Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture. Here, you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music, film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of everything and everyone from The Rolling Stones to…
Culture
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That time Yiddishists met extraterrestrials a short while ago in a galaxy not far away
It was a normal summer internship at the Yiddish Book Center ... until the Jedi invaded our turf
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‘Kosher’ Chicken Sold on ‘Holy’ Lower East Side Was Really Treyf
1913 •100 years ago Treyf Chicken Sold as Kosher “About strikes you’re willing to write, but about my slaughtered chicken with the treyf neck, you won’t write? What kind of paper are you? Where is your sense of justice?” It was with these words that Brooklyn resident Rokhl Beinisohn berated the editors of the Forverts….
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Music Spain Citizenship for Sephardic Jews ‘Automatic’ — No Discretion
The conferring of Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews will be automatic and independent of the government’s discretion, the country’s justice minister told a delegation of American Jews. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon made the pledge during a speech Thursday before dozens of members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He was referring…
The Latest
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Martin Heidegger’s Black Notebooks Reignite Charges of Anti-Semitism
On this side of the Atlantic, the imminent publication in Germany of Martin Heidegger’s “Black Notebooks” (“Schwarzen Hefte”) has caused few if any ripples. For better or worse, the philosopher who theorized about “absence from the world” has been largely absent from our world. Yet in Europe, a surf-like pounding in newspapers and magazines has…
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Oldest Holocaust Survivor Alice Herz-Sommer Aims for Oscar at 110
(JTA) — In her 110 years, Alice Herz-Sommer has been an accomplished concert pianist and teacher, a wife and mother — and a prisoner in Theresienstadt. Now she is the star of an Oscar-nominated documentary showing her indomitable optimism, cheerfulness and vitality despite all the upheavals and horrors she faced in the 20th century. “The…
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Books Modern Love Illuminated
The sea of love can be a “dark and scary place — deep, cold, impenetrable, and populated by billions of freakish creatures lurking in the depths with their gnashing teeth and electrified appendages,” Daniel Jones, editor of the Modern Love essay column in The New York Times, writes in his new book, “Love Illuminated: Exploring…
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Is Valentine’s Day Kosher?
(Haaretz) — The Jewish religion views participation in non-Jewish religious practices very seriously. In fact, the first three of the Ten Commandments all essentially revolve around the same issue – idolatry is forbidden. Furthermore, the Mishnah and the Talmud devote a full tractate to idolatry – Avodah Zara – going over the intricate details of what…
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Music Israel Admits Patients After ‘Palestine’ Letterhead Feud
Israel on Thursday allowed the entry of some 35 Palestinian medical patients from the Gaza Strip after initially barring them because “State of Palestine” had appeared on the letterhead of their application. A Palestinian official said Israel relented and permitted their entry without any change to the logo. An Israeli official said the letterhead had…
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Music Polish Rabbi Fired Over Kosher Slaughter Scandal
Amid reports that kosher slaughter is continuing in Poland in the face of a law prohibiting it, the country’s chief rabbi suspended an aide who appears to have misrepresented the practice to government inspectors. The aide, Michael Alper, wrote a letter to Polish veterinarians in which he asked for permission to slaughter 250 cows after…
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Neshama Carlebach Isn’t Just Shlomo’s Daughter
Our high school, the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto was, as its name indicated, a community school. Kids entered ninth grade from the spectrum of Jewish day schools — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Sephardic. But it was also a community school in a different way; we were a small group (graduating class of 110), and…
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Music Morocco Synagogue Gets Spruce Up
An historic synagogue in Essaouira, Morocco is to be refurbished in a joint project with the German Foreign Ministry. It will be the second synagogue to be restored under a special German government program. Tuesday’s announcement came as the Moroccan Ambassador in Berlin, Omar Zniber, launched an exhibit at the embassy’s cultural center of photographs…
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Music Sheldon Adelson Website Hacked by Israel Foes
The website of a casino operator owned by Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson was hacked by unidentified vandals who criticized his support for Israel. The hackers on Tuesday took over the home page of websites run by the Las Vegas Sands Corp., the world’s largest casino operator, owned by Adelson. In addition to criticizing Adelson over…
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Most Popular
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News An Alabama millionaire offered Jews $50,000 to move to his town. 16 years later, what’s left?
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Culture Why is Israel’s attack on Iran called ‘Rising Lion’ — and what does the Bible have to do with it?
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News ‘Very misguided’: ADL regional board member resigns over organization’s approach to antisemitism and civil rights
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Culture His parents fled the Nazis in 1937 — now he’s using his chutzpah to fight Donald Trump
In Case You Missed It
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Antisemitism Decoded The far-right is saying Jews don’t serve in the military — they’re wrong
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Opinion Might Iran become Trump’s Iraq? Americans are wary — but shouldn’t be
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News Why isn’t a pro-Israel lobbying group considered a foreign agent?
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: אַ חסיד פֿאָרט קיין איראַן צו געפֿינען אסתּר המלכּהס קבֿרVIDEO: Hasidic Jew goes to Iran to find Queen Esther’s tomb
אַבֿרהם שוואַרץ איז געפאָרן אַהין מיט דרײַ חדשים צוריק, נישט וויסנדיק אַז אין גיכן וועט צווישן איראַן און ישׂראל אויסברעכן אַ מלחמה.
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