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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Philip Roth Dies, And Part Of Our America Dies With Him
I’m moving again and my books are packed up and sealed in boxes. Just two days ago I took all the Roth books down from my highest shelf: The first edition of “Portnoy’s Complaint,” the first book I gave to my boyfriend, now my husband, twenty years ago at the Shark Bar in Soho; “American…
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Philip Roth’s Legacy, In Their Words
Philip Roth passed away on May 22, 2018, aged 85. For his 85th birthday, on March 19, Talya Zax had collected the thoughts of writers and politicians about Roth’s astonishing achievements. They stand as testament to his work, even on this, sadder, milestone. -Editors In 1981, Philip Roth gave a now-famous description of his experience…
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Richard Goodwin, Speechwriter For LBJ, JFK and RFK, Dies At 86
Richard Goodwin, who died in Massachusetts on May 20 at age 86, was more than just a distinguished speechwriter for John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Robert F. Kennedy. Goodwin furthered social progress with his brilliantly crafted words, coining the phrase “Great Society” to describe the Johnson’s government’s efforts to battle poverty and racial…
The Latest
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Film & TV Oprah Says Vote
Oprah gave a pitch-perfect commencement speech at my school’s graduation, a mix of motivation (“Be the truth. Be. The. Truth.”) and motivation shtick (“Invest in a quality mattress. And don’t cheap out on your shoes.”). The exhortation that won the biggest rise from the thousand USC Annenberg students: “Vote. Vote. Vote.” Their cheers almost made…
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Reimagining Isaac Babel In The Era Of Fake News: Rajiv Joseph’s Obie-Winning Play
Editor’s note: “Describe The Night” won the 2018 Obie Award for best new American play. Below, read Jesse Oxfeld’s review of the play’s New York debut at the Atlantic Theater Company. There is fiction and there is fact. There is history and there is myth. There is truth and there is fake news. Or else…
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As Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine Folds, Remembering Some Of Its Best Work
Andy Warhol gave the world many things, among them that iconic Campbell’s soup can, those even more iconic portraits of Marilyn Monroe, an eight-hour film of the Empire State Building from a single perspective and Interview Magazine. As of Monday, that last item, which Warhol founded in 1969, is no more. Employees of the magazine…
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Why Israel Needs A New Map — For Wine
A new map of Israel is in the works — one that doesn’t include a green line. Indeed it is not a political or even a conventionally geographical bit of cartography. It is a map that divides Israel into small winemaking regions, taking into account topography, soil, and climate. This map should help consumers and…
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Film & TV Why Hollywood Used To Be Better For Women
Nobody’s Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood By J. E. Smyth Oxford University Press, 328 pages, $29.95 Just the Funny Parts: … And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking Into the Hollywood Boys’ Club By Nell Scovell Dey Street Books, 336 pages, $27.99 It’s even worse than you suspected. But it was once better…
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Get Ready For Jordan Peele’s Nazi Hunter TV Series
If the malaise of 2018 has sapped you of the will to do, well, anything, rescue is on the way: Jordan Peele, the Oscar-winning mastermind behind “Get Out” and producer of the upcoming Spike Lee flick “BlacKKKlansman,” is executive producing a straight-to-series show about Nazi hunters for Amazon. As Deadline reports, “The Hunt,” created by…
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The Secret Jewish History of Baseball Hall-of-Famer Jim Palmer
Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer recently had his lifelong belief that he may have been related to the Kennedys of Camelot dashed, according to a Washington Post story recounting the investigation into the adoptee’s birth origins. The article, however, also revealed the extent of Palmer’s heretofore overlooked Jewish background. Palmer, the winningest pitcher of…
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Chaim Soutine Was Obsessed With Dead Animals. In Painting Them, He Acutely Captured Life.
There is a well-known send-up, in the movie “Notting Hill,” of self-righteous dietary fads. “I’m a fruitarian,” a mousy young woman announces on a first date with Hugh Grant. “We believe that fruits and vegetables have feelings,” she says; with a sniff, she confirms that the carrots at dinner were murdered. Anyone who has laughed…
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