Irene Katz Connelly is a staff writer at the Forward. You can contact her at connelly@forward.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katz_conn.
Irene Katz Connelly
By Irene Katz Connelly
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Culture Israeli Eurovision contestant Eden Alene doesn’t have time for pandemic hobbies
I began the interview with a question I ask almost everybody these days: “Do you have a pandemic hobby?” Eden Alene looked at me, politely confused. “What is a pandemic hobby?” “You know,” I said, thinking of all my failed sourdough starters. “A lot of people learned to do new things because they had so…
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The Schmooze In ‘Here Today,’ Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish give us the Jewish story we weren’t looking for
At the Schmooze, we watch a lot of movies about Jews. But we also spend a lot of time waiting with bated breath for stories about Jews. We wait for stories in which Jews aren’t ancient heroes or stoic sufferers or caricature-ish sidekicks that set off all your internal alarms. Stories in which Jewish milestones…
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Culture How Jewish New York got its very un-Jewish names
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro asked me to meet him on Frieda Zames Way, which is not an easy place to find on Google Maps. No street view photos, no subway wait times — nothing to feed our iPhone-era inclination to know exactly where we’re going, all the time. As any serious investigative journalist would, I immediately turned…
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The Schmooze Jon Ossoff wants you to know that all vaccines are created equal
A startling number of people have inexplicably agreed that Pfizer is the best coronavirus vaccine. In between frantically refreshing the Walgreens website, navigating byzantine vaccine portals on behalf of aged parents, and posting selfies with sore arms, the American public has taken time to rank the various coronavirus vaccines. On social media, a consensus has…
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Culture Michelle Zauner’s new memoir will tell you how grief tastes
If you don’t think great human drama can play out in a supermarket, just read the first pages of Michelle Zauner’s new memoir, “Crying in H Mart.” The largest Asian supermarket chain in the United States, H Mart takes its first initial from the Korean phrase han ah reum, which means “one arm full of…
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Culture Norton pulls Philip Roth biography from print after author accused of sexual assault
The publisher W.W. Norton has pulled its recently-released biography of Philip Roth from print after multiple women accused its author, Blake Bailey, of sexual assault. The Associated Press reported that Norton would stop printing of “Philip Roth: The Biography,” a much hyped, 912-page treatise on the author’s life, as well as Bailey’s 2014 memoir “The…
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The Schmooze ‘Unorthodox’ stars Shira Haas and Amit Rahav win big at Independent Spirit Awards
Israeli cinema darling Shira Haas continued her international ascent this week, scooping up a top prize at the Independent Spirit Awards. The “Unorthodox” star was awarded Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series, with her co-star Amit Rahav winning the same prize in the category for male actors. This is just the latest in a…
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The Schmooze The Jewish values behind Bernie’s infamous mittens
At this point, you probably know more than you ever anticipated about Bernie Sanders’ infamous inauguration mittens. But did you know they were made in accordance with Jewish values? Vermont teacher Jen Ellis, who makes mittens out of recycled sweaters and gifted a pair to Sanders after he lost the 2016 presidential nomination, teamed up…
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