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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Music Israel Claims Palestinian Boy in Iconic Video Wasn’t Actually Shot and Killed
Claims that Israeli troops in 2000 killed the Palestinian boy Mohammed al-Dura are “baseless,” an Israeli government committee concluded. The panel of experts made the statement in its 36-page report presented Sunday — Israel’s most comprehensive official response to a disputed video shot by a French television station. According to the report, “there are many…
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Could The Holy Ghost Be Jewish?
Robert J. Foley of Wilmington, N.C., sends me a copy of an open letter written by author and rabbi Rami Shapiro to Pope Francis. In it, Rabbi Shapiro hopes that “ruach ha-kodesh, the Holy Spirit, has called a new pope from the new world to lead the Catholic Church,” and Mr. Foley writes: “Rabbi Shapiro……
The Latest
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Who Was Afraid of Viviane Forrester?
After a long battle with cancer, the French Jewish novelist and essayist Viviane Forrester died in April at the age of 87. Not everyone mourned her death: Neither the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, more commonly known under the acronym CRIF, or the Tribune Juive marked her passing. But most everyone, including her…
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A New York Jewish Man Tries To Commit Suicide by Cocaine
1913 •100 years ago Cocaine, Suicide and Incest Why did Dr. Jacob Haas attempt to take his own life in such a grotesque manner? Last Tuesday, Haas ingested 10 grams of cocaine and slashed his own throat, but missed the jugular and managed to remain alive after Meyer Wolf, a doctor who lives a few…
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Books Shame, Truth, and Reconciliation
In her first installments of “Collective Guilt vs. Collective Fear,” Randy Susan Meyers wrote about an essay in which the writer met with an elderly former SS officer and the plight of ordinary German citizen during World War II. Her newest novel, “The Comfort of Lies,” is now available. Her blog posts are featured on…
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The Return of Richard Foreman, Rabbi of New York’s Downtown Theater Scene
In the bad old days, when downtown Manhattan was still overrun by scruffy, industrious, half-lunatic artists exploring the possibilities of theater and performance with great purpose but no thought toward the market, Richard Foreman was our rabbi. Each spring, a new play written, directed and designed by him would appear at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, the…
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The Hank Greenberg Story That ’42’ Forgot
Anyone seeing “42” would be horrified at the hostility Jackie Robinson faced from his teammates and opposing players and catcalling from the stands when he integrated Major League Baseball. What the film did not depict was the reported encounter Robinson had with the one baseball player who could best understand the prejudice the Civil Rights…
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Books Taking Yiddish Translation to the Masses
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here. Academics and enthusiasts of Yiddish studies have long been pushing for the translation of Yiddish literature. Unfortunately, few efforts have met with much success, even among Jewish readers. The New Yiddish Library Series, from Yale University Press, had plans to translate and publish dozens of Yiddish…
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Books Ordinary German Citizens During World War II
In her first installment of “Collective Guilt vs. Collective Fear,” Randy Susan Meyers wrote about an essay in which the writer met with an elderly former SS officer. Her newest novel, “The Comfort of Lies,” is now available. Her blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My…
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Vladimir Nabokov and the Jews
Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian American author of such novels as “Lolita,” “Pnin,” and “Pale Fire,” was a compassionate observer of modern Jewish history. This has been established in such works as Stacy Schiff’s “Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov),” a 1999 study of the writer’s much beloved Jewish wife; essays by critics Maxim Shrayer and Shalom Goldman,…
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Books Inspired by Gluckel of Hameln
This week Rebecca Miller will be sharing texts that shed light on Jewish life in 18th-century France, the setting of her new novel, “Jacob’s Folly” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Her blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on…
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Film & TV In unheard recordings, Andy Kaufman emerges — a kinder, gentler soul than you may expect, or hope to see
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Opinion As fires burn in L.A., has Trump found his Reichstag fire moment?
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Film & TV In Jerusalem, everything is political — even the stone architects used to design the city
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Fast Forward Zohran Mamdani: Even if I wanted to go to Israel as NYC mayor, Israel probably wouldn’t let me
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