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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On the northwest side of Chicago, my old Jewish neighborhood may soon live on in infamy
Albany Park was home to Rosenblum's Bookstore, Weinberg's Clothing — and also alleged DC shooter Elias Rodriguez
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Lost in Language: Of Dead Dogs, Living Lions & Bifid Uvulae
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! More stories here… In Kohelet it says, “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Now quite why the writer of Kohelet wants to be joined to a living dog…
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The Partial Pinking of Hamas
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! More stories here… In a surprise development following its recent endorsement of women rabbis, Hamas announced last week that it is preparing to embrace gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals for new roles in its own community. “We think they would make excellent suicide bombers,”…
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UNESCO Saves Humor From Itself
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! More stories here… After a long process, UNESCO has declared Jewish jokes as World Heritage Treasures. This follows a similar decision by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization to protect Irish jokes for posterity. UNESCO representative Sven Svensson told the Backward that the…
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Downton Rebbe
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! More stories here… “We had no idea ‘Downton’ would take off as it did,” marvels Julian Fellowes, executive producer and creator of “Downton Abbey,” while taking a rare break from filming on location at Highclere Castle. Relaxing in a yellow damask armchair with a cup…
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Political Cartoonist Lambasted For Portrayal of His Bubbe
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! More stories here… Backward cartoonist Tal Elijah is again under fire, this time for depicting his bubbe as a naked, scale-covered fire-breathing whore of Babylon, graphically copulating with the Antichrist while the Earth is engulfed in flames. “It’s satire, obviously,” said Backward editor Ian Fist….
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Some Putin for Purim
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! Moscow’s strong man, Russian president Vladimir Putin, visits the new local Jewish museum where two docents show him around.
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Jewish Demographic Study Reveals Drastic Need for Jewish Demographers
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! More stories here… According to today’s late-mid-morning Jewish Population Survey (#4 out of the day’s 19), the field of Jewish demographers has rapidly dwindled to just Steven M. Cohen. “I am lonely — so very, very lonely,” says Cohen, of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of…
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Books Ben Katchor and Hand-Drying in America
In today’s installment of the Visiting Scribe, Eddy Portnoy sat down with Ben Katchor to discuss his newest book, “Hand-Drying in America: And Other Stories,” which will be published by Pantheon Books on March 5. Their blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author…
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Philip Roth’s Guide to Old Age
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! More stories here… Philip Roth, considered by many to be America’s greatest living novelist, recently announced his retirement after a distinguished career in which he authored 31 books, redefined America’s relationship with liver and garnered multiple awards. Now, freed from the constraints of the writing…
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When ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ Made Jewish Oscars History
Sixty-five years ago, in 1948, when the cinematic version of her story, “Gentleman’s Agreement,” received the Oscar for best picture, Laura Z. Hobson was a 47-year-old, divorced, Jewish single mother living in Manhattan. The success of “Gentleman’s Agreement,” which was serialized in Cosmopolitan in 1946, published by Simon & Schuster in 1947 and produced as…
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An Air-Conditioned Palestinian State
The Backward is the Forward’s annual satirical Purim edition. Enjoy! More stories here… From the world of sport comes a message of hope. The Emir of Qatar has announced that after his country hosts the FIFA soccer world cup in 2022, he will donate the stadiums and related transportation infrastructure to the Palestinian people to…
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News A Jewish farmer drove 600 miles to rescue a century-old synagogue. Now he’s building a new one in a cornfield.
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Opinion Pete Hegseth is targeting a Jewish American hero — who’s next?
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Opinion The two things I fear most after the horrifying attack on Jews in Boulder
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Culture On the northwest side of Chicago, my old Jewish neighborhood may soon live on in infamy
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Opinion Were the attacks in Boulder and D.C. the product of ‘blood libel’? Not so fast
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News Exclusive: ADL chief compares student protesters to ISIS and al-Qaeda in address to Republican officials
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Culture In the Trump-Musk feud, both sides are united by antisemitism
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Fast Forward FBI, DHS issue warning of ‘elevated threat’ to Jewish and Israeli communities
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