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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The Secret Jewish History of Bon Jovi
Coming off a banner year in which the 34-year-old pop-metal band released its sixth No. 1 album, Bon Jovi is ready to rock its way through 2017, kicking off a major tour of U.S. arenas in Greenville, South Carolina, on February 8, with shows scheduled well into April. Why, at the age of 55, does…
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Why Donald Trump Sounds Smarter in Russian
Considering how often President Donald Trump praises Vladimir Putin and suggests that close cooperation between Russia and the U.S. would be a good thing, it is strange that there is so little American media coverage of how Trump is coming across in Russia. A rare exception was when David Filipov, the Moscow bureau chief for…
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Walter Hautzig’s Talent Brought Him Fame – And Saved Him From The Holocaust
Walter Hautzig’s path out of Nazi-occupied Austria began with a piano his grandfather purchased for his mother, his daughter explained at his funeral this past Thursday. If his mother decided to go with the other option he had given her for a gift — a fur coat — things might have turned out very differently….
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Backing ‘Hustler’ Trump, Gay Talese Blames Journalism’s Woes on Decline in Anti-Semitism
Gay Talese, the legendary journalist who most recently made headlines for ethical scandals surrounding his 2016 book “The Voyeur’s Motel,” is well-dressed, unsurprisingly verbose, and cranky. Those are the prime takeaways on Talese’s persona from Moran Sharir’s interview with the icon for Haaretz, published on February 3. But what of the man’s opinions on the…
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How OkCupid Became Part of the Anti-Trump Resistance
Right after the “Muslim ban” began to dominate the headlines, the dating site OKCupid issued a statement promoting non-discrimination — and outlining a definition of American values. Daters received a highly unusual email reading: “At OkCupid, we believe that judging others based on their sex, religion, country of origin, or orientation is un-American. There is…
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Honoring Elie Wiesel, They Read ‘Night’ Aloud. Here’s What They Learned.
“Enter this place, passerby,” Michael Glickman said on January 29, “and meet those who survived the nightmare. Meet them, and learn from them.” He stood temporarily in near-darkness, on a nearly empty stage. Projected behind him, the face of the late Elie Wiesel, author of those words, loomed in triplicate: Light, shadowed, and almost fully…
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Super Bowl LI, Paul Auster’s New Novel, And More To Read, Watch, And Do This Weekend
According to Punxsutawney Phil, the semi-reliable groundhog who attempts to predict the duration of winter every February 2, we’re in for many more weeks of chilly weather. What better excuse to spend the weekend curled up and indulging in the best recent TV: CBS’ “Superior Donuts,” which premiered on Groundhog Day and stars Judd Hirsch,…
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‘1984’ Is Coming To Broadway
As “1984” stays close to the top of best sellers lists — this week, it fell to second on Amazon’s list, trailing pre-sales of “alt-right” provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos’ controversial “Dangerous” — the prescience of George Orwell’s dystopian vision is prominent in the public consciousness. Now, Sonia Friedman, the British producer behind “Harry Potter and the…
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A Deadly Explosion In Chicago, And More Of The Forward Looking Back
100 Years Ago A massive gas explosion rocked the heart of the Jewish ghetto on the West Side of Chicago. At least 40 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in the blast, which occurred in the early morning hours on the 800 block of West 14th Place while most of the residents were sleeping….
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Do We All Have an Inner Gandhi — and a Hitler Too?
When Ajay Raju saw Jitish Kallat’s “Covering Letter” installed in India two years ago, he was struck by the experience of walking through the mist “screen” or “curtain,” upon which was projected a 1939 letter that Mahatma Gandhi wrote to Adolf Hitler. “You almost feel as though you’ve crossed the threshold of history,” says Raju,…
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What I Lost Growing Up in a Home With No Religion
At the age of twenty, in Columbia’s School of Graduate Studies, I met the young philosophy student I would marry a year later. His mother had been recently widowed and, during her year of mourning, had developed a close friendship with her rabbi. When we announced our engagement, she expressed the wish that we would…
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