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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Third Woman Accuses Roman Polanski of Rape
A woman identifying herself as “Robin M.” accused filmmaker Roman Polanski of “sexually victimizing” her at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to a report by USA Today. The new accusation comes as the director is awaiting a decision on a request for the dismissal of the 1977 unlawful sex case that…
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Books I’m Black, Jewish And Gay — And Food Is My Weapon Against Bigotry
I am going back to the mountaintop. In three weeks, I will return to Charlottesville, Virginia. It is not because last Saturday it became the site of an American pogrom. Last weekend dozens of people were injured during violence sparked by the Unite the Right rally and counter-protests. Two law enforcement officers were killed in…
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Art For Better Or Worse, “Nocturama” Is The Movie Of The Moment
During the lead-up to the September 11th terrorist attacks, ringleader Mohammed Atta and at least four other hijackers met multiple times in Las Vegas. Something about this detail seems to stick in the imagination, such that the intervening years have seen considerable speculation as to what they did there, prompting earnest investigations as well as…
The Latest
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Remembering Arlene Gottfried, Chronicler Of New York’s Humanity
Arlene Gottfried called her grandma bubbie and sang in a gospel choir. The Brooklyn-born photographer, who passed away on Tuesday August 8 at age 66, was a New Yorker to the core. She spent her childhood in Coney Island, then Crown Heights; in the 1990s, she moved to the Lower East Side, where the life…
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Why Charles Jordan’s Death Remains A Puzzling Cold War Mystery
Charles Jordan was known as the “Father of Refugees” for good reason. Through the most tumultuous years of the 20th century, he devoted his life to helping Jews and later Palestinians, Vietnamese and others flee war, oppression and conflict, earning a global reputation for shaping the understanding of refugees and the issues connected to their…
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Ben Platt Is Leaving ‘Dear Evan Hansen.’ Here Are Some Of His Remarkable Performances.
In the title role of “Dear Evan Hansen,” Ben Platt has won a series of theatrical accolades, including the 2017 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, that have made him a household name. Now, the 23-year-old actor is planning his next steps. Platt took to Twitter today to confirm that his last performance…
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Can Louis Kahn’s Quintessentially American Music Boat Be Saved?
“How important is your thumb on your right hand?” Richard Saul Wurman asked, before he answered his own question: “It’s not as important as your whole arm, or your lungs.” “Lou’s reputation as a great architect will live without this boat. But it’s really nice that it is recognized.” Wurman, an author, architect and founder…
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Jewish Director Puts Richard Wagner On Trial — At His Own Festival
Scholars have long argued whether Richard Wagner left traces of his anti-Semitic convictions in his opera, for example, by encoding characters with stereotypically Jewish traits. When Barrie Kosky directed a “Ring Cycle” in Hannover between 2009 and 2011, the Australian director didn’t have a shred of doubt. For him, the duplicitous dwarf Mime (the cycle’s…
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Film & TV The Secret Jewish History of Nuclear War Movies
As Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un engage in nuclear brinkmanship, very real fears of a nuclear Armageddon have emerged. Given that Armageddon has a Hebrew origin (via the Greek translation of Har Meggido), it is not surprising that Jews have had a considerable interest in nuclear apocalypse. Consider the title of MAD magazine, echoing 1950s…
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Allen, Baumbach, And More Highlights Of 55th New York Film Festival
The 55th New York Film Festival, descending on the Lincoln Center from September 28 to October 15, will include new films by Woody Allen and Noah Baumbach, in its showcase of the year’s most prominent independent and international films. The festival’s Main Slate will feature Allen’s “Wonder Wheel,” set in 1950s Coney Island, as its…
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Why Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Chelm Stories Aren’t Just For Children
This Month Anne Reads: ”The Fools of Chelm and Their History,” by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Isaac Bashevis Singer was born in 1902 in Leonim, Poland and died in Florida in 1991. In 1978 he won the Nobel Prize for literature bringing joy to Jews everywhere. This came as a vindication of our gifts to the…
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