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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Art
The Inner Workings of Isaiah Sheffer
Whenever Isaiah Sheffer, the playwright and director who co-founded Symphony Space, worked in his home, he retreated to “The Mineshaft,” a spacious closet located near what was probably a dumb waiter at one point, furnished with a little desk. The makeshift office also accommodated suits, ties and Sheffer’s toolbox. Over the years, boxes of his…
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How Geraldine Brooks Was Inspired by King David and Leonard Cohen
Brooks’s new novel, 'The Secret Chord,' also has been influenced by her work as a journalist
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Revising and Reviving ‘The Rothschilds’
“Fiddler on the Roof,” composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick’s great, melancholy look at Ashkenazic history, with a book by Joseph Stein, opened on Broadway in 1964 and ran for nearly eight years. It ends, heartbreakingly, with the villagers of Anatevka, ejected from their home, marching west, ready to start new lives — marching,…
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Theater J’s New Boss Hopes To Steer Clear of Controversy
Almost a year after Theater J fired Ari Roth, its artistic director for 18 years, the Washington, D.C. theater company has appointed Adam Immerwahr to take over the position. Immerwaher, 33, says he has already begun scouting productions for next fall. He comes from the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey, where he started…
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Art Where the Characters Are Orthodox and the Themes Are Universal
The first set The Actors Company Theatre uses in its production of Motti Lerner’s “Hard Love” is different from those usually seen in Manhattan’s Beckett Theatre. At first glance, it’s an ordinary kitchen, but a closer look reveals some intriguing features. A shelf mounted above a cabinet holds a tzedakah charity box bracketed by two…
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Can Matzo Be the New Bagel?
At a press event at Streit’s Matzos in early March, Jill Zarin, dressed in sky-high black patent leather pumps and a crisp white sweater lined with navy blue stripes, and sporting an emerald snakeskin watch, displayed no qualms about interrupting the company’s three executive vice presidents, who are cousins, so she can answer questions from…
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To Be Young, Poetic and Black — and Jewish
Aaron Samuels started getting hype as a poet as an undergraduate at Washington University in St. Louis. A co-founder of the school’s popular slam poetry team, WUSLAM, his compelling performances and the depth of his investigation into what it meant to be black and Jewish made him stand out. He’s continued to make his name…
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Jews Go Back to the Land (Again)
Eco-Judaism is in full swing these days. You don’t have to go too far afield to find a lively array of Jewish institutions that tout the virtues of both farm-fresh produce and the farming life. From marking Sukkot by heading to the nearest orchard for an afternoon of apple-picking to mounting art exhibitions on shmita,…
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No Jew Is an Island — Especially in the Faroes
I have usually sought God through extreme experiences, on mountain peaks and in exotic lands. As a Jew, and as a congregational rabbi for much of my professional life, that can pose problems. Judaism is a religious tradition where peoplehood is a powerful feature and a primary focus. Consequently, there is a basic disconnect between…
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Yiddish Breathes New Life Into ‘Death of a Salesman’
Is “Death of a Salesman” a Jewish play? Is Willy Loman, its main character, Jewish? The question has been asked almost since “Salesman” was first produced, in 1949. Loman’s precarious life was the fate of many Jews in the 20th century, and playwright Arthur Miller — whose centenary is being celebrated this month — was…
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Joshua Cohen is Writing a Novel Live Online
Joshua Cohen, the Brooklyn-based writer whose latest, painstakingly-researched novel “Book of Numbers” in some ways echoed the Edward Snowden leaks by revealing the relationship between the Internet and government surveillance, is now writing a novel in real time on the website , named for the title of the book which is based on the Charles…
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