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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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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Everything He Wanted To Know About Life Among the Ex-Orthodox
Well before sunset on Friday, as Sabbath is about to start in the holy city of Jerusalem, the central bus station closes its doors to travelers. The last buses have long since departed and no bus seems to be coming. Even the taxis have gone. At the taxi station’s office a man sits talking on…
The Latest
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Welcome to The New Republic — Taylor Swift’s Been Waiting For You
The recent violent coup at the top of The New Republic’s masthead brought the magazine into full public consciousness for the first time in quite a few years. But scandal aside, TNR has quite a history. As it limps desperately into its second century, here’s a selected and highly subjective rundown of its most important…
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Books AIDS Crisis Through a Comics Lens
Joyce Brabner/Mark Zingarelli “Joyce Brabner, best known as Harvey Pekar’s widow and collaborator, has released a graphic novel about early efforts in a New York gay community to fight the AIDS epidemic.” So began a recent Cleveland Plain-Dealer review of “Second Avenue Caper” (Hill & Wang, $22), a deeply moving and bitingly funny new graphic…
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My ‘Exodus’ Problem — And Ours
The biblical account of the Exodus from Egypt is a classic story of freedom from bondage, of the raising of the downtrodden, of God avenging the weak and punishing the mighty. It also raises some unpleasant questions. According to the Talmud, the angels wanted to sing praises when the Egyptians were killed, only to be…
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For A.J. Jacobs, It’s All Relative
I am related to author and Esquire editor A.J. Jacobs. In fact, I am his first cousin twice removed’s wife’s nephew’s wife’s first cousin’s wife’s brother wife’s second cousin’s wife’s uncle’s wife’s second great nephew. As he says, we’re practically brothers. The reason I know this is because Jacobs is in the midst of creating…
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When Terrorists Become Capitalists
Nick Bright is a trader, and he’s working an angle. The main character in Ayad Akhtar’s new play “The Invisible Hand,” Nick is an American banker working in Pakistan, and he’s been kidnapped by what we might politely term an armed Muslim religious group. (We might also call them terrorists.) Nick was kidnapped by accident…
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The Small Florida Town That Could Have Been a Jewish Utopia
Judging by the numbers, Micanopy, Florida, is a small town. Its population is just 609. According to its website, the town has three restaurants, two real estate offices, and one horse and carriage rental service. The closest Starbucks is 12 miles away, but tourists looking for an antique shop are in luck. Micanopy has 13…
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How ‘Aladdin’ Became A Hanukkah Musical
Over Christmas last year, the New Wimbledon Theatre in South London staged — as many English theaters do this time of year — the story of “Aladdin.” The comedienne Jo Brand played the Genie; former “Britain’s Got Talent” contestants Flawless were the Peking Police Force; and faded television presenter Matthew Kelly donned a dress to…
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‘Regarding Susan Sontag’ Focuses on Life at Expense of Her Work
When Susan Sontag passed away in 2004, her New York Times obituary described her as a “renowned novelist, essayist, and critic.” “Regarding Susan Sontag,” a documentary directed by Nancy Kates that airs on HBO on December 8, shows that Sontag might have appreciated that order, with the word “novelist” leading the way. Despite all of…
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