Culture Archives (original) (raw)

Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture. Here, you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music, film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of everything and everyone from The Rolling Stones to Mardi Gras to Dolly Parton to Ludwig Van Beethoven. You’ll also find longform essays, exposés, cultural critiques and sometimes even fiction, poetry and humor.

Film & TV In ‘The Rehearsal’ season 2, is Nathan Fielder serious? The comedian is out to solve an epidemic of airplane crashes — will the world listen? By PJ Grisar Apr 15, 2025 | 4 min read
How this Marc Chagall painting explains Pope Francis’ soul The late pope's favorite painting was a reaction to the horrors of the Nazi regime By Talya Zax Apr 21, 2025 | 4 min read
In Pope Francis, a voice for interfaith dialogue and against antisemitism Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, the Pope cited Jewish theologians and psychoanalysts as influences By Benjamin Ivry Apr 21, 2025 | 4 min read

The Latest

How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life Choreographer Billy Barry had barely heard of Israeli dance company Batsheva — until it changed his life By Stav Ziv Apr 18, 2025 | 10 min read
How Abraham Lincoln in a kippah wound up making a 250,000dealon‘SharkTank’JewishentrepreneurAriSiegelsecureda250,000 deal on ‘Shark Tank’ Jewish entrepreneur Ari Siegel secured a 250,000dealon‘SharkTank’JewishentrepreneurAriSiegelsecureda250,000 investment on the show for his business, History By Mail By Grace Gilson Apr 18, 2025 | 3 min read
Books What is ‘Zionism without Zion?’ New history asks, but can’t answer In ‘Melting Point’, Rachel Cockerell provides lots of historical sources, but little insight into what they’re saying By Olivia Haynie Apr 17, 2025 | 3 min read
In the new Fantastic Four trailer, a glimpse of Yancy Street’s Yiddishkeit Keep your eyes peeled in the new movie for challahs and tikkun olam By PJ Grisar Apr 17, 2025 | 2 min read
‘Shtisel’ star Sasson Gabay is happy to be back playing a complex haredi Orthodox Jew in ‘Kugel’ The Iraqi-born actor, who plays the Yiddish-speaking Nuhem, has reprised the role for a prequel series titled 'Kugel' By Gabe Friedman Apr 16, 2025 | 6 min read
Film & TV How the Hebrew Bible helped me write He-Man (and a Salvation Army special) The man who developed 'Masters of the Universe' explains Eternia's undersung Yiddishkeit By Michael Halperin Apr 16, 2025 | 6 min read
Actor Ben Platt says his Jewish identity is ‘not defined’ by Israel, showing a gap between him and his influential family Platt’s comments are his first on the topic since early in the Israel-Hamas war By Grace Gilson Apr 16, 2025 | 3 min read
Books How a Jewish boy from Canterbury became a Zulu chieftain A new book tells the story of Nathaniel Isaacs, a 19th-century British Jew who played a complicated role in the colonization of Africa By Olivia Haynie Apr 14, 2025 | 4 min read
Jews thought Trump wanted to fight antisemitism. Why did he cut all of their grants? When DOGE routed the National Endowment for the Humanities, hundreds of grants for Holocaust history and Yiddish culture were terminated By Mira Fox Apr 12, 2025 | 7 min read