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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Was Leonard Cohen A Zionist?
The short answer is no. He was a mensch, not to say the two things are mutually exclusive. The long answer follows. On May 21st, a celebratory concert in Israel for Yom Yerushalayim featured an English-Hebrew rendition of “Hallelujah,” by far Leonard Cohen’s most misused song (if you don’t count the millions of questionable hook-ups…
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For Joseph Brodsky, On His Birthday
Today we celebrate the birthdays of two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: One dead, one alive, one American by way of Russia, one American by way of Minnesota. One deserved his prize, one — ahem, Bob Dylan — did not, but that’s another story. Let’s pay tribute to the deserving one. Joseph Brodsky…
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Film & TV The Secret Jewish History Of ‘Top Gun’
Over the past 30 years, quite a few adrenaline-fueled drivers have uttered the famous line from “Top Gun:” “I feel the need…the need for speed.” A substantial percentage of them were likely pulled over shortly after making the proclamation, but when Tom Cruise takes once more to the air as Navy pilot “Maverick” Mitchell, there…
The Latest
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Michael Bloomberg Gives $75 Million To New Manhattan Arts Center
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is still helping shape the city, most recently in the form of a $75 million gift to the Shed Arts Center. The cultural hub, currently under construction in Hudson Yards, is intended to open in the spring of 2019, featuring a range of performance and gallery spaces, as…
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Next Stop For ‘The Band’s Visit’? Broadway
“The Band’s Visit,” a theatrical adaptation of the 2007 film of the same name, will appear on Broadway this coming fall. The musical, which premiered Off-Broadway last fall at the Atlantic Theater Company, consists of a book by Itamar Moses and music and lyrics by David Yazbek. Following an Egyptian band as it accidentally stumbles…
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Celebrate Bob Dylan’s 76th Birthday With His 10 Most Jewish Songs
While Bob Dylan has, throughout his life and career, engaged in all sorts of mythologizing and playful biographical falsification, it has never been in the service of denying his heritage. This son of a middle-class appliance salesman from the Upper Midwest, who grew up with a Yiddish-speaking grandmother down the hallway in an extended Jewish…
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‘Oslo,’ ‘Indecent’ Take Home Obie Awards
A number of themes can be identified in the seemingly endless sequence of New York theater awards: On Broadway, everybody loves Ben Platt, Off-Broadway, everyone loves Taylor Mac, and when it comes to new plays, J.T. Rogers’s “Oslo” and Paula Vogel’s “Indecent,” alongside Lynn Nottage’s “Sweat,” are the big names to know. While Monday night’s…
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Celebrate The Moog Inventor’s Birthday With This Bizarre Moog Shabbat Service
Today is Robert Moog’s birthday, and while you may not know his name or who he is, you almost certainly know of his invention – the Moog Synthesizer. Moog (pronounced MOHG), born in New York City on this day in 1934, changed the face of music in the 1960’s – opening up the world of electronic sound…
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10 Things Donald Trump Thinks Are ‘So Amazing’ Aside From Yad Vashem
The message that Donald Trump wrote in the guest book of Yad Vashem — “It is a great honor to be here with all of my friends. So amazing + will never forget” — has been drawing criticism for Trump’s vapid and flippant yearbook-style message. Which got us wondering — if Yad Vashem is “so…
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Film & TV Fundamentalism And Feminism Square Off In ‘The Women’s Balcony’
‘The Women’s Balcony,” the Israeli film written by Shlomit Nehama and director Emil Ben-Shimon, could easily have turned into a polemic, awash in stereotypes, about the ultra-Orthodox versus the more liberally minded in one small, closely knit Israeli Orthodox congregation. But thanks to the talents of the actors and the creative team, the film is…
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The Secret Jewish History Of James Bond
Editor’s Note: Sir Roger Moore, who gained fame for playing the role of James Bond in the 1970’s and ’80s has died at the age of 89. In his honor and in his memory, we present our own history of James Bond. It’s hard to imagine anyone less Jewish — or more goyish — than…
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