Category Archives: The Forward
What Houdini, Coney Island and space aliens have to do with the book of Exodus
“Brighton Exodus” from Joel Silverstein’s Brighton Beach Bible. Image by Joel Silverstein By PJ Grisar April 16, 2024 Every year at Passover we are commanded to imagine ourselves leaving Egypt — Joel Silverstein painted himself into the picture. Read more » »
Would you send your kid to summer camp in Israel this year? For many American Jews, the answer is no
Enrollment in summer camp trips to Israel for Jewish American teens is down dramatically this year compared to last year. Some camps have canceled trips altogether. Some are combining trips with other camps to get a critical mass. Many are offering trips to Central America, Europe or U.S. destinations instead. Read more » »
‘Lynching’ must be used only in its historical context, not to describe the impeachment of a cabinet official
LettersU.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is facing impeachment by House Republicans U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on November 15, 2023 in Washington, DC. Read more » »
24 perfectly plausible pop culture predictions for 2024
As we enter 2024, and put this difficult year in our rearview mirror, it’s worth taking time to reflect. Specifically, it is valuable to take stock of what really matters: whether my annual pop-culture predictions from last year came true. Some did, in fact, despite my best efforts to stretch the bounds of reason with each guess. Read more » »
How ‘Some Like it Hot’ got to Broadway — and lost a very Jewish song in the process
At first, Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman weren’t so hot on the idea of adapting Some Like it Hot into a musical. “The movie ended up being a double-edged sword,” Shaiman, the composer and co-lyricist, said over Zoom. Read more » »
In three films, a tale of three Jewish New Yorks
When you hear the street names Delancey, Orchard or Hester, you might imagine the pushcarts and pickle barrels, the clotheslines hoisting linens, the great bazaar of cramped humanity. The imagery is easy to conjure, though the reality is now a mostly cinematic memory. Read more » »
Disgraced former Reform movement leader Sheldon Zimmerman expelled from rabbinical association
Police investigate a fire at Camp B’nai B’rith in Pontiac, Quebec, on Feb. 12, 2023. (Courtesy Collines-de-l’Outaouais) By Asaf Elia-Shalev February 14, 2023 (JTA) – The Reform movement’s rabbinical association has expelled Sheldon Zimmerman, a Read more » »
Every Hanukkah movie and TV episode worth knowing about, and the cocktails to go with them
Forwarding the News Appeals court rules for LGBTQ students at Yeshiva University, Unilever resolves dispute with Ben & Jerry’s, Trump to speak to Orthodox educators, a trip to the new Maccabee Bar, and a Forward birth. Yes, there’s a latke competition in Hanukkah on Rye. Read more » »
‘Mazel tov on assimilating:’ The strange, rich history of Rosh Hashanah advertisements
The practice of placing Rosh Hashanah greetings in Jewish newspapers first emerged in the early 1900s. Graphic by Forward Collage By Yael Buechler September 22, 2022 “Nobody can chide you for forgetting them — if Your Greeting is published in the Annual Rosh Hashanah Edition,” declared a 1937 issue of The American Jewish World of Minnesota. Read more » »
How Jews have confronted the seemingly eternal scourge of hatred
“The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do,” at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage shows the destruction of once-vibrant Jewish communities. Photo by John Halpern By Diane Cole August 09, 2022 I learned what hate can do on March 9, 1977, when I went to work as usual that morning at the Jewish service organization B’nai B’rith in Washington, D.C. Read more » »
