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
-
Harold Pinter and Antonia Fraser’s Excellent Israeli Adventure
Our Israeli Diary, 1978: Of That Time, Of That Place By Antonia Fraser Oneworld Publications, 176 pages, $16.99 Even on vacation, writers may not be able to set aside their vocation. And so we have this spikily charming diary by the British biographer and memoirist Antonia Fraser, a chronicle of a 15-day trip to Israel…
-
Film & TV Remembering Shelley Berman — A Kafkaesque Comic Of Existential Loneliness
Shelley Berman, who died on September 1 at age 92, was the Gregor Samsa of American comedy. Like the protagonist of Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,” Berman was alert to the insectification of modern life, whatever removes humanity and sparks rage. Focusing on petty occasions for anger made him the spiritual forefather of comedians, especially Larry David,…
-
Manhattan’s Only Winemaker Is This 89-Year-Old Iraqi Jew
NEW YORK (JTA) — Latif Jiji looks over this year’s crop at Chateau Latif with an expression of satisfaction. If you’ve never heard of Chateau Latif, you’re not alone. In fact, your favorite sommelier probably hasn’t heard of it, either. It’s not from the south of France, nor is it from Napa Valley. Rather, it’s…
The Latest
-
How A Tel Aviv Café Is Helping The Needy With Free Challah
A Tel Aviv coffee shop is offering free challahs for those who need them in a novel way — by leaving challahs on café tables for an hour each Friday afternoon. Coffee Station at 152 Ibn Gabirol Street, the street Israelis pronounce as Even Gvirol, will have challahs on tables from 3:30-4:30 p.m each Friday,…
-
Can This 28-Year-Old Rabbi Save A Landmark Brooklyn Synagogue?
When Rabbi Sam Reinstein arrived at the country’s first Jewish Comic Con, he didn’t seem to grasp the superhero symbolism emblazoned on his chest. A 28-year-old who prefers comedy to comics, he had decided to wear a humor T-shirt, which featured the Superman Logo wearing a black hat and peyes. He wandered through Congregation Kol…
-
The Mystery Behind The Lost Books Of A Cherished Lublin Yeshiva
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. S. Y. Stupnitsky, a forgotten twentieth-century Jewish journalist, made a prescient observation about the great historic Jewish structures in Europe: “Jews built them, and today non-Jews possess them.” Stupnitsky’s words certainly ring true about Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin, the educational brainchild of Meir Shapiro, a Polish rabbi who…
-
The Newseum’s Existential Crisis Might Be Good For The Media — And The Country
In recent years, many death knells have tolled for the news industry. The causes of death have ranged from the disruption of the internet to the rise of crowd-sourced journalism to the emergence of fake news to a certain angry president’s assertions that any news that disagrees with or criticizes him is fake. And yet…
-
‘Auschwitz On The Beach’ Compared Refugee Crisis To The Holocaust. Cancelling It Was Wrong.
Last week, Germany’s premier contemporary art exhibition decided not play host to “Auschwitz on the Beach.” Jewish groups successfully pressured documenta 14, which takes place every five years in the city of Kassel, into cancelling the controversial piece. A performance by Italian writer and artist Franco “Bifo” Berardi, “Auschwitz on the Beach” took its name…
-
Israel’s ‘Fauda,’ Hailed For Political Enlightenment, Gets Examined By The New Yorker
The Israeli TV show “Fauda” has been a phenomenon, both in its home country and abroad. After premiering in Israel in 2015, the thriller won six Ophir Awards, the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards. In 2016, Netflix picked up the show’s first and then in-production second seasons; on the streaming site, the show screens…
-
So, Is ‘Cosmopolitan’ An Anti-Semitic Slur Or Not?
Russian scholars remain aghast at Donald Trump’s senior policy adviser Stephen Miller’s use of the word “cosmopolitan,” and some warn that it is a very important signal. “Stephen Miller’s references to “cosmopolitan bias” in the media are so transparently anti-Semitic that it is hard to believe people are not seeing it,” said Russell Valentino, Professor…
-
Novel Of Jewish Familial Strife Among Finalists For Prestigious Prize
Bethany Ball’s debut novel, “What to do About the Solomons,” has made the short list for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Her book, set between California and Israel, tells the story of a Jewish family beset by financial scandal. The other finalists are “As Lie is to Grin” by Simeon Marsalis, “Empire of…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
- 2
Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
- 3
Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
- 4
Sports This year’s biggest World Cup upset came from its most Jew-ish team
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Years after a boycott fight, Ben & Jerry’s Israel debuts a flavor celebrating Israeli resilience
-
Fast Forward Mamdani calls AIPAC ‘monsters’ in rally ahead of NY primaries
-
Fast Forward Jewish groups push back against Trump’s Iran deal — but more quietly so far than in 2015
-
News Who is Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli politician who could dethrone Netanyahu?