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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When a Jewish Radio Icon Moved the Rockettes to New York
Think of the Rockettes, and you think of New York: Radio City Music Hall, lit up in the wintertime, glittering decadence tucked away inside. But the Rockettes, currently making headlines over their union’s unforgiving response to a dancer’s concerns about performing at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, wasn’t always Big Apple-based. They made a home in…
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We’ve Seen Martin Luther From Both Sides Now
Martin Luther’s spoon, which he gifted to his friend, a Hebrew specialist who helped him translate the Old Testament in the 1520s, is unusual, to say the least. Said to come from a unicorn’s horn, it was meant to protect against poison. The spoon folds up and is secured with a pin shaped like a…
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Why Artists Must Be Our First Responders in Trump’s America
To speak publicly in the immediate aftermath of a shock is dicey. What seems clear today may prove otherwise next week. What’s certain, though, is that violence has been done to our country’s aspiration toward tolerance; to our tradition of disagreement grounded in fact; to our collective sense of safety, already far too fragile for…
The Latest
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Cynthia Ozick’s Golem Story Is a Fairy Tale of Sexual Obsession and Dentistry
This Month Anne Reads: “Puttermesser: Her Work History, Her Ancestry, Her Afterlife,” by Cynthia Ozick. Cynthia Ozick published her first Puttermesser tale in The New Yorker in 1982. The sequels were published in that magazine soon after, and then all parts were collected into a book (a novel) in 1997. That book became a finalist…
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Is Moana Disney’s First Jewish Princess?
Growing up Jewish in Brooklyn, I often heard that Jews were the Chosen People. So, imagine my surprise when I realized that Moana, the Polynesian princess in Disney’s new animated feature, repeatedly proclaims herself to be “chosen.” She is chosen to save her people — and she has no doubt that she has been chosen….
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Why Jews Need To Focus on Trump’s War on the Poor
It was with a shock of relief and hope that I noted Jews voted 71% for Clinton. Our complicity with the Israeli occupation has driven us far from the kinds of coalitions and progressive communities that we should be a part of, and now have the obligation to rejoin. Given that both Trump and Clinton…
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Chrismukkah, and 5 Other Things to Read, Watch, and Do This Weekend
As you settle in for the long Chrismukkah weekend, it’s a great time to catch up on reading, binge watch your favorite TV shows (or a great new one) and, for the daring, venture outside for some magical holiday fun. Our best picks, below. 1) Celebrate Chrismukkah! This year, Hanukkah starts on Christmas Eve for…
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Hollywood Prays for Carrie Fisher After ‘Star Wars’ Princess Suffers Massive Heart Attack
Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca are rooting for Carrie Fisher to survive a massive heart attack she suffered Friday while aboard a flight to Los Angeles. as if 2016 couldn’t get any worse… sending all our love to @carrieffisher — Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) December 23, 2016 Sixty-year-old Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the “Star Wars”…
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No, The Rockettes Shouldn’t Have To Perform at Trump’s Inauguration — Jewish Tradition Says So
The Rockettes will perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration, though not without some performers being very unhappy about it. Time has reported that one expressed concern about being “involved in a dangerous political climate.” Another dancer, Phoebe Pearl, expressed her distress on Instagram: “I usually don’t use social media to make a political stand, but I…
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This Unusual Menorah Exhibit Is Drawing Crowds in Tel Aviv
Crowds of schoolchildren and tourists are converging on an unusual exhibit of menorahs in Tel Aviv, amassed by two collectors over forty-six years of menorah obsession. The exhibit is named after a famous Hannukah song popular with children titled Chanukiyah li yesh, or “I have a menorah.” When they married in 1959, Drora and Pinchas…
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Everything You Wanted To Know About Menorahs But Were Afraid To Ask
Hanukkah does not begin until December 24, but the historian Steven Fine has already captured the holiday mood in “The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel.” Among other things, Fine’s book, published by Harvard University Press, explains the distinction between the seven-branched menorah used in the ancient Temple and the hanukiah, or nine-branched candelabrum…
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