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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Yankel and Leah (Chapter 1)
This originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Yankel walked up the stairs in the dormitory, to light the Chanukah menorah. He lit a match but it blew out. He lit another one. Outside, a mix of rain and snow was falling. Inside, the ancient cast-iron radiator hissed. Chanukah was late this year – the end…
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How Allen Ginsberg Wrote The Poem Of A Generation
At some point, either in a high school English class or in a circle of semi-stoned friends — frankly, sometimes they’re one and the same (I’m from Colorado, sorry) — you’ve likely heard the famous opening line of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl:” “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,/starving hysterical naked,/dragging…
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This Dating Site Connects Jews Of Middle Eastern Descent
NEW YORK (JTA) — These days, there’s a dating site or app for just about any group you can imagine, from men with beards (and their admirers) to a farmers-only site. There’s even an app matches people based upon shared dislikes — as in “I saw you, too, hate paying extra for guacamole.” But one day it dawned upon Cynthia Shamash,…
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On Jerusalem Day, A Very Unerotic Carnival
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt of Arnon Grunberg’s essay “An Unsuitable Place for Clowns” in the new anthology “Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation”(Harper Perennial). Grunberg, who was raised in Amsterdam as a member of the Zionist youth group Bnei Akiva, visited the West Bank through a tour with the…
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Film & TV Why Do White People Get Mad When We Call ‘Wonder Woman’ White?
When I wrote a piece at the Forward pointing out that Gal Gadot is white, I did not expect there to be a backlash. Gadot is, after all, playing a white character; she was clearly cast because people see her as white. The argument that she was a person of color was transparently made in…
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Ben Platt, Bette Midler, Scarlett Johansson To Perform At 2017 Tony Awards
Ben Platt, Bette Midler, and Scarlett Johansson will be among the performers and presenters at the 2017 Tony Awards, which will be presented on Sunday, June 11. Platt is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his star turn in “Dear Evan Hansen,” and Midler is up…
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This Soviet Avant-Garde Journal Published Some Of The 20th Century’s Greatest Minds
There’s a line in one of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s poem-play “Vladimir Myakovsky” (the young poet was nothing if not confident) that strikes me as among the most ferocious lines ever put to paper: “We will eat this century like meat, we’ll eat our fill, licking the plates!” The oeuvre of Mayakovsky, one of the great early…
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Film & TV Why We Need Superheroes — Especially Wonder Woman
“Wonder Woman” is the biggest hit of the year, the savior of Warner Brothers and the greatest boon to the chattering classes since Trump’s election. Only four days into its release, it’s brought in 200 million dollars and almost as many reaction pieces. Is it too feminist? Is it not feminist enough? Gal Gadot is…
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Why That Leering ‘Wonder Woman’ Review Does A Disservice To Criticism
In the modern, click-hungry media, one way to ensure a piece racks in readers is to have it be egregiously offensive. Exhibit A: David Edelstein’s recent review of the Gal Gadot-led “Wonder Woman” for New York Magazine. Much of Edelstein’s review suggests sexism, from his declaration that, despite a lack of the S&M intonations of…
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Bette Midler, ‘Oslo,’ Win Drama Desk Awards
The 62nd Annual Drama Desk Awards, announced in a ceremony on June 4, showed a lot of love for Broadway’s “Hello Dolly!,” “Oslo,” and “The Little Foxes,” as well as the Off-Broadway production of “The Band’s Visit.” “Hello Dolly!” took home Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Actress in a Musical for Bette Midler, and…
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LISTEN: Bob Dylan (Finally) Delivers Nobel Lecture
The saga of Bob Dylan’s oddly ambivalent acceptance of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature is finally over, as the singer-songwriter presented his Nobel Lecture on June 4. “When I received the Nobel Prize for Literature, I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to literature,” Dylan said, opening the lecture. After a brief…
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