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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Backing ‘Hustler’ Trump, Gay Talese Blames Journalism’s Woes on Decline in Anti-Semitism
Gay Talese, the legendary journalist who most recently made headlines for ethical scandals surrounding his 2016 book “The Voyeur’s Motel,” is well-dressed, unsurprisingly verbose, and cranky. Those are the prime takeaways on Talese’s persona from Moran Sharir’s interview with the icon for Haaretz, published on February 3. But what of the man’s opinions on the…
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How OkCupid Became Part of the Anti-Trump Resistance
Right after the “Muslim ban” began to dominate the headlines, the dating site OKCupid issued a statement promoting non-discrimination — and outlining a definition of American values. Daters received a highly unusual email reading: “At OkCupid, we believe that judging others based on their sex, religion, country of origin, or orientation is un-American. There is…
The Latest
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Honoring Elie Wiesel, They Read ‘Night’ Aloud. Here’s What They Learned.
“Enter this place, passerby,” Michael Glickman said on January 29, “and meet those who survived the nightmare. Meet them, and learn from them.” He stood temporarily in near-darkness, on a nearly empty stage. Projected behind him, the face of the late Elie Wiesel, author of those words, loomed in triplicate: Light, shadowed, and almost fully…
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Super Bowl LI, Paul Auster’s New Novel, And More To Read, Watch, And Do This Weekend
According to Punxsutawney Phil, the semi-reliable groundhog who attempts to predict the duration of winter every February 2, we’re in for many more weeks of chilly weather. What better excuse to spend the weekend curled up and indulging in the best recent TV: CBS’ “Superior Donuts,” which premiered on Groundhog Day and stars Judd Hirsch,…
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‘1984’ Is Coming To Broadway
As “1984” stays close to the top of best sellers lists — this week, it fell to second on Amazon’s list, trailing pre-sales of “alt-right” provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos’ controversial “Dangerous” — the prescience of George Orwell’s dystopian vision is prominent in the public consciousness. Now, Sonia Friedman, the British producer behind “Harry Potter and the…
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What I Lost Growing Up in a Home With No Religion
At the age of twenty, in Columbia’s School of Graduate Studies, I met the young philosophy student I would marry a year later. His mother had been recently widowed and, during her year of mourning, had developed a close friendship with her rabbi. When we announced our engagement, she expressed the wish that we would…
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A Deadly Explosion In Chicago, And More Of The Forward Looking Back
100 Years Ago A massive gas explosion rocked the heart of the Jewish ghetto on the West Side of Chicago. At least 40 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in the blast, which occurred in the early morning hours on the 800 block of West 14th Place while most of the residents were sleeping….
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Do We All Have an Inner Gandhi — and a Hitler Too?
When Ajay Raju saw Jitish Kallat’s “Covering Letter” installed in India two years ago, he was struck by the experience of walking through the mist “screen” or “curtain,” upon which was projected a 1939 letter that Mahatma Gandhi wrote to Adolf Hitler. “You almost feel as though you’ve crossed the threshold of history,” says Raju,…
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How Time’s Bannon Cover Shows Us A Stark Vision Of Evil
In December, Time Magazine named Donald Trump the Person of the Year. On their cover they placed that incredible, deeply nuanced, subversive picture. Lurking behind Trump on that photo was an ominous shadow, that, as many viewers pointed out, did not correspond to the lighting, and could only have been the product of Photoshop. It was…
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Meet the Author Calling for a General Strike To Resist Trump
On Monday, January 30, The Guardian published a provocatively-titled opinion piece by author Francine Prose: “Forget protest. Trump’s actions warrant a general national strike.” In the column, Prose pondered the successes won by airport-based protests of President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order on immigrants and refugees, which prevents all Syrian citizens from entering the…
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Betsy DeVos Allegedly Plagiarized This Education Organization. Here’s Their Response.
Tuesday, January 31 brought an unexpected development in the already fraught battle over the confirmation of Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary. As The Washington Post reported, written responses DeVos delivered to Senator Patty Murray, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension, appeared to plagiarize multiple sources,…
Most Popular
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Culture Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase
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Culture You can buy Sukkot gift boxes that say ‘tuchus’ on Amazon
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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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Film & TV Netflix finally gave Jews our Hot Rabbi. Too bad every other Jew in the show sucks
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