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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Man Thinks, God Laughs, a Reader Writes and a Columnist Contemplates
A reader signing herself Goldele asks if I know anything about the origins of the well-known Yiddish proverb “Der mentsh trakht un got lakht,” “A man thinks and God laughs.” The knowledge that the future, whether conceived of as the result of blind fate or of a divine plan, is not under our control is…
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Paper Lauds Jewish National Home
Forward Looking Back brings you the stories that were making news in the Forward’s Yiddish paper 100, 75 and 50 years ago. Check back each week for a new set of illuminating and edifying clippings from the Jewish past. 100 Years Ago 1913 After Moses and Rachel Blum moved to New York from San Francisco,…
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Francesco Lotoro’s Mission To Save the Music of European Jews
‘We lament the loss of the treasures of the library at Alexandria, and the great step back in knowledge it entailed. The same thing will happen if we lose the music of the concentration camps. It’s an imaginary library that may never materialize.” Walking the narrow streets of the decaying industrial city of Barletta in…
The Latest
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Music Church of Scotland Denies Jewish Claim to Land of Israel
A report by the Church of Scotland, published this week, denies any special privilege for the Jewish people in the land of Israel. The church, which in recent years has jettisoned its once philosemitic character, opened a wide rift with the Scottish Jewish community with the report. Among other controversial statements, the report argues that,…
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Books Cutting-Edge Work in the Jewish Community
Dr. Ron Wolfson is Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and a cofounder of Synagogue 3000. His most recent book, “Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community” (Jewish Lights Publishing), is now available. His blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the…
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David Roskies and Naomi Diamant Guide Readers Through Holocaust Literature
● Holocaust Literature: A History and Guide By David G. Roskies and Naomi Diamant Brandeis University Press, 360 pages, $85 In the preface to “Holocaust Literature: A History and Guide” (Brandeis University Press), which he co-wrote with Naomi Diamant, David Roskies recalls a variety of Holocaust commemorations from his Montreal adolescence. At one Bundist gathering…
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A Son’s Journey Deep Into the Heart of Saul Bellow
● Saul Bellow’s Heart: A Son’s Memoir By Greg Bellow Bloomsbury USA, 240 pages, $25 Trying to imagine the literary landscape of the 20th century without Saul Bellow is a tough task. If Bellow hadn’t published “The Adventures of Augie March” in 1953, you would have to reconsider how the entire American Jewish contribution to…
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Books Teaching Orthodox Couples About Sexual Dysfunction
Sexual dysfunctions within relationships are more common than ever today, with an estimated 40% of women and 30% of men suffering from sexual dysfunctions, according to a new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical school. Many women experience pain during intercourse, which could relate to conditions like vaginismus, dyspareunia, and vulvodynia, while common male…
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Vasily Grossman’s Armenian Sketchbook Finally Debuts in English
● An Armenian Sketchbook By Vasily Grossman NYRB Classics, 160 pages, $14.95 In 1961 Vasily Grossman traveled to Armenia from Moscow to edit a long war novel by Rachiya Kochar. Grossman was not the first renowned Russian writer to make such a trip; Osip Mandelstam had visited before him, recording his observations in “Journey to…
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Books The Future of Jewish Institutions
Dr. Ron Wolfson is Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and a cofounder of Synagogue 3000. His most recent book, “Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community” (Jewish Lights Publishing), is now available. His blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the…
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Remembering Hungarian Cello Master János Starker
Having survived a Nazi internment camp during World War II, Hungarian Jewish cellist János Starker (1924-2013) led a life focused on civic contributions and behaving with utter freedom. Starker, who died in Indiana on April 28 at age 88, witnessed some of the worst horrors of modern history, and was determined to devote himself to…
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