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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Enquiring Minds Want To Know — Could Eve Have Been Created From Adam’s Penis Bone?
Earlier this week, Esquire published an article about a new study that seeks to solve an age old mystery: What happened to our penis bones? Yes, even though some of us call erections “boners,” humans do not have penis bones, also known as bacula. The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, examined the…
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The Secret Jewish History of ‘Fences’ Author August Wilson
The long-awaited film version of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s “Fences” opens nationally on Sunday, December 25. The movie is being touted as Oscar bait for Denzel Washington, who both stars in and directs the film, and for his co-star Viola Davis. (The film reprises their roles in the 2010 Broadway revival of this Pulitzer-…
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This is The Way We Need To Live in Trump’s America
What is left to be said, my Lord, that hasn’t been said already? I’ve read the editorials and the think pieces, the prognostications and eulogies for freedom. Everyone’s blaming everyone but themselves. And how many contradictory explanations for what went wrong and why and where we are now, what it means, what it portends and…
The Latest
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Looted Nazi Artwork Headed to Swiss Museum – Until Rightful Owners Can Be Found
After a fraught legal battle, a Munich court today determined that the art hoard of the late Cornelius Gurlitt – much of which is thought to have been stolen from its rightful owners by the Nazis – must, in accordance with Gurlitt’s will, be transferred to Switzerland’s Kunstmuseum Bern. Gurlitt’s instructions had been challenged by…
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Music Dear Mariah Carey, All I Want for Christmas Is a Non-Denominational Version of Your Song
“Last Christmas,” the 1980s hit by pop duo Wham! could just as easily have been called “Last Pesach.” John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is a Vietnam War protest, not a Christian song. And, while “White Hanukkah” is not quite as catchy as Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” there is nothing overtly…
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America Under Nazi Rule and 8 Other Things to Read, Watch, and Do This Weekend
In the arts, it’s the time of the year when everyone’s inclined to look back. What were the best artistic moments of the year? Books? Movies? At the Forward, we’re doing that too, but we’re also thrilled about what’s in store artistically in the future. That starts with this week, which brings great new book…
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The Audacity of Writing the Netflix Barack Obama Biopic
The man who famously begged his toddler to Go the Fuck to Sleepis back with a project that sounds Presidential by comparison. That’s not a slight; Adam Mansbach’s the screenwriter behind “Barry,” a new film about a bookish Columbia junior who – one day – will become the 44th President of the United States. As…
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Lupe Fiasco Drops an Anti-Semitic Track — Then Makes It Worse
Chicago native Lupe Fiasco, who has been called “one of the greatest MCs to ever grace the mic,” is facing controversy over the anti-Semitic lyrics in his recently released track “N.E.R.D.” a low-tech freestyle over J. Cole’s “Everybody Dies.” The track, whose sole purpose seems to be to indulge in some standard, if justified, hip-hop…
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Ezra Jack Keats Honored With Tribute to ‘The Snowy Day’
As 2016 winds down to a chilly close, it’s time to say “Happy 100th Birthday” to Ezra Jack Keats, the celebrated author of “The Snowy Day.” The classic book for children, published more than 50 years ago, is a tender story of a young African-American boy — clad in a now iconic red-hooded snowsuit — as he…
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Harper Lee Warned Us About Donald Trump — But We Weren’t Listening
Harper Lee tried to warn America. Twice. The first time she was redirected, politely, to take her nascent characters in a different direction. Lee accepted the editorial advice and produced “To Kill a Mockingbird,” an instant feel-good classic about how great white people can be to and for others. Central to this mythology is Atticus…
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Does Google Want Us To Think That Nazis Are Cool?
On Tuesday, Philosopher Nolen Gertz (whose twitter account you should definitely follow if you don’t already) tweeted the following picture (I did my own search to verify – it’s real): Here’s what’s happening in the photo: if you type in the words “Nazis are” into Google, the site will automatically suggest the four following searches:…
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