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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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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Is the Second Avenue Subway Saying Something About Us in This Mural?
Earlier this week, the MTA announced that four stations along the new 2nd Avenue Subway line in Manhattan (scheduled to open on January 1st), will be adorned with works of public art. It’s been a long time coming for the 2nd Avenue Subway line — plans were first announced in the late 1920’s. The stations…
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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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The Secret Jewish History of ‘The Nutcracker’
A memory of pure magic: I am eight years old, dressed in a special red fleece cap and cape, dashing to a stage door at the Denver Center for Performing Arts with snow falling around me. Backstage is magical, a cavernous room dotted with enchanting, candy-colored set pieces and filled with tutu-clad ballerinas. I was…
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How My Subversive Hanukkah Bush Is Part of the War on Christmas
I never suffered the “December dilemma” as a child. Born to a lapsed Catholic mother and Reform Jewish father, I (badly) observed both Christmas and Hanukkah. We decorated a tree and lit the menorah. And, as Dad put on the Santa costume and mom fried the latkes, our family lived out its own loose and…
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Volkswagen Can Change Its Language — But Not Its History
The German foundation Deutsche Sprache (“German Language”) announced Thursday that it had sold all its shares in Volkswagen, after the carmaker announced plans to switch its official language from German to English. “The words ‘Volkswagen’ and ‘German language’ will no longer fit together,” the foundation’s executive spokesman Walter Krämer said in a statement objecting to…
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Woody Allen Wrote A Very Jewish Book Review For The New York Times
Unless you’re an old movie buff (or were around when such movies were made), you could be forgiven for not knowing the name ”Mary Astor,” which (quite consciously, I think) sounds like it was taken right out of a 1930’s country club roll call. You may not know Astor (most famous for her role in…
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Why the Christmas Season Feels Like Trauma to Me
I never talk about this, but when I was a kid growing up in New Orleans, I was afraid of the colors red and green. It didn’t matter the season; if I saw the two together, I rushed to avert my gaze. Returning Magic Markers to their box, I took care not to let the…
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6 New Poems For Trump’s America
In which our Jewish poet laureate opines about the dawning Trump era — in verse. #1 You too can own Ivanka’s dress! It’s pink, it’s svelte, it screams success Not sewn on 7th Avenue But made in China just for you. #2 Ribbon cuttings, they’ll be grand! This POTUS won’t disown his brand. “Trump” in gold…
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