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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‘The Interview’ Shows That Comedy Can Still Be Dangerous
Editor’s Note: On December 17, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that it was cancelling the December 25 theatrical release of “The Interview,” following threats by a group called “Guardians of Peace.” Fortunately, we had the opportunity to see the movie at a press screening held before the cancellation. What follows is our previously scheduled review of…
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How Sy Berger Invented the Baseball Card
Reggie Jackson wasn’t happy with the stereo. The All-Star slugger, then a few years into his career with the Oakland A’s, had earned a new hi-fi system with the royalties he’d saved from his agreement with Topps, the trading card company. As Topps executive Sy Berger told the authors of the 1973 classic “The Great…
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The Great Food Fight of 1883
One of the most appealing things about my line of work is that, now and again, I have the opportunity to revisit something I’ve read, written or talked about. The other day, an invitation from the department of Judaic studies at the University of Cincinnati to deliver a public lecture about food provided me with…
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Music Revisions to Spain’s Sephardic Law Make It ‘Meaningless’
Spanish-speaking Israelis complained that Spain’s legislation for the naturalization of Sephardic Jews has been rendered symbolic because of changes to a bill that would formalize the procedure. The changes to the government-supported draft bill were introduced last month during deliberations at a congressional committee ahead of a vote by the Spanish Congress scheduled for Dec….
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Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens
● Beautiful Yetta’s Hanukkah Kitten By Daniel Pinkwater, illustrated by Jill Pinkwater Feiwel and Friends, 32 pages, $17.99. Spared from the butchers’ knife, Yiddish-speaking Yetta makes her home in Brooklyn, trying to find a new family and do good where she can. A Holocaust survivor? Not exactly. Yetta is big white chicken with long eyelashes…
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Dear Santa, Stay Away From My Son
The Seesaw is a new kind of advice column in which a broad range of columnists will address the real life issues faced by interfaith couples and families. Read the discussion and vote below for what you think is the best response to this particular quandary. You can email your own questions, which will remain…
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I Spent 18 Hours In Tel Aviv’s Bus Station
I arrived at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station at 5:34 a.m. on the rainiest day of the year. The concrete building was just yawning open; shopkeepers placed bourekas onto particleboard pallets and dressed mannequins in discount winter coats as they prepared for the 60,000-plus passengers who would pass through the station that day. But…
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Learning To Wear Shlomo Carlebach’s Vest
Though not an actor by trade, I’ve spent the last month preparing to portray Shlomo Carlebach in the off-Broadway production of “Soul Doctor.” Until now, the majority of my professional life has found me moving between the Jewish and secular music worlds, using a broad skill set to build a career that is both artistically…
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Of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and 11 Other Facts About Jewish Oklahoma
1) 4,650 Jews live in Oklahoma. 2) Isaac Lowenstein opened Oklahoma’s first vaudeville house in 1909. 3) Seymour Heyman, who ran The Hub clothing store owned the Oklahoma City Mets, a baseball team that played in the Southwestern League and Western Association in the first decade of the 20th century. 4) The inventor of the…
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Judith Mergui Finds Funny Side of Sephardic French Exodus to Israel
(JTA) — A decade ago, when Israel’s community of French-speakers was only beginning its huge growth, my mother dismissively remarked that the newcomers’ “biggest contribution to this country will be all the lovely concerts.” A French speaker who grew up listening to chanson giants on Israeli radio, she was referring to how the accumulation of Francophone…
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‘Twas the Night Before Hanukkah
(JTA) — Sammy Davis Jr. is quoted on why he converted to Judaism in a new exhibition at the National Museum of American Jewish History. “I became a Jew because I was ready and willing to understand the plight of a people who fought for thousands of years for a homeland,” the late entertainer said. What…
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