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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POEM: ALIBI
This past week, news of a stabbing attack on marchers in Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade, which left 16-year-old Shira Banki dead, and an arson attack that killed Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha, circulated through news and social media channels in Israel and abroad. The following poem by the Israeli poet Eli Eliahu appeared on his public…
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This Family Loves Basketball, Shabbat and Stephen Colbert
As of July, Ron Fish, 46, is the new senior rabbi of Temple Israel in Sharon, Massachusetts. His wife, Leah Bieler, 43, is a Jewish educator and Talmud scholar and carried on the couple’s love for music when she served as Fish’s cantor at their former synagogue. The two recently moved to Sharon with their…
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Doris Salcedo’s Colombian Exposition
Throughout her career, the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo has devoted herself to exploring and quietly uncovering lethally efficient acts of human cruelty. Her sculptures and public installations, which she terms “interventions,” confront instances of violence and oppression, legacies of injustices and historical perpetrations. They excavate what has been repressed and buried, and dig up what…
The Latest
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Ab Cahan Meets an Anti-Semite in Poland
100 Years Ago Reporting from Poland, Abraham Cahan writes how an otherwise intelligent hotelkeeper in Kalisz mistook him for an American Christian. As a result, the hotelkeeper spoke openly regarding Poland’s Jewish minority to someone she didn’t know was Jewish. The conversation started after Cahan mentioned the large numbers of poor Jews on the streets….
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Art Indiana Jones and the Temple of Jews
Museums don’t typically take public, unequivocal stands on the question of the literal truth of the bible. But a National Geographic announcement of its exhibit “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology” (on display through Jan. 3, 2016) refers to both the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail as “famous, fictional relics.” But…
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Film & TV David Foster Wallace Wouldn’t Approve Of Me Loving This Movie. Too Bad.
Let’s get this out of the way — I never finished “Infinite Jest. “ (As a friend recently put it, “Has anyone really?” ) In fact, any guy who listed the book among his favorites was automatically flagged as untrustworthy on my OkCupid scale of dateability. But it seems that some humans have made it…
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We See Your Israeli Gillette Ad, And Raise You 14 Jewish Beards
Movember may be months away but the latest facial hair viral video is already here, courtesy of a Gillette campaign in Israel. With over a million views, the ad follows an Israeli man who shaves his beard after 14 years. Barely recognized by his father, he then gives a beardless surprise to his wife and…
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Film & TV High Praise for Ant Man and Short Jewish Men
I was really excited to see “Ant-Man.” It combines many of the things I love: ants (which I love mostly on screens, à la “Microcosmos,” and not near any of my desserts), superheroes (who I love, despite their ingrained sexist flaws) and Paul Rudd (who I love, unconditionally). As for the man in my life,…
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How Judy Brown Learned To Love Her Little Brother
Judy Brown used to say her little brother was “crazy as a bat.” Nobody in her community or even in her family understood the boy who terrorized baby sitters and flapped his hands in the air. Even Brown wished he would go away. If Hashem performs miracles, she wondered, why couldn’t He “cure” her brother?…
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Why I Love ‘Wet Hot American Summer,’ Lame Jokes And All
Ah! “Wet Hot American Summer,” why dost thou tickle me so? Really, there’s no good reason that this movie should! For I share none of the nostalgia it proffers! None, I say! Or do I? I’ll confess that my only experiences of Jewish sleep-away camp weren’t exactly traditional. But were they as absurd as Camp…
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When Nina Simone Sang Jewish Songs
(JTA) — Jeff Lieberman was en route to a South Carolina screening of his first feature, “Re-emerging: The Jews of Nigeria,” when he realized how close he’d be to the tiny Blue Ridge Mountain town of Tryon, North Carolina. The New York-based filmmaker couldn’t pass up a side trip to the birthplace of Eunice Kathleen Waymon…
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