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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This Painting Was Stolen 200 Years Ago – That’s Why We See It Differently
There are two great paintings titled “Return of the Prodigal Son,” one by Rembrandt and one by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo – neither of which is housed in its painter’s country of origin. The Rembrandt version is housed in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, while the Murillo is housed in the National Gallery in Washington D.C….
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Is Donald Trump The Subject Of An Actual Witch-Hunt?
This morning, President Trump declared himself to be the subject of “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!” With all due respect to the president — I guess — his declaration seems unfounded. That’s partially because witch-hunts are traditionally baseless, where investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election are fueled…
The Latest
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The Secret Jewish History Of Chris Cornell And Soundgarden
Rock vocalist Chris Cornell, who died early this morning at age 52 after performing a concert in Detroit with his Grammy Award-winning grunge-rock outfit Soundgarden, will be best remembered for the group’s massive 1994 hit, “Black Hole Sun.” Released in the wake of grunge avatar Kurt Cobain’s suicide (Cornell’s death is being investigated as a…
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Insightful Biography of Hebrew Poet H. N. Bialik Misses Key Element
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Why and how did Hayim Nahman Bialik become Israel’s national poet? Avner Holtzman, a professor of Hebrew literature at Tel Aviv University, poses this very question in his new biography, “Hayim Nahman Bialik: Poet of Hebrew”, published as part of the “Jewish Lives” series by Yale University…
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Why Do People Call Arson ‘Jewish Lightning’ — And Is It Anti-Semitic?
A highly-specific act of insurance fraud, explained.
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Film & TV Will ‘Wizard Of Lies’ Bring Out The Anti-Semites? Barry Levinson Doesn’t Care
There is a major surprise in “The Wizard of Lies, Barry Levinson’s film about the Bernie Madoff scandal, which premieres on May 20 on HBO and is based on the reporting of Diana B. Henriques: It’s possible to feel a modicum of sympathy for a despicable human being. The film stars Robert DeNiro as Bernie…
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Supreme Court Justice: Etgar Keret Is Israel’s ‘Young Boswell’
I’ve always thought that to be Jewish was to live the life of the mind. What do I mean by that? I mean that what I have always seen as the core of our Jewish identity, the engine that has driven us through the centuries, is the intellectual package of values we carried with us…
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WATCH: New Documentary Explores Etgar Keret’s World
“Etgar in person is very much like he is on the page, always telling extremely short stories,” Jonathan Safran Foer says, in a new trailer for the upcoming documentary “Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story.” Keret, an Israeli author, has gained a reputation for having a more creative approach to reality than most. In…
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Why Trump Must Not Meet With Sudanese President al-Bashir
President Trump, you may have heard, is soon embarking on the first international trip of his presidency – to Saudi Arabia, Israel, The Vatican, Italy and Brussels. What you may not have heard is that while in Saudi Arabia, there is a possibility that Trump will not only meet with King Salman, who is currently allegedly…
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The Female Nude Is Triter Than Ever — Just Look at Anselm Kiefer
Much of German artist Anselm Kiefer’s work can be captured (to the extent that art can ever be described with total accuracy) in a single word: ruin. Kiefer, born in southwest Germany in 1945 just two months before the end of World War II, has dedicated a large portion of his oeuvre to reckoning with…
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How The Yom Kippur War Started American Trucker Culture — And Mannheim Steamroller
When I was growing up in Colorado, my father and I would regularly drive by a truck stop slightly north of Denver called Deno’s 6 & 85. We always talked about stopping in, although we never did. With 70s-era bright neon signs advertising steak and cocktails, the roadside restaurant seemed like a home for frank,…
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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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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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Opinion A maelstrom around Rashida Tlaib shows how broken discourse about the war has become
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish זשורנאַל „ייִדישלאַנד“ דרוקט ערשטן קאַפּיטל פֿון אַ נײַעם אַוואַנטור־ראָמאַן‘Yidishland’ magazine prints first chapter of a new adventure novel
אויך אין דעם נומער: אַ ייִדישע איבערזעצונג פֿון לידער פֿון אַן אוקראַיִנישן פּאָעט וואָס איז געפֿאַלן אין שלאַכט קעגן רוסלאַנד.
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Fast Forward Israel kills Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah
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Culture On Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, assessing the 39th president’s record on the Jews
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Opinion With killing of Hezbollah’s chief, Israel occupies the inarguable moral high ground
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