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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After the Holocaust, Only This Young Composer’s Music Survived
One of the greatest tragedies of the Holocaust (itself the greatest tragedy of modern history) is the irreplaceable loss of talent – not just of the people who were murdered, but also the works, discoveries and inventions that were murdered along with them. Earlier today, the Boston Globe published a story about one of those myriad…
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Barbra Streisand in LA, and 5 More Things to Read, Watch, and Do This Weekend
2017 is fresh, new, and already bringing deaths of beloved public figures – rest in peace, John Berger – extreme political controversy, and simultaneously hilarious and disheartening memes. Never fear; it’s too early to call the year “2016, Part 2,” and there’s enough exciting art, theater, and literature appearing this weekend to cheer even the…
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Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Explores Faith When God Keeps Quiet
When do you hear the voice of God? Contemporary believers are caught in a conundrum. If they never hear God speaking, or even acting in ways consonant with theology, then surely they must doubt God’s very existence. And yet if they do claim to hear a bat kol – a Divine voice – surely they…
The Latest
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‘Mein Kampf’ Is Back — And There Are Reasons To Worry About That
Yesterday, news broke that the new annotated version of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” had become a non-fiction best seller in Germany with around 85,000 copies sold. The book had previously been banned from publication in the country (though it could still legally be read if a copy could be found). But in 2015, the copyright,…
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Books Joseph Roth’s ‘The Hotel Years’ Is A Mirror Of Our Times
Although Joseph Roth’s “The Hotel Years” first appeared in 2015, the beginning of 2017 seems, unfortunately, to be the perfect time to open the text. The book is a collection of short pieces that Roth, one of the preeminent journalists of his time (at one point, the Frankfurter Zeitung was paying him at the staggering…
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Remembering Rolf Noskwith, the Jewish Cryptographer Who Helped Beat the Nazis
The cryptographer Rolf Noskwith, who died on January 3 at age 97, proved that “The Imitation Game” could be followed by the hosiery game. As a key member of the team of mathematician Alan Turing, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in the Oscar-nominated film “The Imitation Game,” Noskwith helped break German military codes to win World…
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What Was a Good Jewish Boy Like Him Doing in a Disco Like That?
A “good Jewish boy from New Rochelle” who took up photography after moving to Manhattan, Bill Bernstein got his first freelance assignment from The Village Voice in 1978: Shoot a black-tie dinner for President Jimmy Carter’s mom, Lillian Carter, at a venue called Studio 54. Sensing something sexier when he saw the club readying for…
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Billie Lourd Breaks Silence on Deaths of Mother Carrie Fisher and Grandmother Debbie Reynolds
Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds were known as entertainment icons to millions around the world, but they were known as “mom” and “grandma” to 24-year-old actress Billie Lourd. Lourd broke her silence on the news on Monday, sharing an old photo of herself, Fisher, and Reynolds on Instagram. With it, she wrote, “Receiving all of…
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Books Bernard-Henri Lévy’s Lady-Lacking Reading List
As I was perusing the New York Times book reviews this weekend (yes, the section whose cover features a review by Woody Allen), I happened upon an interview with French-Jewish writer and public intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy. As someone with an above-average interest in French and Jewish (I’ve got a doctorate in just that topic, and…
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The Secret Jewish History of Strange Fruit
Editor’s Note: Rebecca Ferguson, an “X-Factor” winner, recently made headlines when she was invited to sing at Donald Trump’s inauguration. Ferguson responded by saying that she would perform if she could sing “Strange Fruit,” the haunting, classic song about lynching made famous by Billie Holiday. A few years back, we looked at the Jewish history…
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Meet the Businessman Introducing Kids in 12 Countries to Jewish Books — For Free
Harold Grinspoon is not a scholar, he is a businessman – a fact which he reminded me of multiple times throughout our conversation. Yet, despite his protestations, Grinspoon has done more than most in terms of cultivating the next generation of Jewish learners. He isn’t a lecturer, an author, a rabbi, or in any way…
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Holy Ground A Jewish farmer broke ground on a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield. His neighbors showed up to help.
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Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
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Culture An Israeli genocide scholar looks to Israel’s history to understand ‘what went wrong’
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
In Case You Missed It
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News Remembering Abe Foxman, the longtime ADL leader known as the ‘Jewish pope,’ who always answered my calls
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Fast Forward Michael Jackson biopic revives legend of Jewish music mogul who battled MTV’s ‘color barrier’
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Fast Forward DOGE’s cuts to Jewish humanities grants were unconstitutional, judge rules
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Fast Forward As anti-LGBTQ laws spread, these two Jewish nonprofits are funding moves to safer states