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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Synagogues in the Sand
For most people, a trip to the Caribbean is all about sandy beaches, crystal-clear water and relaxing in the moment. But for tourists with an interest in Jewish history, the Caribbean is also home to some of the oldest Jewish communities in North America, dating back to the 1600s. Whether traveling alone or on one…
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Preaching to the Converters
Pledges of Jewish Allegiance: Conversion, Law, and Policy-making in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Orthodox Responsa By David Ellenson and Daniel Gordis Stanford University Press, 216 pages, $30 In Herman Wouk’s autobiographical novel, “Inside, Outside,” Wouk’s alter ego falls in love with a gentile woman and is somewhat surprised to find that his grandfather, an Old World…
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Looking Back: March 2, 2012
100 Years Ago in the Forward The worst disgrace is to be a moron. According to the Talmud, a stupid person is like a dead man. So how does one become a knowledgeable, intelligent person? There’s no need to go to college or to night school; some people become educated by reading the kinds of…
The Latest
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Choose Your Own Apocalypse
With nods to Stanley Kubrick and Cecil B. DeMille, the Forward’s artist in residence Eli Valley makes a choose-your-own adventure comic for Iran pundits. Video: Nate Lavey Eli Valley is the Forward’s artist in residence for 2011–2012. His website is www.evcomics.com and you can follow him at twitter.com/elivalley.
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Books Author Blog: Autumn in His Heart
Earlier this week, Adam Wilson wrote about Seinfeld, Moses, and hubris. His blog posts are being featured this week 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’ve thought a lot about Isaac Babel’s lovely characterization of the…
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Is Sony Pictures Classics Playing Oscar Favorites?
Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) is one of the leading distributors of foreign and art-house films in America. This year they have three films nominated at the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language film category: “In Darkness,” the Polish Holocaust-themed film by director Agnieszka Holland (“Europa, Europa”); “Footnote,” the Israeli award-winning film from second time…
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It’s E-asy Doing Israeli Dance
When the brash new Company E marks its debut with an all-Israeli program of choreography, someone notify the fire inspectors of downtown Washington, D.C. “I wanted to pick work that will set your hair on fire,” former government policy wonk turned choreographer and producer Paul Gordon Emerson said about why he set his sights on…
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Books Author Blog: Moses and Hubris
Adam Wilson’s debut novel, “Flatscreen,” is now available. His blog posts are being featured this week 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: There’s a great “Seinfeld” episode — and one I relate to — in which…
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Gene Pinpoints Heritage, Causes Concern
The Wandering Gene and the Indian Princess: Race, Religion, and DNA By Jeff Wheelwright W.W. Norton and Company, 260 pages, $26.95 A diagnosis of breast cancer presents a lot of questions. Should you start with chemotherapy, or opt for surgery right away? Do you remove the tumor alone, or the entire breast? What about prophylactic…
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I’ve Been Thinking ‘Bout the Railroad
Maurice Wolfthal writes from Houston: “I recently enjoyed Theodore Bikel’s rendition of the Yiddish song ‘Di Ban’ [‘The Train’] after not having heard it for more than 30 years. Part of the humor stems from his choice of dialect. Where most Yiddish speakers use the vowel ‘oy,’ he uses the ‘ey’ of English ‘grey,’ as…
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Addicted to Aggadah
Drunken Angel By Alan Kaufman Viva Editions, 464 pages, $25 Too Much to Dream: A Psychedelic American Boyhood By Peter Bebergal Soft Skull Press, 232 pages, $15.95 Jewish culture has always sought a balance between texts of the halachic, or legal realm, and those of the Aggadah, or narrative. Not only does the Aggadah explain…
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