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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That time Yiddishists met extraterrestrials a short while ago in a galaxy not far away
It was a normal summer internship at the Yiddish Book Center ... until the Jedi invaded our turf
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Corporations Don’t Actually Care About Julius Caesar, Art Or You
There is a point that must be made: Corporations are not your friends. I am writing here in reference to the current Shakespeare in the Park production of “Julius Caesar” in which the titular character is portrayed by an actor who dresses and acts conspicuously like Donald Trump. I haven’t seen the play, so I…
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Music Meet The Boston Red Sox Organist Who Got His Start At Shabbat Services
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared on Jewishbaseballmuseum.com Josh Kantor has performed everywhere from synagogues to orchestra pits, from seedy nightclubs to outdoor festival stages. But his favorite venue for playing music is Fenway Park, where he serves as the organist for the Boston Red Sox. A pianist since the age of five, Kantor (now…
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Art New Center For Jewish History Head David Myers Shares His Vision For The Future
The Center for Jewish History has announced that its new President and Chief Executive Officer will be David N. Myers, the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Professor of Jewish History in the UCLA History Department, where he has taught for the past 25 years. Myers is also the author of such books as “Re-inventing the Jewish…
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Jews Sweep Tonys As Bette Midler, Ben Platt And ‘Oslo’ Win Big
“Dear Evan Hansen,” the teen-angst driven musical about a high school outsider, won the top prize at Sunday’s Tony Awards, Broadway highest honors, while J.T. Rogers’ Mideast peace accord drama “Oslo” was named best play. The surprise hit musical won a total of six Tonys, including best musical actor for 23-year-old newcomer Ben Platt in…
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Bette Midler, ‘Evan Hansen’ and ‘Oslo’ Lead Jewish Sweep At Tonys
In A Tony Awards marked predominantly by the predictable, the genuine surprises provided the most memorable entertainment. We could have done without host Kevin Spacey’s creaky impersonations of Johnny Carson and Bill Clinton, especially a weak joke at the expense of Hillary Clinton’s email servers. And some of the musical numbers failed to convey the…
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Bringing A Talmudic Sage Back To Life
RABBI AKIVA: SAGE OF THE TALMUD By Barry W. Holtz Yale University Press, 248 pages, $25 When I was a rabbinical student, my teacher, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, told me that when he was a college student he interviewed with the legendary Solomon Schechter to study at the Jewish Theological Seminary for rabbinical school. Schechter asked…
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Scott Turow’s New Book Takes On The Holocaust
‘I like my life, whatever I’m doing,” Scott Turow told me. “I get out of bed in the morning and I know that there’s something I’m going to look forward to, which is a blessed way of life.” Not so for his characters. “Someone pointed out to me that in all my books the characters…
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An Injured Athlete, A 70-Something Therapist, A Very Surprising Friendship
Filled with energy, even after a very long day, I hopped into his black Range Rover. Well, hopped is a bit of an exaggeration. At 5 feet 1 inch tall, I actually strained to reach the floorboards, but I was pleased to be with him once I settled into the passenger seat. The two of…
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7 Jewish Shows To Watch At The Tonys
(JTA) — Tonight is the biggest night of the year for theater lovers: It’s the Tony Awards. Unfortunately, our crystal ball is at the shop for repairs — so we can’t say with certainty who the winners will be. But there’s one thing that’s for sure: The past year has been a standout one for Jewish…
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Alex Katz’s Subway Drawings Are Quiet, Lonely — And Surreal
There are a few common descriptors (or criticisms, however you want to read it) for the work of Jewish-American artist Alex Katz – that it’s flat, cartoonish, pop-artish but not in the intellectual (pseudo or otherwise) vein of Warhol and his ilk. These criticism-descriptions all seem fair, but I can’t help but think that, when levied…
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Does New Scientific Discovery Undermine The Story Of The Garden Of Eden?
As has been reported by numerous new sources including The New York Times in the last couple of days, the idea that modern humans evolved in East Africa 200,000 years ago has been challenged by the discovery of 300,000-year-old remains in Jebel Irhoud, a Moroccan mine 100km west of Marrakesh. The extreme age of the…
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Fast Forward Rep. Max Miller says driver called him a ‘dirty Jew’ and threatened to kill his family. A local doctor turned himself in.
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Culture Why is Israel’s attack on Iran called ‘Rising Lion’ — and what does the Bible have to do with it?
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish די ייִדישע קרעטשמע אין דער פּוילישער קולטורThe Jewish tavern in Polish culture
„יאַנקעל דער ייִדישער קרעטשמער“ איז די סאַמע פּאָפּולערסטע ייִדישע געשטאַלט אין דער פּױלישער ליטעראַטור.
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Fast Forward Trump announces ‘complete and total ceasefire’ between Israel and Iran
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Fast Forward Why Israel, rarely a fan of regime change, now contemplates an Iran without ayatollahs
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Opinion Did Netanyahu coerce Trump into attacking Iran? No — but he tried with Obama
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