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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Books Scholastic Puts Israel Back on ‘Stilton’ Map
Scholastic had already apologized for publishing a children’s book in its popular Geronimo Stilton series that included a map of the Middle East leaving out Israel. Stung by the fierce reaction, the publishing giant has gone one step further. It reworked the animated map to include Israel. It also told parents it would replace copies…
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Seeking Harmony and Finding Transcendence at The Cloisters
Janet Cardiff’s “The Forty Part Motet” is a transcendent work of art. Consisting of forty speakers arranged in an oval, each playing the separately recorded voice of a member of a choir, it envelops the listener in a sea of sound. And now, installed (until December 8) in a reconstructed 12th century church at The…
The Latest
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Jews Join Nation in Mourning Assasination of President John F. Kennedy
1913 •100 years ago More Blood Libels in the Wake of Beilis Verdict In the wake of the “Not guilty” verdict in the Beilis blood libel trial, Russian anti-Semites are furious and have stepped up their activities. They are spreading lies and rumors in their newspapers — for example, stating that Jews had bribed the…
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The Best Little (Dysfunctional Jewish) Strip Club in Toronto
It’s one of the most instantly recognizable Jewish narratives of the 20th century: Two high schoolers – one an impoverished immigrant with an Old World accent that 50 years in the New World will be unable to fade, and the other the child of holocaust survivors — meet in the 1970s and fall in love….
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Canada Urged To Recognize Jewish Refugees From Arab Lands
A Canadian parliamentary committee called on the government to recognize the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab lands. A report from the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development recommends that Ottawa “officially recognize the experience of Jewish refugees who were displaced from states in the Middle East and North Africa after 1948.” It…
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To Adapt a ‘Book Thief
Based on Australian author Markus Zusak’s best-selling 2006 novel of the same name, the movie “The Book Thief” concerns a young German girl who finds solace in purloined literature and befriends the Jewish refugee her family hides in their cellar. The film stars Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson as the foster parents of Liesel (Sophie…
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How Nora Ephron begat Lena Dunham (but we forgive her)
The Most of Nora Ephron” is nearly 600 pages of Ephron’s girl-friendly and relentlessly upbeat voice chattering in your ear about the subjects that consistently preoccupied her
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‘South Park’ and the Jewish Red Heifer Tale of Armageddon
(Haaretz) — South Park’s latest season premiered on Comedy Central on Wednesday, and started with an epic prank pulled by Eric Cartman. He announces he has found a ginger cow (spoiler alert!), though in fact he merely dyed its coat. The news spreads like wildfire. Rabbis fly in from Israel to South Park to claim…
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Books Anxieties of the Modern Old Age
Half the Kingdom By Lore Segal Melville House, 176 pages, $23.95 Since 2001, the already-abundant anxieties of living in New York City have been ratcheted up by an exponential factor. Abandoned bags have become potential tools of terror; mysterious smells could be toxic; the sounds of sirens or of helicopters overhead might signify an emergency…
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The Secret Jewish History of Aerosmith
The band Aerosmith is riding high on the global release of “Aerosmith: Rock For The Rising Sun,” a documentary that recounts the story of the rock band’s tour of Japan in the wake of the devastating March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that caused the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The movie follows the…
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South African Jewish Artist William Kentridge Bends Time
Lately, the modern and contemporary art section of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art hasn’t been as quiet as usual. Faint music played at varying speeds can be heard. Partly vocal, partly instrumental, the music sounds vaguely African. The source of the sound is a small, darkened room equipped with megaphones and five video projectors…
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