiddish newspaper. The goal then was to depict, through Yiddish song, the first decades of Eastern European Jewish immigration…
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Film & TV The Secret Jewish History of Planet of the Apes
Spoiler Alert: If you don’t want to know how “War for the Planet of the Apes” ends, you probably should stop reading this article halfway through.) A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a science-fiction movie pitting humans against non-human enemies was unleashed upon the world, and from that moment on, the…
The Latest
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Film & TV The Secret Jewish History Of Sam Shepard
The playwright and actor Sam Shepard, who died on July 27 at age 73, was to all outward appearances as non-Jewish as may be imagined. Yet his writing hovered around such American Jewish creative spirits as Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan and Joseph Chaikin, among others. In such plays as the “Curse of the Starving Class”…
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Remembering Jeanne Moreau — Who Wore A Yellow Star In Solidarity With Jews
The French actress Jeanne Moreau, who died at age 89 on July 31, won immortality as a screen actress of uncommon sensitivity and grace for a long list of major directors, in films such as Jacques Becker’s “Hands Off the Loot” (1954); Louis Malle’s “Elevator to the Gallows” (1958) and “The Lovers” (1959); François Truffaut’s…
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Why Words Matter When Newspapers Cover Trump
I am an incurable saver of newspapers, and I just couldn’t throw out Israeli newspaper coverage of Donald Trump’s visit to Israel. Something in the language gnawed at me, and now I know what it was: the invocation of Jewish text and tradition to describe an American president who is the most divisive in recent…
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Does The White House Really Need a Jewish Liaison?
The idea of designating a White House staffer to be in charge of relations with the American Jewish community dates back to the Kennedy administration. It is based on the idea that providing a dedicated channel of communication between the administration and the Jewish community could benefit both sides. From feeling the pulse of the…
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12 Things To Do In August That Will Make You Just A Little More Jewish
Welcome to August: You’re tired of the heat. A chance to walk romantically through falling leaves — maybe even while wearing a sweater, of all things — is beginning to sound appealing, and you’ve suffered too many sunburns to be coaxed back to the pool. Never fear! With great new television premieres, music and theater…
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Why Yo-Yo Ma Is Fighting To Save Louis Kahn’s Floating Concert Hall
The late architect Louis Kahn is renowned for his impact on landscapes and cityscapes around the world, from the United States to Israel to Bangladesh. But one of his most moving creations, “Point Counterpoint II” was designed to live on the water. The bad news: It’s in immediate danger of being destroyed. The good news:…
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Sam Shepard, Playwright Of Biblical Proportions, Dies At 73
Sam Shepard, a playwright and actor whose work helped revolutionize American theater, died on July 30 at his home in Kentucky from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 73 years old. Shepard, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his play “Buried Child” and was nominated for an Academy…
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Growing Up Latina and Jewish, I Was A Contradiction
Jewish AND Latina? When I was in junior high school in Newton, Massachusetts, a middle class suburb of Boston with a large Jewish population, my friends could not believe that I, a blonde blue-eyed Jewish girl, had a brother named Fernando. “Is he adopted? “ they would ask. This was the 80’s, and Jewish kids…
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Film & TV Yiddish Musical of ‘The Golden Land’ Emerges Somewhat Tarnished
Appropriately located at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park within view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) is attempting to redefine its mission and aesthetic while celebrating the Yiddish language, with few if any English words thrown in for good measure. Its renewed commitment to…
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Culture Hitler is trending on TikTok again — and they’re trying to make him seem like a nice guy
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Fast Forward Trump says Jews would deserve much of the blame if he loses
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Culture You can buy Sukkot gift boxes that say ‘tuchus’ on Amazon
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Fast Forward Sitcom star encourages non-Jews like her to hang mezuzahs on their homes
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