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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For James Merrill On His 91st Birthday
Today, we celebrate James Merill’s birthday. Merrill, one of the pre-eminent American poets of the 20th century, was, per his Poetry Foundation bio, the recipient of “nearly every major literary award in America” and a playwright, novelist, and critic, as well as a poet. Born in 1926 in New York City, Merrill was the son…
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For The Director Of ‘Settlers,’ The Failure Of Israel Is Not An Option
For a brief shining moment towards the end of “The Settlers,” director Shimon Dotan gives us the chance to imagine what the Holy Land might look like, in a parallel, better universe. The speaker is 38-year-old Yossi Fruman, a young rabbi living in the settlement of Tekoa B’. “This land belongs to God, not to…
The Latest
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Theater The Unbearable Sadness Of Being Single And Jewish (Natch)
“You just have to meet your bashert,” says grandma, sagely. Jordan, her late-20s grandson, is despairing that his friends are all getting married and he’s still alone. “And you will,” grandma continues, “because you’re the most wonderful grandson in the world.” Jordan is sad, but he’s also smart and a smartass. “I don’t think that’s…
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Remembering Gustav Metzger, Pioneer Of Auto Destructive Art
Artist and political activist Gustav Metzger died on March 1st the age of 90 at his London home, according to publicist Erica Bolton. Outside of the art world, Metzger’s name might be a little obscure, but if you’ve ever seen a video of The Who destroying their guitars, then you’ve seen the impact of Metzger’s…
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Lou Reed’s Archive To Be Housed In The New York Public Library
Lou Reed was many things – loud, transgressive, mean (at least, on record), brash, innovative. One thing he was not, however, was quiet (though he had his moments). That’s why the recent announcement that Reed’s archives (previously held by Artist and Reed’s Widow, Laurie Anderson) will be housed in the New York Public Library is, in…
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What The Desecrated Jewish Cemeteries Mean For The Living And The Dead
Why does the sight of a toppled gravestone incense us so sorely? As a way in, imagine a different sort of scenario, one perhaps more visceral and more literal in its horror. Imagine the photographs of Roman Vishniac from his book, “A Vanished World.” The photographs depict Eastern European shtetl life just before the cataclysm…
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Daphne Merkin Reports From the Front Lines of Depression
In “The Depressed Person,” David Foster Wallace, no stranger to depression, posits that the pain wrought by “the impossibility of sharing or articulating” the condition of being depressed “was itself a component of the pain and a contributing factor in its essential horror.” The story details the depressed person’s “clumsy attempts to describe at least…
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Theater David Mamet Finds God, Still Searches For Inspiration
David Mamet has written a new play, and, unlike his last three new ones produced in New York, it is not offensively bad. It is merely not at all good. That’s not quite true. It is potentially, slightly, maybe a little bit good. It is centered on a kernel of a good and interesting idea:…
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Holocaust Scholar Threatened With Deportation Asks ‘Is The United States Still The United States?’
When Henry Rousso landed at Houston’s George Bush International Airport on February 22, the Paris-based historian, who studies Holocaust-era Europe, was expecting a smooth entry to the country, where he was scheduled to attend a symposium at Texas A&M University. After all, as an academic Rousso had spent 30 years making international trips for conferences….
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How Can Such An Unpopular President Deliver Such Popular Sentences?
Donald Trump is apparently more popular at the sentence level than he is as a person or as a President, according to an intriguing new poll released today by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News. The poll of 1000 adults, polled February 18-22, found that a whopping 86 percent approved of this line from…
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How a Stolen Picasso Inspired an L.A. Story
Ellen Umansky’s first novel, “The Fortunate Ones,” features two protagonists and innumerable weighty subjects: the Holocaust, the effect of divorce on children, the death of a parent, art theft, the Kindertransports, art restitution, family secrets, guilt and life in postwar London. It centers on a (fictional) painting by the (real) Jewish expressionist Chaim Soutine, a…
Most Popular
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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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News Who are the Jews in Trump’s inner circle?
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Film & TV Netflix finally gave Jews our Hot Rabbi. Too bad every other Jew in the show sucks
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Opinion A missile strike, a terror attack, and a falafel guy who is ready to serve
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Fast Forward How US Jewish communities are marking anniversary of Oct. 7 attack: with heartache, and warily
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Fast Forward First debate question to Vance and Walz: Do you support a ‘preemptive’ Israeli strike on Iran?
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Fast Forward Meet Lev Kreitman, who brought down Tel Aviv shooter and survived Nova music festival on Oct. 7
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