• Benjamin Ivry dusts off Benjamin Botkin, a pioneering folklorist vilified for his scholarly openness. • Shlomo Schwartzberg celebrates journalist Ruth Gruber, who became the youngest Ph.D. in history — in 1932. • Philologos investigates the word “synagogue,” and why nobody seems to use it very much. • Yossl Huttler contributes two poems about the…
Benjamin Ivry retrospects to the work of surrealist painter Felix Nussbaum. Philologos unpacks the reference to Cordoba in “Cordoba House.” Joel Schalit sends a letter from Berlin about living in “Eurabia.” Jerome A. Chanes reads Robert Alter’s reading of the King James Bible. Forward Editor Jane Eisner reviews Sharon Pomerantz’s debut novel “Rich Boy,” a…
Dan Friedman introduces Asaf Hanuka, an Israeli graphic artist who worked on “Waltz With Bashir,” and whose comic “The Realist” will appear online at the Forward each week. In the new installment of the Nigun Project, Jeremiah Lockwood and Cynthia Hopkins (of Gloria Deluxe) perform their version of the Chabad version of the Russian drinking…
Jon Kalish goes to see “The Concert,” a French comedy about a Russian janitor who hijacks an invitation for the Bolshoi Orchestra to perform in Paris. Jerome A. Chanes reads (take a deep breath) “An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew: Etymological-Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents With Supplements on Biblical Aramaic.” It’s important, trust us. Jordana…
Laura Hodes goes to see “Dinner for Schmucks,” which maybe should have been called “Dinner for Schlemiels,” or “Dinner for Bat Mitzvah DJs.” Susan Shapiro offers an excerpt from her new novel, “Overexposed.” Philologos takes a nibble of Italy’s “pizza ebraica dolce.” Benjamin Ivry casts his gaze on Sweden’s Ernst Josephson, the “Jewish Edvard Munch.”…
Nathan Jeffay visits the new and improved Israel Museum. Jordana Horn goes to see “Life During Wartime,” Todd Solondz’s profoundly Jewish mix of angst, pedophilia, awkward puberty and big-time familial dysfunction. In the latest installment of The Nigun Project, Jeremiah Lockwood partners with hip-hop collective Felonious on an old Lubavitch tune. Philologos wonders who put…
Jake Marmer listens in on Deep Tones, an international all-bass music project devoted to peace in the Middle East. Perplexed by the guides? Jay Michaelson advises on which Kabbalah books you can trust. Jerome Chanes has some issues with the Jewish Publication Society’s new volume of “The Commentators’ Bible.” Two weeks ago, Philologos decided that…
Nadja Spiegelman interviews Miryam Kabakov, author of the essay collection “Keep Your Wives Away From Them: Orthodox Women, Unorthodox Desires.” Zohar Tirosh-Polk goes to see “Hapless Holigan in ‘Still Moving,’” a collaboration between cartoonist Art Spiegelman and the modern dance company Pilobolus. Paul Buhle remembers Harvey Pekar and Tuli Kupferberg, two counter-cultural Jews who died…
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