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
Is This Man a Prophet or a Provocateur?
Catch the Jew! By Tuvia Tenenbom Gefen Publishing House, 484 pages, $24.95 Liberal Jews chagrined at the recent elections in Israel probably should read Tuvia Tenenbom’s “Catch the Jew.” Tenenbom’s book, in which he narrates his travels and conversations in Israel and the West Bank, will not provide comfort. In fact, he holds leftist Jews…
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Film & TV ’24 Days’ Is a Real-Life French Horror Story
As the French say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s the sad take-away from the tense new drama, “24 Days.” The movie, which is about the kidnapping, torture and savage murder of a young French Jew, will likely fill you with a mixture of rage and despair, especially because the…
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Close Encounters of the Steven Spielberg Kind in Arizona
During the seven years that the four Spielberg siblings lived in Phoenix, Arizona, they didn’t always get to sleep through the night. Often, when there was a meteor shower or comet, their father Arnold would get Steven, Anne, Sue and Nancy out of their beds, and drive them in his Jeep to the desert around…
The Latest
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The Road to David Brooks’ Character
David Brooks is nothing if not solicitous. After changing the time and location of our scheduled meeting with just an hour’s notice, he was plainly grateful that I was able to show up on time. When we met in the gleaming lobby of the New York Times building in midtown Manhattan, quiet at an early…
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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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Film & TV A Closer Look at Concentration Camp Artists
“Because I Was a Painter” is an occasionally interesting but rarely compelling documentary about art that came out of the concentration camps. It fails because director Christophe Cognet keeps the artists themselves at arm’s length. The result is an intellectual exercise devoid of emotion. The film begins with a shot of summer leaves blowing in…
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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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