This Week in Forward Arts and Culture

Image by Joan Marcus
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Gordon Haber reviews Jon Ronson’s “The Psychopath Test,” a book about, well, crazy people.
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I ponder Jewish music that courts a secular audience with religious material.
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Joshua Furst believes in the spirit of Tony Kushner’s new play, if not always its execution.
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Elissa Strauss goes to see the art collection of the Cone Sisters of Baltimore, now on view at The Jewish Museum.
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Philologos explains why the word “Jewish” describes national, as well as religious, identity.
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Benjamin Ivry profiles Franco-Greek singer-songwriter Georges Moustaki.
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And in our special Yiddish section, Rokhl Kafrissen takes stock of a new wave of klezmer musicians, Itzik Gottesman remembers poet Jeremiah Hescheles, Shoshana Olidort anticipates the online translations of Walt Whitman, Gary Shapiro investigates the anonymous blogger Katle Kanye, and Brian Diamond translates three poems by Yankev Glatshteyn.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
