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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Was Marcel Proust Jewish, a Jew-Hater — or Both?
(Haaretz) — This was the year of Marcel Proust in the literary world. The centenary of the publication of the first part of “In Search of Lost Time” (formerly translated as “Remembrance of Things Past”) was marked by a plethora of articles, conferences, exhibitions and public readings of the highly influential work. So enshrined is…
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Why 2013 Was the Year Fiction Got Political Again
There was a time, not so long ago, in the 1960s and ’70s, when being a serious fiction writer required not just a talent for evoking nuanced moments of lived life, but a consciousness of the intellectual and political context in which our lives were being lived. Writers — many of them Jewish — as…
The Latest
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Why Theresa Bernstein Was the Jewish Artist of the Century
Artist Theresa Bernstein liked crowds. A retrospective of her work, on display through January 18 in New York at The Graduate Center, CUNY’s James Gallery, features her 1923 painting “The Immigrants,” which depicts figures grouped together on the bow of a ship. In the foreground, a mother holds a baby clearly evoking a Madonna and…
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How Children’s Books Discovered Their Jewish Roots
In many ways, 2013 has afforded Jewish children’s literature the big break it has needed for some time — perhaps akin to the widespread attention that Jewish comic books and graphic novels have received for years, with their Jewish mice and superhuman men punching out Hitler. At the Chicago Humanities Festival in November, Paul Reitter,…
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Channeling and Challenging Eccentricity at Israel’s National Library
New York-based Israeli artist, Ofri Cnaani, has been having quite a year. One of her live video installations was screened as part of “The Met Reframed” artist residency series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in March. A site-specific video installation titled “Moon Guardians” was displayed in Chelsea. Recently, Cnaani arrived in Tel Aviv, to…
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Why ‘The Goldbergs’ Is the Worst Thing To Happen to Television
I might be the worst possible audience for “The Goldbergs.” It’s not that I grew up in the ’90s, and the show — an ABC sitcom that just finished its first season — is all about the ’80s. And it’s not that, having grown up without a TV, many of the show’s references would be…
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Mami, Oh Manischewitz, What an Album!
In the early months of 1954, with their debut single “Gee” still climbing the national pop and rhythm and blues charts, doo-wop quartet The Crows entered a Manhattan studio to record a Latin-flavored dance number called “Mambo Shevitz (Man, Oh Man).” Featuring upbeat backing from an Afro-Cuban-style ensemble billed as Melino and His Orchestra, the…
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On and Off Broadway, 2013 Was the Year of The Transitional Jew
Jews of all stripes surfaced on stage this past season, starting with appearances in four notable bio-dramas: “Soul Doctor,” the musical about the rock star Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach; Joe Gilford’s “Finks,” loosely based on the experience of his blacklisted parents, Jack and Madeline Lee Gilford; and two solo shows, “I’ll Eat You Last, a Chat…
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Film & TV How To Get De Niro and Stallone in the Ring
Thirty years ago, boxers Billy “the Kid” McDonnen and Henry “Razor” Sharp split two hard-fought light heavyweight contests. But for reasons soon revealed, there was never a rubber match, despite the personal animosity between the two. Now, three decades years later, a young promoter has convinced them to participate in a “Grudge Match,” which will…
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How Jews Took Over Berlin in 2013
In April, a glass case in Berlin upset and polarized the Jewish world. An exhibit at the Jewish Museum, entitled “The Whole Truth… Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Jews,” included an installation consisting of a half-open glass case with the question “Are there still Jews in Germany?“ printed on it. On a bench…
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Why Bob Dylan’s Interactive Video Is a Sign Of Things To Come
Bob Dylan’s classic hit “Like A Rolling Stone” came out in 1965, but only got a music video in 2013. Israeli director Vania Heymann and interactive video company Interlude created an interactive video for the song (full disclosure: I had a small part in the production of the video). In the video, the viewer is…
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Fast Forward Rep. Max Miller says driver called him a ‘dirty Jew’ and threatened to kill his family. A local doctor turned himself in.
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News As Israel attacks, what is life like for Jews in Iran?
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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?
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion If war with Iran goes badly for the U.S., Jews will be the scapegoat
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Fast Forward Israel puts civilians on high alert as Iranian leaders vow response to US strikes
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Fast Forward Trump meets gratitude, criticism after claiming total destruction of Iran’s nuclear program
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Opinion The US and Israel could topple the Iranian regime. They should choose negotiation instead
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