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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Books
Forward Fives: 2011 in Nonfiction
In this, the third annual Forward Fives selection, we celebrate the year’s cultural output with a series of deliberately eclectic choices in music, performance, exhibitions, books and film. Here we present five of the most important nonfiction books of 2011. Feel free to argue with and add to our selections in the comments. ”The Eichmann…
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Looking Back: December 30, 2011
100 Years Ago in the Forward The 147 burned bodies, the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, apparently had no effect on the jury, who found Triangle bosses Max Blanck and Isaac Harris innocent of negligence in their deaths. The courtroom was half empty as the verdict was read. The judge had allowed only close…
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Books ‘Too Many Latkes!’: Twenty Years in the Making
On Monday, Richard Codor wrote about his cartoon education. 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: The idea for “Too Many Latkes!” came from one of my fondest childhood…
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Tintin and the Anti-Semites
The setting: a tiny monarchy, poor but beautiful, on the Balkan Peninsula. The population is a mere 642,000 people, mostly peasants. The country’s main exports are wheat, mineral water, firewood, horses and violinists. The scene: A ruffian has stolen the king’s scepter, but is caught just steps from the border. Documents are found in his…
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Why Does the Heckler Get a Veto?
Jewish Book Month has just ended, and I’ve had a wonderful time crisscrossing the country on my book tour. At almost every event, there are people in the audience with tears in their eyes, and parents who come up to tell me how the book I’ve written is enabling them to be closer to their…
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From Hebrew to… Hebrew
For a while now I’ve been hearing about a new translation of the Hebrew Bible, called Tanach Ram. (Tanakh, of course, is Hebrew for “Bible,” an acronym composed of Torah, the Five Books of Moses; Nevi’im, the Prophets, and K’tuvim, the other biblical writings, while Ram is the name of an Israeli publishing house.) What…
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Joseph, First Diaspora Success Story
Miketz — At the End of Two Years Genesis 41:1–44:17 Because We Were Strangers Joseph is the archetype of the Diaspora Jewish success story. He is the first ever to make it big in the royal court. He is the first to understand what it means to live outside Israel, initially under duress but later…
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Books A Cartoon Education
Richard Codor’s most recent book, “Too Many Latkes!” (Behrman House), 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: The memory of my cousin handing me my first…
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The Part-Jewish Question: Double the Pleasure or Twice the Pain?
This review by Christopher Hitchens, who died Thursday at age 62, was published in the January 26, 2001 edition of the Forward. Read Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s appreciation of Hitchens here. Suddenly Jewish: Jews Raised as Gentiles Discover Their Jewish Roots By Barbara Kessel Brandeis University, 127 pages, $19.95. According to the laws of Moses, the…
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Books Jews in Narnia
Earlier this week, Lavie Tidhar wrote about his fixation on historical figures and being compared to Philip K. Dick. 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: Michael Weingrad made…
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Intrepid Guide Takes You to Territories
Fred Schlomka is quite an extraordinary man, and his travel company, Green Olive Tours, is built to match. Working from his small home in Kfar Saba, a suburb of Tel Aviv, he operates a network of a dozen Israeli and Palestinian guides who take tourists deep into the Occupied Territories, from Nablus and Jenin in…
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