Vanity Fair interviews comedian David Wain for the 10th anniversary of his cult comedy “Wet Hot American Summer.” The Smurfs have been said to be misogynist and anti-Semitic, but the screenwriter of the upcoming Smurfs movie is David Weiss, an Orthodox Jew. Natalie Portman named her child “Aleph.” Good grief. A new book looks back…
How a complete set of the Bomberg Talmud found its way into King Henry VIII’s library. On the everlasting allure of the Jewish gangster. Mark Harman offers a new translation of Kafka’s short, short story, “A Message from the Emperor.” Bob Cohen reflects on this year’s Festival of Jewish Culture in Krakow, Poland. The Yardbirds…
Philip Roth received his Man Booker International Prize June 29 in absentia. Meanwhile, the prize committee is a mess. Robin Cembalest writes about the Klimt-inspired Barbie doll. Is Jean-Luc Godard’s new movie, “Film Socialisme,” anti-Semitic? Menachem Wecker, who has a piece in this week’s Forward about a musical celebration of Bulgarian heroism during the Holocaust,…
Philip Roth has “wised up” and stopped reading fiction. The Washington Post profiles the last of Argentina’s Yiddish-speaking cowboys. Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek addresses a Tel Aviv BDS gathering, but talks mostly about European anti-Semitism. How Jewish Pittsburgher Alan Paul became a rock star in China. “They Hate Us Because We’re Blond,” says “Foreskin Man”…
Novelist Alice Walker explains why she is sailing to Gaza. The New York Times profiles Idan Raichel, Israel’s “musician of the decade.” JWeekly profiles the Ridin’ Chai Motorcycle Club of Northern California. In Souciant, The Arty Semite contributor Joel Schalit writes about Public Enemy in Arabic. In Tablet, The Arty Semite contributor Shulem Deen writes…
On Killing the Buddha, The Arty Semite contributor Gordon Haber adds a personal reflection to the circumcision debate in California. Bucharest is getting its very first Jewish Film Festival. Oskar Schindler’s factory in Krakow has been turned into a contemporary art museum. Meet Xu Long, a Chinese chef with a passion for ancient Jewish coins….
How the daughter of an American diplomat had the time of her life in Nazi Berlin. A new exhibit in New York brings the spotlight back to the life-filled paintings of Chaim Soutine. A fight has broken out over the Anne Frank tree. Ben Greenman gives us Weiner!, the musical. The Jewish Quarterly has “Runner,”…
Holland Cotter takes a look at the Contemporary Jewish Museum’s Gertrude Stein exhibit, reviewed by the Forward’s Joel Schechter here. Alona Frankel’s 1975 classic “Once Upon a Potty” is now an app. Philadelphia is holding an eight-day festival in honor of composer Morton Feldman, whose work has been covered by the Forward’s Raphael Mostel here…
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