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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I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
San Wei, which serves pastrami sandwiches along with churros and biang biang noodles, represents an immigrant's fulfillment of the American dream
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Austin Ratner Returns With Sophomore Novel ‘In the Land of the Living’
● In the Land of the living By Austin Ratner Reagan Arthur Books, 320 pages, $25.99. In Austin Ratner’s accomplished and moving second novel, “In the Land of the Living,” three generations of Auberon men have been angry. Erratic and volatile, Isidore’s father raises him with techniques “he’d presumably learned at the Kishinev School of…
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Books A Novel About Early Childhood
Earlier this week, Sami Rohr Prize winner Austin Ratner discussed the land of the living versus the land of “The Princess Bride.” His 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 the series, please visit: Some academics have…
The Latest
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Israel’s New Governing Coalition United by Desire To Be in Governing Coalition
The Daily Backward is the Forward’s satirical Purim counterpart. Enjoy! After weeks of political maneuvering, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to overcome ideological differences and unite a new governing coalition behind a shared commitment to what coalition documents call “being in on the action.” “We can focus on the things that divide us,…
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Making Sense of the Holiday Season’s Onslaught of New Haggadahs
● The Bronfman Haggadah By Edgar Bronfman Illustrated by Jan Aronson Rizzoli, 128 pages, $29.95 ● The Artist’s Haggadah By Jane Kessler Petitjean Self-published, 48 pages, $20 ● The Haggadah App David Kraemer, et al Melcher Media, $4.99 on iTunes ● Hakol Baseder By Mitch Heifetz and Michael Toben Gefen Books, 110 pages, $7.95 (Haggadah),…
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Books Follow the Talmud or a Jewish Sharia?
Earlier this week, Yuval Elizur examined religious political power in Israel and January’s elections. Today, Lawrence Malkin discusses the tension between tradition and modernity in contemporary Judaism and its consequences. Elizur and Malkin are the co-authors of the recently published “The War Within: Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Threat to Democracy and the Nation.” Their blog posts are…
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Contemplating the Meaning of Jewish Art at JTS
It used to be thought that the Second Commandment’s prohibition on making images meant there could not be a Jewish visual art. In his 1966 essay “Is There a Jewish Art?” art critic Harold Rosenberg grappled with the very question posed by his title. He didn’t think there was, because he didn’t think there was…
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Swiss Jewish Thinker Jean Starobinski Isn’t Slowing Down Even at 92
Jean Starobinski, the 92-year-old Swiss literary theorist and Jewish historian of ideas, is still a productive bundle of energy. With three compelling new books out recently, “The Ink of Melancholy,” “Accusing and Seducing: Essays on Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” and “Diderot: a Fiendish Babble,” the man whom poet Michael Butor called a “prince of reading” is not…
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Books My Name Is Inigo Montoya
Austin Ratner won the 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for his first novel, “The Jump Artist.” His new novel, “In the Land of the Living,” is now available. His 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…
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How Michael Lavigne Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Suicide Bomb
● The Wanting By Michael Lavigne Schocken Books, 336 pages, $25.95 ‘The Wanting” starts with a bang — literally — when a body part flies past the large plate-glass window of Roman Guttman’s office. Roman is pretty sure it was a head. He sees the head go by, then he hears the explosion; then his…
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Books Religious Political Power in Israel Comes to a Halt
Yuval Elizur and Lawrence Malkin are the co-authors of the new book “The War Within: Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Threat to Democracy and the Nation.” Today, Yuval Elizur takes a look at religious political power in Israel and January’s elections. Their blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My…
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What’s Jewish and Has Rubbery Purplish-Red Leaves?
What’s purple, crawls without legs, and is of the Mosaic persuasion? I hope you give up, because if you’re still trying to guess, I shouldn’t be telling you that it’s a Wandering Jew. Where mine originally came from, I have no idea. I only know that it’s been in my garden for a long time,…
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