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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Books Five Comix About Israel Worth Reading
JT Waldman co-authored and illustrated the new graphic novel “Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me” with writer and frequent David Letterman guest Harvey Pekar. Read more about their relationship here and Harvey Pekar’s legacy here. His blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s…
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Stopping To Think About the Roses
Traveler of the Century By Andrés Neuman, translated by Nick Caistor and Lorenza García Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 576 pages, $30 There was a time when Latin American writers felt compelled — maybe the word is “constrained” — to focus their work on a single topic: Latin America. Jorge Luis Borges sought to change this…
The Latest
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You Can Go Home Again
A Sense of Direction: Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful By Gideon Lewis-Kraus Riverhead Books, 344 pages, $26.95 A famous parable tells of a man who travels the world seeking a treasure that he discovers only upon returning home. In “A Sense of Direction,” Gideon Lewis-Kraus fashions a similar trajectory for himself. A memoir…
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Looking Back: July 6, 2012
100 Years Ago 1912 Annie Hoffman ran out into the street screaming after her Brooklyn candy store caught fire. Hearing her cries, the local beat cop, Officer O’Sullivan, hit the fire alarm and ran into the building to evacuate the tenants. In just a few minutes, he managed to get everyone out; however, in the…
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Books Author Blog: The Legacy of Harvey Pekar
JT Waldman co-authored and illustrated the new graphic novel “Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me” with writer and frequent David Letterman guest Harvey Pekar. Read more about their relationship here. 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…
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Philly Opera’s ‘Kumbaya’ Moment
By chance I attended “Slaying the Dragon,” a new opera on the subject of violence and surprising redemption, on June 17, the same day that Rodney King died. King — the victim of a savage beating in 1991 by Los Angeles police (the video of which provoked one of the worst race riots in recent…
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Books Do Jews Win the Anxiety Sweepstakes?
Dan Smith’s second book, “Monkey Mind,” is a warm and painful look into his life-long struggle with anxiety and paradox. The same dogged interrogation of his psyche which antagonizes and often undermines him is redirected here in service of understanding and healing. What results is a patient, emotional and often funny catalogue of how he…
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Books Author Blog: My Pekar Years
JT Waldman is the author of “Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me” and Megillat Esther. Visit his official website here. 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: I met Harvey Pekar…
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Books Author Blog: Albert Einstein As Committed Jew
Last week, Harry Ostrer wrote about a series of scientists who contributed to our contemporary understanding of Jewishness. 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: Albert Einstein may have been the most…
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Books Author Blog: It’s All in the Blood
Last week, Harry Ostrer wrote about a series of scientists who contributed to our contemporary understanding of Jewishness. 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: If being Jewish were in the blood,…
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Cartoonist Visits Most Contested City
Jerusalem: Chronicles From the Holy City By Guy Delisle Drawn & Quarterly, 320 pages, $24.95 A city so religiously and historically intense that it’s got its own eponymous syndrome for visitors who flip out under pressure, Jerusalem is the unequivocal go-to destination for anyone wanting a look at the world’s epicenter of multi-faith fanaticism. An…
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