PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture 91-year-old English synagogue saved by local artists
Read this article in Yiddish. A group of local artists, educators and celebrities successfully rallied to rescue a 91-year-old synagogue in the English sea town of Margate and plan to convert it into a cultural hub for the region. The effort began in early November, after musician Francesca Ter-Berg discovered the shul, formerly a cornerstone…
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Culture What Philip Roth and Sandy Koufax have in common
When Philip Roth’s estate was auctioned off in July of last year, among his possessions was a 1963 Topps baseball card of Sandy Koufax. It sold for $950. “Roth, a baseball and Dodgers fan, was a lefty like Koufax to whom some felt Roth bore a resemblance,” Litchfield County Auctions wrote in the lot description….
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Culture To understand 2020, I looked to the art of the past
Good art — the sort that endures and evolves and speaks clearly to what it meant to be alive at a certain moment — is rarely of its exact time. There is not yet any definitive work of the Trump presidency or the coronavirus pandemic. Critics and audiences are rightly suspicious of any artist who…
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Culture ‘Wonder Woman 3’ greenlit as Gal Gadot criticisms mount online
The world loves Wonder Woman. But many still have issues with the actress playing her. The Amazonian superhero will return in a third standalone installment with star Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins Variety reported. The fast-tracking of the project follows impressive box-office returns for “Wonder Woman 1984.” The film has already made $85 million…
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Culture Is Wonder Woman’s love interest a Dybbuk?
“Wonder Woman 1984” transports us to a simpler time of probable nuclear war, petroleum-fueled global conflicts and regrettable fashion. Does it also contain a Jewish clinging demon? Hear us out, but first, be warned, there are some plot spoilers ahead. In the follow-up to 2017’s “Wonder Woman,” Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) reunites with her long-dead…
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Culture Casting the inevitable Kushner family movie
Now that Donald Trump has pardoned Charles Kushner, many are just now hearing for the first time of the classic story of a real estate magnate who hired a sex worker to sleep with his brother-in-law and sent a tape of their tryst to his sister on the days before her son’s engagement party to…
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Culture Meet the Orthodox Jewish Santa who trains America’s Christmas performers
Before Santa Claus, there was Abraham Claus. Abraham Claus — the forefather of all the Clauses — wore a $10 Santa coat with a round patch with Hebrew letters on his right sleeve bicep and a blue Star of David sewn on the back. He had snap-on peyos to complete the picture. This Semitic getup…
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Culture Chinese food, movies, speed-dating — 5 Jewish things to do this Christmas.
Most Christmases, many Jews have their own inviolable traditions. For my family — and quite possibly yours — that means a movie (probably one that will be nominated for Oscars and be otherwise unmemorable) and Chinese food (a welcome consolation following dreck like “Benjamin Button”). Obviously this isn’t most Christmases. Yes, I’ve heard tell of…
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