Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Out and About

  • Sacha Baron Cohen is being criticized for presenting negative stereotypes of Arabs in “The Dictator.” Can’t say this one was hard to see coming.

Image by Getty Images

  • Aaron Sorkin has signed on to write the script for a Steve Jobs biopic.

  • Aharon Appelfeld’s “Blooms of Darkness” has won the British Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Read our review of the novel here.

  • The online Museum of Family History has a new exhibit on “The Remarkable Zalmen Zylbercweig,” editor of the six-volume “Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre.”

  • Joseph Epstein reflects on his friendship with art critic Hilton Kramer in The New Criterion.

  • Frieda Vizel talks to David Assaf, scholar of Hasidic history, about contemporary Hasidism and whether a rebbe ever condemned him to Hell.

  • Who are the great literary roommates of history? Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellison, to start with.

  • The Evergreen Reviews pays tribute to its founder and longtime editor, Barney Rosset.

  • David P. Goldman writes about Michael Willens, grandson of Yiddish theater composers and head of one of Germany’s premiere chamber orchestras.

  • In the latest issue of the LABA Journal, Karen Loew chats with passersby at the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan, Elissa Strauss reflects on urban enlightenment and Stephen Hazan Arnoff writes about “A City Built on Rock and Roll.” Also make sure to check out the LABA Festival, happening this weekend at the 14th Street Y.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.