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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Film & TV
How A Homely Jewish Tailor’s Daughter Became Hollywood’s First Seductress
A century ago the world was in the throes of the Great War, women didn’t yet have the vote and the movie industry was in its infancy. Two Jewish refugees from the wine-growing Tokaji region of Hungary — Adoph Zukor and William Fox (born Fuchs) — were beginning to make their mark on the fledgling…
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How Jews And ‘Jee-ews’ Tell The Story Of Roy Moore — And A Polite Ugliness
This may be the first time in American history when intonation has become a political issue. Of course, 2017 has been a year so chock full of disturbing firsts that it might be hard to pay attention to an extra syllable uttered by a losing candidate’s wife, but in this case, a little bit of…
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Music Should James Levine’s Alleged Sexual Abuse Make Us Reconsider His Music?
By now, the question is familiar: How should those who distribute and consume art deal with the artistic legacy of someone accused of sexual harassment and assault? And next: How should that calculation change if that person created their art through collaboration with others, who are presumably innocent of their colleague’s alleged crimes? That question…
The Latest
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Books Give The Gourmet Gift Of Chocolate Connoisseurship This Hanukkah
Chocolate lovers on your gift list will be delighted to take a deep dive into the delicious topic of Jews and chocolate, with the newly released 2nd edition of “On the Chocolate Trail: A Delicious Adventure Connecting Jews, Religions, History, Travel, Rituals and Recipes to the Magic of Cacao” (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2017). Written by…
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2018 Sapir Prize Shortlist Includes Novels By Shimon Adaf, Noa Yedlin
The shortlist for the 2018 Sapir Prize, often considered Israel’s top literary award, includes works by past winners Shimon Adaf and Noa Yedlin. Adaf’s novel “Mox Nox” won the award for works published in 2012, and Yedlin’s novel “House Arrest” won for those published the following year. Beyond Adaf, shortlisted for his book “Tolle Lege,”…
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Film & TV ‘Star Wars’ is influenced by the Nazis — and it fails to hold them accountable
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were lots of Nazis. But no Jews. The Empire in the “Star Wars” franchise, the totalitarian regime which serves as the antagonist throughout the series, is modeled on the Nazis both visually and throughout the films’ narratives. References to fascist totalitarianism give the genocidal…
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A King Who Saved Jews From The Holocaust: Remembering Michael I Of Romania
King Michael I of Romania, who died on December 5 at age 96, proved that being a mama’s boy can result in a mitzvah. Three-quarters of a century ago, he defied his country’s Hitler-allied Prime Minister, Ion Antonescu, and worked to save hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust. Through the cooperation of Antonescu,…
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Film & TV Movie News: Isaac Babel, James Franco, And The Best Of 2017
Winter is dark and terrible, but it is also the best time of the year because of the Oscars. From the most handsome actor to the richest producer, everyone in Hollywood dreams of the Academy Awards, and these dreams consist of golden Oscar men holding hands and frolicking with each other in a nude roundelay,…
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Art The Secret Jewish History Of The Rockettes
Is there anything more goyish than the Rockettes, the “precision-dance” troupe best known for its starring role in the annual “Christmas Spectacular” at Radio City Music Hall? Well, yes. As it turns out, the entire creative team behind the annual Radio City holiday event, which began in 1932, were Jewish men brought together by Samuel…
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Film & TV WATCH: New Documentary Recounts The Search For Isaac Babel
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. The film “Finding Babel” portrays theater professor Andrei Malaev-Babel’s journey across the former USSR seeking traces of his grandfather, Russian-Jewish author Isaac Babel. The film was recently released on Vimeo in English-, Russian- and Ukrainian-language versions. In the English version of the film, Isaac Babel’s quotes are…
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Düsseldorf’s Mayor Accused of Canceling Max Stern Show Over Fears Of Restitution
Last month, when Düsseldorf mayor Thomas Geisel cancelled an exhibition about Jewish art dealer Max Stern, who was persecuted by the Nazis, his decision was met with outcry and confusion. According to The New York Times, the show, “Max Stern — From Düsseldorf to Montreal,” was set to open in February at the city’s Stadtmuseum,…
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Film & TV ‘Bojack Horseman’ creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg on his new, ‘unapologetically Jewish’ family affair
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Film & TV Who is Marty Reisman, the Jewish ping-pong star who inspired Timothée Chalamet’s new movie?
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News ADL chief attacks Zohran Mamdani, but gets his facts wrong
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Culture It’s Jew vs. Jew in the fight over a Brooklyn bike lane
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