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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Books
Israel Doesn’t Have a Monopoly on Great Hebrew Literature
The Sapir Prize for Hebrew Literature is one of Israel’s most important literary awards, and the most significant financially. Recently, the managing board of the prize decided to change its guidelines and enable only candidates who are residents of Israel to submit their work. This new rule caused an interesting and important debate, both in…
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Art Why Jewish Artists Were At the Forefront of Social Awareness
Social Concern and Left Politics in Jewish American Art: 1880-1940 by Matthew Baigell Syracuse University Press, 280 pages, $39.95 This ambitious, meticulous cultural history examines how and why Jewish artists and art critics cared about social upheavals in American life. Focusing on the years of abundant immigration of European Jews to the USA until the…
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Film & TV Did Hollywood Producers Steal Her Prayer?
Trisha Arlin says she isn’t willing to “turn the other cheek” after being wronged by two of Hollywood’s most powerful Christian producers, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. They have not apologized or given the rabbinical student credit or compensation after they allegedly used a prayer Arlin wrote, without permission, in the current NBC miniseries “A.D.:…
The Latest
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New York City’s Homicide Bureau Investigating City’s Jewish Underworld
1915 • 100 Years Ago New York City’s homicide bureau is currently investigating an interesting case that, if it goes to trial, will expose some information about the city’s Jewish underworld. The body of Morris Rubenstein, or “Fat Moyshe,” as he was known on the street, was found in the building at 185 Allen Street,…
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Film & TV Which Jews Should You Watch at the Tony Awards?
The story, as it goes, is that tonight’s Tony awards will be all about the Brits, and this past season’s so-called British Invasion. And not a very Jewish one. The favorite for best play is the London National Theatre import, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.” And then there are the likes…
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Duddy Kravitz Returns to the Stage, and to Montreal
Duddy Kravitz is back. Mordecai Richler’s iconic Montreal shvitzer will return to life this month in a hometown musical with all-star bona fides: Score by showbiz giant Alan Menken, book by dramatist/author David Spencer, and theater mainstay Austin Pendleton in the director’s chair. But “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,” which premiered June 7 at Montreal’s…
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Of Bob Dylan, Sandy Koufax and 10 Other Things About (Jewish) Minnesota
1 45,635 Jews live in Minnesota. 2 The first Jews settled in Minnesota in 1849, nine years before the state joined the union in May, 1858. 3 Floyd Bjørnstjerne Olson, a member of Minnesota’s Farmer Labor Party, was Minnesota’s Governor from 1931-1936. When he was growing up, Olson served as his neighbor’s Shabbos goy and…
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POEM: Bus Ride, Early September Morning
The young girl, who looks no older than seven or eight, her black hair draped on her arms, leans out of the bus window as if she were sleeping. Only her turquoise and black shirt, ripped open, and the blood streak down the side of the bus tell you she is dead. In Jerusalem, workers…
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How YIVO Became a Lasting Cultural Center
YIVO and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture By Cecile Esther Kuznitz Cambridge University Press, 324 pages, $95 As it stands today, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is the brick-and-mortar memory of East European Jewry. Photographs, letters, theater placards, diaries, institutional records, and rabbinical responsa are just some of the documents in its collection….
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Music How Adam Levy Channels His Grief Through Music
At a coffee shop in northeast Minneapolis, a short walk from his home, Adam Levy turns over his left forearm to show the spider tattoo that his son Daniel designed. It’s from the day he and Daniel got tattoos together, a father-son outing that left him with this souvenir. Levy is the front man for…
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Art American Jews Are Ready For Their Selfie
On a bright, sunny day in 2007, Alina and Jeff Bliumis stood on the Brighton Beach boardwalk, asking strangers to choose an identity. Volunteers could pick from three options — “Jewish,” “American” and “Russian” — and then pose in front of the sign or signs bearing that designation. By the end of the day, 52…
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Holy Ground A Jewish farmer broke ground on a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield. His neighbors showed up to help.
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Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
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Opinion Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point
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Opinion An alarming new battleground in campus fights over Israel
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion I run The Jewish Theological Seminary. Here’s the real story about President Isaac Herzog speaking at our commencement
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Opinion Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point
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News Why do some people think Mike Lawler is Jewish?
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Art At the Venice Biennale, protests, self-mutilation and rage against Israel and Russia. Is anyone left to talk about the art?