Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture. Here, you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music, film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of everything and everyone from The Rolling Stones to…
Culture
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I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
San Wei, which serves pastrami sandwiches along with churros and biang biang noodles, represents an immigrant's fulfillment of the American dream
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POEM: Jerusalem Shuts Her Heart
Translated from the Hebrew by Alexandra Berger-Polsky Jerusalem shuts her heart to herself wraps herself in tall watchtowers she makes a wall between herself and the eyes of the people. Night after night after sunset she goes out in a heavy robe and checks that all her gates are closed since all her inhabitants are…
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There’s a British Royal Buried in Jerusalem — And 9 Other Things You May Not Know About Israel
JTA) — Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, falls on April 23. In honor of the Jewish state’s 67th birthday, we present, in no particular order, 10 little-known aspects of its history. 1) El Al used to fly to Tehran. Iran and Israel enjoyed mostly good relations up until the Islamic revolution that overthrew the shah…
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POEM: Soldiers’ Memorial Day
They stand among the stones as though not knowing where to turn. The fathers, their faces melting, memory-weary like broken branches hanging from the tree. The wives pity-less, their eyes as wide open as the owl’s. The mothers are emptied as if they’ve swallowed an abyss. Others shudder as though wanting to shed their bodies…
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Reform Movement Sheds Publishing Arm
The Union for Reform Judaism is getting out of the publishing business. Reform Judaism’s governing body will hand over production of its printed materials — from bar-mitzvah training materials to school curricula to poetry and cookbooks — to Behrman House, the venerable New Jersey-based publisher of academic and Jewish books. A second partner, the Central…
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Richard Avedon, Photographer of Influence and Power
Photographer Richard Avedon might have made his living on fashion, beauty and celebrities. But the eye behind some of the 20th century’s most iconic images also brought a keen political edge to his work, shooting political activists, elected officials and agitators, along with pop stars, designers and movie idols. Now, the National Museum of American…
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Frederic Morton, Author and Viennese-in-Exile, Dies at 90
“My first exile concerns the departure from my geographical homeland,” Frederic Morton said at a speech at a Vienna charity last Sunday. “The second one came later. It was the exile from youth to old age… Because the youth is our biological and psychological home.” Born Fritz Mandelbaum in Vienna in 1924, his family escaped…
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Why Pulitzer Prize Winner Dumped Journalism — or Was It Other Way Round?
So, you just won a Pulitzer Prize. Congrats! Your journalism legacy is secured. Unless you left journalism to work in PR, that is. That’s exactly what happened to one Rob Kuznia, formerly of the Daily Breeze newspaper, which covers the South Bay area of Los Angeles, who left his career as a metro reporter because…
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How To Navigate the Federal Bar Mitzvah Exchange Marketplace
Welcome to the federal bar/bat mitzvah marketplace, where we will make sure that your child gets the ritual adulthood celebration that he or she deserves. Please note that every American Jewish child aged 13 must receive a bar/bat mitzvah or else the family will face a severe financial penalty that even the savviest accountant won’t…
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Kevin Pollak Talks Comedy, Misery and Twitter Outrage
Kevin Pollak made his comedic debut a little more than 47 years ago, when his mother came home unexpectedly and caught him lip-syncing a bit about Noah and God from Bill Cosby’s first album. Her reaction: “You’ve got to do that for the Zuckers at Passover.” There were about 40 family and friends in attendance,…
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HomeLands: Nesting in Nashville
In this inaugural feature, the Forward interviewed Rabbi Aaron Finkelstein, 31, and his wife, Julie Sugar, 30, at their home in Nashville, Tennessee. They moved there from New York so that Aaron could work at Congregation Sherith Israel and the Akiva School. Julie is a scriptwriter for an educational online program called YiddishPOP and also…
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Books Say Goodbye to This Treasure Trove of Rare Texts — Until 2018
The greatest collection of rare Jewish historical documents in the United States will be boxed up later this year and put into storage until at least 2018, the Forward has learned. The library at Manhattan’s Jewish Theological Seminary — Conservative Judaism’s largest rabbinic seminary — holds the most impressive compilation of Jewish historical materials outside…
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