This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture where you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music (including of course Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen), film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of…
Culture
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Takes a Village To Help Downtrodden
The subway doors closed and a man inside loudly recounted being mugged and beaten, losing everything and becoming homeless. He needed help. People looked away. One or two rummaged through their bags; others no doubt tried to imagine they were anywhere but there. I’m a daily subway rider and hear stories like this regularly, and…
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The Gift of Giving
Is a panhandler deserving of charity or is the person a threat to public safety? I see the issue altogether differently. When a stranger asks me for money, I believe that that person is offering me the opportunity to give. I once read that it is no more ethical to give than to receive. Confounded,…
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An Unorthodox Guide To Sexuality
Creating an art exhibit that captures the complexity of changes in how gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people are viewed is no small challenge. Especially when it is displayed at a rabbinical seminary, where there is a stricter definition of what is considered appropriate than there would be at, say, a Cheslea gallery….
The Latest
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Should Anti-Semitism Be Hyphenated?
John Marschall, a retired professor of history at the University of Nevada, writes: “Throughout my book “Jews in Nevada: A History,” and in other articles on Jewry and Judaism, I have chosen to use the spelling ‘antisemitism’ rather than ‘anti-Semitism.’ I agree with authors [of books on the subject], like James Parkes, A. Roy Eckardt,…
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Benoit Mandelbrot Influenced Art and Mathematics
Born in Warsaw in 1924 to a Lithuanian Jewish family, Benoit Mandelbrot survived Nazi-occupied France to become one of the most creative thinkers of the 20th century. Mandelbrot, who died of pancreatic cancer in a Cambridge, Mass., hospice in 2010, left behind “The Fractalist: Memoir of a Scientific Maverick”. He coined the term “fractal” in…
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When Foundations’ Days Are Numbered
The names of philanthropists like Charles and Andrea Bronfman may not be remembered by millions of beneficiaries 100 years from now. Unlike Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford, whose reputations live on through generations of ongoing philanthropic largesse, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies (ACBP) is part of a trend of spend-down foundations. Spending down means that,…
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Books Author Blog: Semitic Squads
Earlier this week, Marc Tracy challenged Jewish sports fans to a little quiz and wrote about Jews in sports and Hollywood. 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: Each of our 50…
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Who Benefits From Service Trips?
Every year, hundreds upon hundreds of American Jews go to “do service” in the name of tikkun olam, or repairing the world. Some work in their own neighborhoods, others work in poor areas close to their own neighborhoods and others get on a plane to “do service” in New Orleans, Central America or elsewhere around…
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Books Do You Know These Jewish Jocks?
On Tuesday, Marc Tracy wrote about Jews in sports and Hollywood. 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: In the movie Airplane, a passenger asks for some “light” reading and is offered…
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Dial H For Hebrew
Alfred Hitchcock’s reputation as one of the greatest film directors of all time is safely in the can, so all that’s left to deal with is the man himself. Two new films — “Hitchcock,” a biopic starring Anthony Hopkins, and the HBO film “The Girl,” about Hitch’s troubled relationship with actress Tippi Hedren — have…
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Shimon Attie Projects Past Into Present
Artist Shimon Attie is probably best known for “Sites Unseen,” his 1990s series of temporary installations in Europe, in which he projected photographic images of a lost Jewish past onto actual sites. For “Writing on the Wall,” (1991–1993), Attie, living in Berlin at the time, was haunted by the lack of any past signs of…
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