PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at grisar@forward.com and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
-
Music WATCH: Laurie Anderson Read Emma Lazarus’s ‘The New Colossus’
The weathered words on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty endure to this day, even though most immigrants no longer encounter them on their journey. But the sonnet “The New Colossus,” written by Emma Lazarus, is only the poet’s most visible contribution to literature. This year, the American Jewish Historical Society, the steward of…
-
Culture When Americans Thought Hitler Had Been Killed — In 1939
On April 1, 1939, Hitler was in a very bad mood. The previous day the Führer had learned that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had grown something resembling a spine. After reversing Britain’s policy of appeasement on March 15, following Hitler’s seizure of Czechoslovakia, on March 31 Chamberlain made a pledge of Anglo-French support to…
-
Film & TV NYPD ‘Actively Investigating’ David Blaine After Sexual Assault Accusations
The New York Police Department is investigating magician David Blaine after two women accused him of sexual assault. In a news conference April 1, Dermot F. Shea, the department’s chief of detectives confirmed the investigation into the complaints, first reported by The Daily Beast. Shea refused to comment on the details of the allegations or…
-
Culture Benito Mussolini’s Granddaughter Is Fighting With Jim Carrey On Twitter
Twitter is a commons of free thought that has no equivalent in our history. Every so often we’re granted reminders of how thoroughly connected the little blue bird has made our lives. Who could have foreseen, for instance, that we would one day have a medium wherein Jim Carrey and Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter could engage…
-
Culture The Sami Rohr Prize For Jewish Literature Announces Its Nominees
On April 1 the Jewish Book Council announced the finalists for the 2019 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Awarded since 2007, the Rohr Prize recognizes early career English-language writers whose work reflects the Jewish experience. The five finalists in contention for the top $100,000 prize include two past National Jewish Book Award winners —…
-
Culture RBG Attended An Amos Oz Commemoration In DC
On the afternoon of March 31, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a rare public appearance at the Temple Sinai synagogue in Washington, DC to pay her respects to Israeli author Amos Oz, who died of cancer in December at the age of 79. Ginsburg, who has been keeping a low profile since undergoing…
-
Life The Top 20 Jewish Comedians Of The Trump Era
Every day this week we’ll be highlighting classic and cutting-edge Jewish comedy, from the best Jewish memes to the best jokes about Jews by non-Jews. L’chaim! It’s a strange time in comedy when world events feel increasingly absurd, but, like…not in a fun way. Comedians can help us contextualize the absurdity. Or they can be…
-
Culture Is This High School Student’s Drawing Anti-Semitic Or Progressive?
An artwork displayed last week at Northern Virginia Community College’s Ernst Community Cultural Center in Annandale, Virginia drew condemnation from a local rabbi for anti-Semitism. The picture, which has since been removed, was drawn by a 17-year-old high school student and depicts a squint-eyed man with a hooknose, sidelocks and kippah standing near a well…
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The most antisemitic university president you’ve never heard of
- 2
Opinion Take it from someone who’s both Black and Jewish: Ta-Nehisi Coates weaponizes race to spread antisemitism
- 3
Culture Why Doug Emhoff shared his bar mitzvah with a guy named Scott
- 4
Opinion I’m a Jew of color. Ta-Nehisi Coates can’t apply US lessons to Israel.
In Case You Missed It
-
News Pittsburgh’s Jews, united by Tree of Life shooting, divided by election and Gaza war
-
News ‘Gaza solidarity’ sukkahs test new campus protest rules
-
Letters After Sinwar’s death, is war really over?
-
Yiddish בעלאַרוסישע פּליטים שאַפֿן דיגיטאַלישן מוזײ פֿון רײַסיש־ייִדישער קולטור־ירושהBelarusian refugees create digital museum of Belarussian-Jewish heritage
די רעקאָנסטרוקציע פֿון אַ הילצערנער שיל וועט זײַן טײל פֿון דער אױסשטעלונג „דאָס רײַסישע שטעטל“
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism