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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One Author, Two Radically Different Holocaust Stories
Hell’s Traces: One Murder, Two Families, Thirty-Five Holocaust Memorials By Victor Ripp Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 224 pages, $25 By Julia M. Klein Victor Ripp, an American academic and author, is the descendant of two European Jewish families that met radically different fates. On his mother’s side, the Kahans, a wealthy clan skilled at the…
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The Secret Jewish History of ‘Twin Peaks’
Once upon a time, before “Transparent,” before “Mad Men,” before “The Wire,” even before “The Sopranos,” there was “Twin Peaks.” Aired in prime time on ABC-TV, “Twin Peaks,” which debuted in April 1990, was the first TV series that aspired to the creative level of independent cinema, driven by the quirky vision of filmmaker David…
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This Painting Was Stolen 200 Years Ago – That’s Why We See It Differently
There are two great paintings titled “Return of the Prodigal Son,” one by Rembrandt and one by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo – neither of which is housed in its painter’s country of origin. The Rembrandt version is housed in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, while the Murillo is housed in the National Gallery in Washington D.C….
The Latest
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Is Donald Trump The Subject Of An Actual Witch-Hunt?
This morning, President Trump declared himself to be the subject of “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!” With all due respect to the president — I guess — his declaration seems unfounded. That’s partially because witch-hunts are traditionally baseless, where investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election are fueled…
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The Secret Jewish History Of Chris Cornell And Soundgarden
Rock vocalist Chris Cornell, who died early this morning at age 52 after performing a concert in Detroit with his Grammy Award-winning grunge-rock outfit Soundgarden, will be best remembered for the group’s massive 1994 hit, “Black Hole Sun.” Released in the wake of grunge avatar Kurt Cobain’s suicide (Cornell’s death is being investigated as a…
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Insightful Biography of Hebrew Poet H. N. Bialik Misses Key Element
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Why and how did Hayim Nahman Bialik become Israel’s national poet? Avner Holtzman, a professor of Hebrew literature at Tel Aviv University, poses this very question in his new biography, “Hayim Nahman Bialik: Poet of Hebrew”, published as part of the “Jewish Lives” series by Yale University…
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Why Do People Call Arson ‘Jewish Lightning’ — And Is It Anti-Semitic?
A highly-specific act of insurance fraud, explained.
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Film & TV Will ‘Wizard Of Lies’ Bring Out The Anti-Semites? Barry Levinson Doesn’t Care
There is a major surprise in “The Wizard of Lies, Barry Levinson’s film about the Bernie Madoff scandal, which premieres on May 20 on HBO and is based on the reporting of Diana B. Henriques: It’s possible to feel a modicum of sympathy for a despicable human being. The film stars Robert DeNiro as Bernie…
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Supreme Court Justice: Etgar Keret Is Israel’s ‘Young Boswell’
I’ve always thought that to be Jewish was to live the life of the mind. What do I mean by that? I mean that what I have always seen as the core of our Jewish identity, the engine that has driven us through the centuries, is the intellectual package of values we carried with us…
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WATCH: New Documentary Explores Etgar Keret’s World
“Etgar in person is very much like he is on the page, always telling extremely short stories,” Jonathan Safran Foer says, in a new trailer for the upcoming documentary “Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story.” Keret, an Israeli author, has gained a reputation for having a more creative approach to reality than most. In…
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Why Trump Must Not Meet With Sudanese President al-Bashir
President Trump, you may have heard, is soon embarking on the first international trip of his presidency – to Saudi Arabia, Israel, The Vatican, Italy and Brussels. What you may not have heard is that while in Saudi Arabia, there is a possibility that Trump will not only meet with King Salman, who is currently allegedly…
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