This Week in Forward Arts and Culture

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
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I revisit the life and work of the great music and cultural critic Ellen Willis.
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Jenna Weissman Joselit pays homage to a colonial-era circumcision set.
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Carol Zemel explores the irony-laden work of Israeli artist Yael Bartana, who is representing Poland at this year’s Venice Biennale.
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Shoshana Olidort and Jake Marmer review the letters of Paul Celan and Ilana Shmueli with some letters of their own.
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Graham Lawson documents the struggle to bring a Picasso to Ramallah.
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Adam Rovner reviews a new book by Guy Alroey, showing that Jews left Europe for news of economic opportunity dispensed by Jewish information bureaus more often than they did for fear of pogroms.
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Benjamin Ivry honors Georg Tintner, an overlooked Vienna-born conductor who spent most of his career in New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
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Philologos celebrates the disappearing German Jewish tradion of the Wimpel.
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.
