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 Joanna Hershon and Adelle Waldman Grow in Brooklyn
Two of the strongest novels published so far this year, Joanna Hershon’s “A Dual Inheritance” and Adelle Waldman’s “The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.,” happen to be written by young, Brooklyn-based Jewish women writing smartly and wittily from the perspectives of men. This might not be a remarkable fact in and of itself: Look for…
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Eating Salad as a Gluten-Free Experiment Dedicated To Mom
Entering the Hummus Bar in midtown Manhattan, I knew this was going to be the most challenging moment of my weeklong gluten-free experiment. I’ve been in love with hummus for years. When I lived in Tel Aviv, at least three times a week I ate a plate of the chickpea dish for lunch. I never…
The Latest
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Get Help for Genetic Diseases
Here is a list of institutions that provide treatment, support and testing for Jewish genetic diseases. Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation 551 Fifth Avenue, Suite 520 New York, NY 10176 (212) 682-9900 www.dystonia-parkinson.org Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation funds scientific research seeking to understand the causes of and find potential cures for the movement disorders…
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New Research by Israeli Scientists Shows Imprints of Brain Activity
It is well known that the patterns of activity in the human brain change according to the different tasks that people are performing. But could it be that an imprint of these patterns remains on the brain hours and even days later, like footprints in the sand? At the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot,…
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How Do You Cope When a Disease Causes Your Body To Attack its Own Skin
About once a month, Rebecca Oling develops painful lesions inside her mouth, a symptom of a rare skin disease she’s been battling since 2004. With medication it takes the lesion roughly a week to dissipate. But Oling, in remission, considers herself one of the lucky ones. Feeling stressed by the deaths of her stepfather and…
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A Common Mutation Behind Parkinson’s Disease May Have Other Side-Effects
Recycling for the health of our planet is well understood. But recycling to keep our bodies going? Scientists are finding that the recycling that takes place within the body’s trillions of cells every day plays a key role in aging and disease. It is also at the center of recent findings regarding Parkinson’s Disease and…
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Genetic Diseases That Affect Sephardic Jews
Sephardic and Mizrahi Disorders Routine screening for Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews includes carrier screening for cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy as well as for hemoglobinopathies (such as beta thalassemia — see below). The following list includes a selection of some conditions that are more common in different Sephardic and Mizrahi populations. More specialized screening…
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Gut Wrenching Story: One Woman’s Struggle With Ulcerative Colitis
How shall I put this delicately? When we speak about the work of our gastrointestinal tract, which we rarely do, we use euphemisms. Nevertheless, I will plunge into precarious territory by being frank: I never had a friendly relationship with the toilet. From early childhood, my stool looked like hard pebbles. I was chronically constipated…
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Treating Sacred Texts as Art Objects at Museum of Biblical Art
Sometimes stories are so ingrained in us, so much a part of our culture, that we take them for granted. In these instances, artists become particularly valuable, revisiting and reinterpreting stories for us, giving them new life. In “As Subject and Object: Contemporary Book Artists Explore Sacred Hebrew Texts,” which runs through September 29 at…
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Decoding the Ashkenazi Genome May Offer Clues to Cancer, Diabetes
Scientists have long been acutely interested in the genetic idiosyncrasies of Ashkenazi Jews. Like other groups with a long history of marrying from within, Ashkenazim constitute a relatively homogenous population. This has led to the discovery of a number of genetic alterations, or mutations, that are responsible for diseases found more often in Ashkenazi Jews….
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How Phyllis Lambert Changed the Architecture of New York
BUILDING SEAGRAM By Phyllis Lambert Yale University Press, 320 pages, $65 Until the 1950s, architecture in New York was not much to look at. Highlights from the early 20th-century included the Gothic revival of the Woolworth Building (1913), as well as the Art Deco of the Chrysler Building (1930) and the Empire State Building (1931)….
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Culture I ranked the NYC mayoral candidates exclusively based on their bagel orders
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News How Jewish can you be in a Boca country club? Wrapping tefillin got a family suspended, lawsuit says
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Opinion Mike Huckabee’s stunning, terrifying new gift to the Israeli right
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Opinion Greta Thunberg’s Gaza flotilla was never going to help Palestinians
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