Stories about how we look at Jewish artists and how Jewish artists look at the world.
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Culture Architect of memorial synagogue at Babyn Yar: Bombing “leaves me speechless, numb and powerless”
In May, the Forward spoke to architect Manuel Herz about a new synagogue he’d designed at the site of Babyn Yar (for years commonly referred to as Babi Yar), where SS officers and Ukrainian allies murdered 34,000 Jews in 1941. Herz modeled the structure after the colorful wooden synagogues that once dotted the Pale of…
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Culture He survived a Nazi work camp to shape the world of modern film
In October 1949, Jonas Mekas arrived in New York City broke and nearly broken. The Lithuanian artist had survived a Nazi work camp and several years as a refugee, and was supposed to travel on to Chicago where a job in a bakery awaited. But the buzz of New York City energized him and so…
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Culture In painting a survivor of the Holocaust, a feeling of overwhelming and indescribable privilege
“Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust,” an exhibition of paintings commissioned by Charles, Prince of Wales was previously shown in Buckingham Palace and soon may be visited at The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland, until June 6, 2022. In the catalogue, portraits of Holocaust survivors now living in the…
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Culture A way to forgive debts and leave fields fallow — even if you’re not a farmer in Israel
What’s the best way to observe the shmita year? Perhaps a seven stranded havdalah candle, or a special set of bowls — we use special dishes for Passover, after all. For those of us who don’t work in agriculture, shmita can be easily overlooked. But “The Shmita Project,” a new exhibit at the Osher Marin…
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Culture She’s found a new way to keep Holocaust stories alive — one step at a time
There’s a moment in Elie Wiesel’s “Night” that seared itself into Rachel Linsky’s consciousness in the spring of 2020. Wiesel and his family have just arrived at Auschwitz. Twice, Wiesel and his father move to the left, first away from his mother and sisters and then toward an unknown fate: either the crematoria or the…
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Art ‘Blue Like Me’: Indian-Jewish roots explored in artist’s latest books
Siona Benjamin was raised Jewish in India’s Hindu and Muslim society where she attended Catholic and Zoroastrian schools. A two-time Fulbright scholar, author and book illustrator, she now lives in America where she creates art that explores her identity and transcultural issues. Benjamin’s work is inspired by styles of Indian and Persian miniature painting, Christian…
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Culture Her father said she couldn’t, but Leonard Bernstein said she could — the triumph of a Jewish American conductor
What makes Bernadette Wegenstein’s “The Conductor” such a winning documentary is its title character Marin Alsop, the first woman to lead a major American symphony orchestra, specifically the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO). The 65-year-old New York native, passionate, steadfast and, devoid of all pretension, is just plain likable. She faced many closed doors, yet persisted…
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Culture At 95, this visionary Jewish artist can’t stop painting — and painting and painting
“I remember showing off to my father by reading the Forverts in Yiddish. I can’t do that anymore!” No, but soon-to-be 95-year-old artist Leo Segedin still paints. Every day, he gets up at 5 a.m., has coffee and a full breakfast and by 6:30 is at his easel. He works until his eyes hurt. Then,…
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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Music For Bob Dylan’s biographer, ‘A Complete Unknown’ is a dream come true — even if it’s mostly fiction
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion ‘Home is memory’: How Jews make sense of what they’ve lost in the LA fires and what remains
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News LA fires won’t stop bar mitzvahs this Shabbat, as joy and pain meet
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News HIAS cuts 22 staff even as it braces for Trump immigration crackdown
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Fast Forward A synagogue that survived the Palisades fire has become a ‘refuge’ for many who lost their homes
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