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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In Praise of New Age Judaism
New Age Judaism gets a bad rap. It’s namby-pamby, critics say — indulgent, narcissistic. Maybe it’s not even Jewish. Never mind the fact that the Havurah movement, Jewish Renewal and Neo-Hasidism have significantly shaped mainstream Jewish prayer life (chances are, your mainline synagogue’s Friday night tunes were first sung by a hippie in Birkenstocks) as…
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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….
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How Talia Leman Built Charity Empire
Following Hurricane Katrina, donations poured in from concerned folks all around the country hoping to help make things better. They came in all sizes, with big bucks coming from the usual suspects: Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, Amaco and Talia Leman. Talia Leman? At the time, Leman was a 10-year-old fifth-grader who lived in Waukee, Iowa, two…
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A Kick in the Pants for Jewish Projects
If you happen to know anyone who’s trying to release an album, produce a play, start a bakery, publish an upstart web magazine or invent a new iPhone app, odds are that you’ve stumbled upon Kickstarter. The website, which launched in April 2009, harnesses the power of social media to funnel money to up-and-coming projects…
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Bigger Question Than Whether To Give
As a professional anti-poverty worker, one of the most frequent questions I am asked by friends and acquaintances is whether to give money to panhandlers. People want to be generous and helpful, but they are worried about potentially facilitating self-destructive behavior or aiding con artists. Given that Jewish tradition tends to rake every social issue…
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Offer Bread Instead of Money
A man asked me for money on my way into a convenience store one night in the fall of my freshman year at Yale University. I didn’t want to give money to anyone who would use it to buy alcohol or drugs. But I also didn’t want to be responsible for a man going hungry….
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Finding God in the Other
The face of the Other is where we see God in the world. At least that’s what Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas tells us. And what could be more Other to a comfortable middle class Jewish boy than a homeless, dirty beggar? The euphemism “panhandler” is an Americanism designed to ease the confrontation. And what could…
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Handouts Are a Bandage on Society’s Woes
I don’t give money to panhandlers, ever. I suppose I developed this point of view from following the money: In the mid-1990s, I offered a ride home to a woman and her two children who I saw panhandling on a busy median in the pouring rain. At the rundown motel where they lived, I met…
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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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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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