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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Adam Levine Is Sexy and Jewish. So What?
Adam Levine, front man of Maroon 5, host of “The Voice,” he of the moves like Mick Jagger, was named People’s Sexiest Man Alive this year. Is this good for the Jews? Who’s asking? For single Jewish men looking to get a date, this is very good news. Jewish men have been in a bit…
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Books Francesca Segal, Fiction’s Newest Star
Set in one of northwest London’s tight-knit Jewish communities, Francesca Segal’s debut novel “The Innocents” tells a tale of family and love that includes all the ingredients of a widely read story: lust, betrayal, doubt and commitment. Adam and Rachel are in their late 20s and engaged to be married. Then Rachel’s free-spirited and vulnerable…
The Latest
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How ‘Shalom Aleykhem’ Originated and Why It Doesn’t Appear in the Bible
Samuel Sislen of Washington, D.C., writes: “Jews have traditionally greeted one another ‘Shalom aleykhem’ and responded with the words inverted. Arabic speakers greet each other, ‘Salaam aleykum’ and also respond with the words reversed. And I have been told that some Christian services begin with the leader saying, ‘Peace be unto you,’ and the congregation…
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History Made and Broke David Laskin’s Family
The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the Twentieth Century By David Laskin Viking Adult, 400 pages, $32 David Laskin descends from the most privileged branch of an Eastern European Jewish clan that, like many, splintered into three groups during the convulsions of the last century. Geography turned out to be destiny: The Americans…
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Army of Jewish Women Nab Tenement Thief Caught in Lower East Side Toilet
1913 •100 years ago An Army of Jewesses A novel type of robbery has been taking place recently in the tenements of Manhattan’s Lower East Side: A tenant goes to a neighbor for a few minutes, and returns home to find something amiss: Someone has sneaked in and stolen something. A clever type of ruse…
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How a German Jew Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz
Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz by Thomas Harding Simon & Schuster, 369 Pages, $26 At the end of 2006, journalist Thomas Harding attended the funeral of his great-uncle, Hanns Alexander, in London. After the recital of the Kaddish, two of Hanns’s…
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Al Goldstein Is Dead — and Our Culture Is a Little Poorer
So Al Goldstein is dead. It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about him, but I have to believe that our culture will be poorer without him. Al, if you recall, was the publisher and chief protagonist of the notorious porn magazine Screw. Obscenity isn’t just a description of Screw, it was also the…
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Provocateur Pianist Journeys From Ukraine to Brooklyn and Back
Stuck in his spartan Brooklyn studio on a warm November day, pianist and composer Vadim Neselovskyi seemed a little restless. He had just returned from a six-city tour of Russia and his native Ukraine — a tour on which he and his musical partner, the noted horn player Arkady Shilkloper, packed houses from Moscow to…
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How the Other Half of America Still Lives
The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives By Sasha Abramsky Nation Books, $25, 368 pages In 1962, Michael Harrington, a freelance journalist, published a book that hit the American public like a slap in the face. In a prosperous time, “The Other America: Poverty in the United States” described the tens…
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Why Jews With Psoriasis Might Think Twice About Seeking Treatment in Jordan
Years ago, Germans, quite many of them, in fact, would fly from their homeland to the Dead Sea in Israel in order to bathe in the world-famous salty waters. Some did it for recreation, others for fitness, and still others to cure themselves of psoriasis. All was fine and dandy until one day the owner…
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Do Jewish Photographers See the World Through a Different Lens?
Looking a bit like St. Peter crucified upside down, nine not-yet-plucked chickens dangle from hooks in a storefront window; the alignment of their bound feet evokes hamsas. There’s no warding off the evil eye for these upturned chickens, whose tail feathers are naughtily exposed, or for the two others, which are violently suspended by their…
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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 seek to topple Iran’s regime. They should choose negotiation instead
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