It was a cultural phenomenon that raked in $600 million at the box office and is still the highest grossing R-rated film of all time. Years later people are still questioning just how anti-Semitic “The Passion Of the Christ” really was. Mel Gibson, the star vehicle driving the movie to its bloody, sadomasochistic conclusion, famously…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. In honor of the 125th birthday of Russian-Jewish artist Solomon Yudovin, a modest yet captivating exhibit at Russia’s St. Petersburg Jewish Community Center highlights some of his best work, including historical photographs, drawings and book illustrations. Of particular interest: A number of his watercolors from the 1930s,…
(JTA) — An Israeli film accused of “undermining” the country and its soldiers’ morality has been named to the shortlist for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Director Samuel Maoz’s film “Foxtrot” made the list Thursday, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Thursday. It features a scene in which…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Judging by her portfolio, Bonnie Geller-Geld is a little like the character in Woody Allen’s “Zelig” who has a knack for inserting himself into life’s big moments. She was on the scene with her Canon DSLR in 1988 when Leonard Bernstein took a bow at his 70th…
Inside a small room in Jerusalem, four artists are taking on one of the most deep-rooted taboos in Judaism: That of the mamzer, the illegitimate child. A mamzer is someone born as the result of a sexual relationship forbidden in the Torah. Translated in English as “misbegotten” (according to the JPS Tanakh, but also commonly…
(JTA) — Researchers in Germany have identified another painting in the “Gurlitt Collection” as having been stolen by the Nazis. The work by 19th-century French painter Thomas Couture had belonged to the Jewish politician Georges Mandel, and was identified due to a tiny hole in the canvas. Restitution to his heirs is in the works….
The quietly revolutionary and unimpeachably cool Jewish model Hari Nef recreated John Singer Sargent’s 1883-4 painting “Madame X” as part of a series for Harper’s Bazaar. The 25-year old model, who has also starred on Transparent, appreciates the way Sargent’s subject, Parisian socialite Virginia Amelie Avegno Gautreau, refuses to engage with the viewer. “You can…
Students at Washington University in St. Louis are protesting the school’s invitation of Jewish rapper Lil Dicky to perform at a fall music festival called Wild. The critics have dubbed him a “known racist” who is appropriating black culture for personal gain. In a report last week in the school newspaper, a group of 16…
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