This is the Forward’s coverage of books and literature, including both non-fictional and fictional works.
Books
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Books Amazon is Opening Brick and Mortar Bookstores; Our Sages Would Approve
At a pivotal moment in Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, Hans Castorp is seen lugging around heavy, expensive, newly purchased books. When his cousin Joachim wonders why Hans doesn’t simply borrow books from the local library, Hans explains that there is no substitute for the purchased book: Hans “loved to mark [his books] and underline…
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Books Literary Figures Call for Release of Arab-Israeli Poet Charged With Incitement
More than 150 literary figures, including nine Pulitzer Prize winners, are calling for Israel to free an Arab-Israeli poet charged with inciting violence through social media. The open letter announced Tuesday in support of Dareen Tatour, who has been under house arrest since October, was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and Adalah-NY (The New…
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Books When Meyer Wolfsheim From ‘The Great Gatsby’ Is the Only Jewish Character You Know
As a high school English teacher who writes poetry in her free time, I read a poem a day at the start of each class period. Last September, I read poems by Emma Lazarus, because students were going to be writing an essay about her famous sonnet “The New Colossus.” When I introduced her to…
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Books Parenting How-To: Looking Beyond Diapers and Tantrums to Find Spirituality
Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting Danya Ruttenberg Flatiron Books, 320 pages, $25 I’ve read my share of parenting books. There’s a stack by my bedside table that inevitably tips over with my three kids’ rambunctious play nearby. With a 3, 5, and…
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Books Yiddish Food on Front Burner in ‘Rhapsody in Schmaltz’
For Canadian author Michael Wex, the process of researching Yiddish cuisine was almost as distasteful as a glass of a p’tcha (calves foot jelly) on an empty stomach. Everyone who discovered that he was writing about Jewish food seemed to have a comment, complaint or bagel store to boycott. Friends and acquaintances alike insisted their…
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Books New Cookbook Is Chef’s Love Letter to Mediterranean Diet
Eighty is an age when many people would be resting on their laurels and hanging up their chef’s whites — especially someone like Joyce Goldstein, the former Chez Panisse Café chef who went on to run her own Mediterranean restaurant and has written numerous cookbooks. But when you open your first restaurant at 49, as…
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Books The Making of ‘Falafel Nation’
Yael Raviv (above) is author of “Falafel Nation: Cuisine and the Making of National Identity in Israel (Studies of Jews in Society).” by Yael Raviv, is a work of culinary anthropology that looks at the founding of the state of Israel through the prism of food. The book (University of Nebraska Press) is the outgrowth…
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Books The 14 Most Romantic Lines in Jewish Literature
Valentine’s Day is upon us, and ignoring the holiday’s relatively morbid roots in favor of its relatively charming modern incarnation, what better way to celebrate than with the romantic musings of some beloved Jewish writers? Should you be in need of lofty-sounding fodder with which to celebrate your loved ones — or woo those you’d…
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Culture Charlie Kirk kept a ‘Jewish Sabbath.’ What did he mean by that?
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Antisemitism Decoded Israel is being blamed for Charlie Kirk’s death. Here’s what that conspiracy theory says about the far right’s divide
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Fast Forward ‘Murdered for speaking truth’: Netanyahu and US Jewish leaders mourn Charlie Kirk
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News Who was Horst Wessel, and why are people comparing Charlie Kirk to him?
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Looking Forward Everyone thought I was crazy for majoring in religious studies. Here’s why it matters now more than ever.
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Culture Charlie Kirk kept a ‘Jewish Sabbath.’ What did he mean by that?
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