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
-
I Will Never Match My Mother’s Good Deeds
A bright light lit up my room when my mother died. Or rather, when I was informed, from across the ocean, that my mother had died. It was an unwelcome illumination, the prosaic light of a cell phone, silent but insidious, like the message it was trying to convey. I don’t recall my father’s words…
-
How The Jews Beat Tay Sachs
Not long ago, having a baby was a fairly straightforward venture. When a couple decided to have a child, they’d ditch the birth control pills and dim the lights. But with no plastic wand with twin purple lines to offer instant at-home confirmation, there was no easy way to gauge success. The first home pregnancy…
-
The Genetic Mutation That Threatens A Family
When Joselin Linder’s father William died of a sudden and debilitating mystery disease in his late 40s, she didn’t realize that it was the marker of a deadly gene that was stalking her family. Twenty years on, she, her sister and her cousins live under the shadow of a gene variant that seems to have…
The Latest
-
120 Years Ago, The Forward Published Its Very First Issue
The year 1897 was a momentous one in Jewish history. Theodore Herzl attended the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, giving birth to the movement that founded the Jewish State. In Vilna, a group of socialist activists met in secret to create a Jewish workers association that became known as the Bund. And, on April…
-
Celebrate Our 120th Anniversary With Us, All Year Long!
Dear Reader: Today we’re kicking off an exciting celebration – and we’re thrilled you’re part of it: The Forward turns 120 this month — it’s a milestone in Jewish years, and it’s a momentous birthday for us. We’ve come a long way: From 1897’s scrappy Yiddish broadsheet to our award-winning, digital-first, 24/7 news organization today….
-
This Scientist Argues Climate Change Is Partially Responsible For The Syrian Crisis
If, during the unusually warm New York City winter of 2015, you heard that a weather phenomenon called El Niño was partly to blame, you had Mark Cane to thank for that information. El Niño, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, consists of a series of climactic changes characterized by “a warming of…
-
Books Ivanka Trump Cancels Book Tour, Citing White House Ethics Concerns
Ivanka Trump won’t lift a finger to promote her soon-to-be-released book “Women Who Work,” announcing that she would cancel a tour and promotional events due to ethics concerns. “Out of an abundance of caution and to avoid the appearance of using my official role to promote the book, I will not publicize the book through…
-
Amy Goodman Among 2017 American Academy Of Arts And Sciences Fellows
The 2017 class of new members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences includes radio host Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!,” Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, of New York University and Polin, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and Israeli novelist David Grossman, among many others. Goodman and Kirshenblatt-Gimblett were among the 188 newly-elected Fellows…
-
Film & TV You Must Watch This New Film On The Armenian Genocide, Whether It’s Any Good Or Not
Today, “The Promise, a film about the Armenian Genocide, was released in theaters. At first glance, either at the trailer or the film, we are given a sweeping historical drama filmed and written in a slightly dated fashion – a fine, if forgettable, affair. But against the backdrop of both history and the world’s current…
-
Film & TV Bette Midler Is Broadway’s Hottest Ticket — But Why Is ‘Hello, Dolly! Still A Thing?
Just because a musical was a hit with a long run, that doesn’t mean it’s a great show. And “Hello, Dolly!” is perhaps the proof point. Its Broadway debut won 10 Tonys, played for nearly seven years, and was for a time the longest-running Broadway musical ever. It led to the movie, three revivals, and…
-
What Is ‘Annie Hall’s’ Most Jewish Scene
Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” turned forty this week. It is, arguably, Allen’s most influential film, his funniest as well – a masterclass not only in cinematography and screenwriting, but directing and acting as well. Jordan Hoffman over at The Guardian has compiled a list of the films forty funniest moments (how he distilled it down to…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
- 2
Culture An Israeli genocide scholar looks to Israel’s history to understand ‘what went wrong’
- 3
Holy Ground A Jewish farmer broke ground on a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield. His neighbors showed up to help.
- 4
News Protesters picket Manhattan synagogue over Israel real estate sale, testing Mamdani and new law
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture What the private equity takeover means for the bagel industry
-
Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
-
Opinion An alarming new battleground in campus fights over Israel
-
Looking Forward My artist grandmother nearly made aliyah. I don’t know what she’d think of Israel today