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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There’s Something Rotten in Akko (and It’s Not the Falafel)
Akko’s Old City, many people told me, is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, but I never found the time to go there. At least not until today, when I decided that it’s time I finally heed their advice. I don’t know anybody in Akko — Old City or New — which…
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Even Trees Can Be Political
The anonymous narrator of Robert Frost’s 1914 poem “Mending Wall” wonders why his neighbor insists upon having an artificial barrier between their properties. “He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines,” he says. But all his neighbor does is echo,…
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Books Canadian Jewish Book Awards Present Diverse Honor Roll
A chronicle of Nazi persecution of gay people, a study of Jews and obscenity, and a haunting artistic collaboration are among the wide-ranging winners of this year’s Canadian Jewish Book Awards. After an announcement last week, the awards will be presented at a May 27 ceremony in Toronto. With its other accolades for a Holocaust…
The Latest
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Books Granta Magazine Launches Israeli Edition
Israel is known for all kinds of things — a burgeoning local food scene, TV series like “Homeland” and “In Treatment,” and high tech companies like Waze. Now, with the launch of Granta Israel, a Hebrew edition of the prestigious magazine started by Cambridge University students in 1889, Israel is officially an international literary powerhouse….
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What’s a Jewish Boy Like Him Doing in a Basketball League Like This?
As a high school sophomore, Michael Jordan was relegated to his junior varsity basketball team. In an entirely unrelated event, Idan Ravin did not make his 7th grade squad. Of course, the team Jordan didn’t make was one of the top high school teams in the country, while Ravin’s failure took place at a Jewish…
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How the Bible Became as American as American Cheese
Our nation’s capitol is an exciting place in which to live and work. You never know who or what you’re going to come across. A famous face, the presidential motorcade, clusters of ordinary Americans dressed for all the world as if they were 18th century colonists come back to life in the 21st are the…
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Music Latin America Leaders Jet Into Israel Ahead of Pope Francis
Jewish and Catholic religious leaders from six Latin American countries will make a pilgrimage to the Middle East following the route that Pope Francis will take on his upcoming visit to the region. Young priests and rabbis from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela will share a seminar and visits to holy sites on…
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Music Women Move Towards Approval as First Israel Kosher Supervisors
(JTA) — In a step that further expands the opportunities for women to serve as recognized authorities in Jewish law, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate for the first time is allowing women to serve as kosher supervisors. Nine women took the Chief Rabbinate’s kosher supervision exam last week in Jerusalem. Should they pass, they would become…
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Music France ‘Not So Pleasant’ for Jews: Leader
(JTA) — France’s flag has three stripes, and its motto promotes three values: liberty, equality and fraternity. Now, its Jewish community — Europe’s largest — faces three threats, according to Roger Cukierman, president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organizations and a vice president of the World Jewish Congress. In an appearance at…
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Music New Mexico Students Reverse Divestment Vote
The Graduate and Professional Student Association at the University of New Mexico overturned a divestment resolution on the West Bank. Saturday’s vote rescinded an April 28 resolution calling on the university to divest from companies that operate in the West Bank. The vote was 10-10, with the tie broken by the meeting chair. Since the…
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Music John Kerry to Meet With Mahmoud Abbas in London on Thursday
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet in London on Thursday, the U.S. State Department said, less than a month after a U.S. effort to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal collapsed. The focus of the talks is the U.S.-Palestinian relationship, the State Department said, a possible reference to whether…
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