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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Why Gloria Steinem Thinks Judaism Should Dump Patriarchy
On a miserably rainy November morning, a journalist battled the wind through downtown Manhattan to arrive at what was, until recently, a women’s prison in Chelsea. The inherent Chelsea-ness was impossible to ignore; soft electronic music pulsed above the hiss of expensive espresso machines and the journalist, wearing an unsubtle shade of red, found herself…
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How Hitler Changed The Bible — and Why It Still Matters in Donald Trump’s America
In the days of Hitler, the Bible was condensed and transformed. Throughout the Third Reich, the “Old Testament” was taken out, thus erasing the Jewish contribution. Imagine: a 12-year-old German reader in 1945 might have been entirely unaware of Genesis, Exodus, or Isaiah. It wasn’t just book burning, it was a replacement of text. It…
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How 5 Jewish Artists Paid Tribute to the Late Leon Russell
The great American singer, songwriter and keyboardist Leon Russell died in his sleep this past Sunday, November 13, at age 74. While never a household name, Russell’s career as a session musician, sideman, songwriter, and producer saw him work with a significant slice of rock and pop royalty — everyone from the Rolling Stones to…
The Latest
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8 Of The Most Moving Responses To Leonard Cohen’s Death
Following Leonard Cohen’s death on November 7th, news of which spread this past Friday, artists, critics, and plain old fans have sprung forward to pay homage to the great singer-songwriter. Many have recalled Cohen’s famous lyric from “Anthem:” “There is a crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in.” Even as we mourn Cohen, the…
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Why We Mourn Leonard Cohen in the Era of Trump
Historians will probably discuss Leonard Cohen’s death alongside two very different developments, Trump victorious and Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize win. “Everybody Knows,” one of Cohen’s bleakest songs, has instantly become an anthem for the despair felt by much of the world in the wake of the election. Leonard Cohen was a weary-voiced troubadour to the…
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Rediscovering Marc Chagall’s Least-Known American Windows
Union Church, in the Hudson Valley hamlet of Pocantico Hills, fits right into its bucolic surroundings. The sloping roof, modest bell tower and facade of rough local stone give it the look of a stately cottage. It’s easy to imagine that Marc Chagall, whose works brim over with nostalgia for his shtetl childhood, must have…
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Such a Beautiful Holocaust Novel — Maybe Too Beautiful
Affinity Konar was still a bit starstruck, there in a lounge at Manhattan’s Warwick Hotel. She’d just met Lucette Lagnado, one of the authors of “Children of the Flames,” a book about the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele and the twins who survived his Auschwitz laboratory. Konar said the book was one she had been “obsessed…
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Art Did Mexican Artists Produce the First Images of the Holocaust?
Velvet-black smoke pours out of a locomotive looming on the horizon, accentuating the train’s length. It ascends heavenward, but the smoke is no Exodus pillar of cloud guiding the Israelites. This ominous billowing form signals the train’s imminent departure, as armed Nazis herd people aboard. In the foreground, a burly soldier shines a lantern into…
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7 Cool New Jewish Documentaries To Watch Out For
This year’s 7th annual DOC NYC film festival has seven Jewish flicks on its schedule, some having their North American or US premieres, others showing for the first time in NYC. America’s largest documentary festival runs November 10-17 at the IFC Center, which produces the event, and includes 110 feature-length documentaries and 102 shorts. Films…
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Is Leonard Cohen’s New Song His Most Jewish Ever?
Leonard Cohen has died at 82. Here are Seth Rogovoy’s thoughts, originally published in September, about the title track of Cohen’s recent album “You Want It Darker.” For his 82nd birthday on Wednesday, September 21, 2016, Leonard Cohen gave the world a gift: a sneak preview of his upcoming album, the title track of “You…
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A Song of Love and Memory for Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen has died at 82. Here’s how Ezra Glinter, a Forward editor and fellow Montreal native, profiled the master composer on his 80th birthday in 2014. When I moved to Montreal in the summer of 2004 the city was about to experience two end-of-an-era events, though I knew nothing about either of them at…
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