This year’s Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to a Hungarian writer whose work offers bleak visions of existence, and whose father hid his Jewish ancestry from him for much of his childhood. László Krasznahorkai, the 71-year-old novelist and screenwriter, achieved international acclaim for formally daring books like “Satantango” and “The Melancholy of Resistance,” as […]
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Two years after the Hamas attacks on Israel, the tragedy of Oct. 7 has become its own cinematic sub-genre. Filmmakers have rushed to bear witness, survivors have taken up cameras, and streaming platforms are now filled with documentaries and dramatizations that revisit, reimagine, and attempt to process the day’s horrors. From raw documentaries of the […]
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At first glance, the prayer book is one that’s found at countless Conservative synagogues across the country: Siddur Sim Shalom, which was published in 1985 by the Rabbinical Assembly. But the chewed-up appearance of the book’s left corner tells a different story: This siddur was grazed by a bullet during the Oct. 27, 2018 mass […]
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During his controversial set at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia, comedian Dave Chappelle joked that he would use the phrase “I stand with Israel” as a code to alert fans he was facing censorship. The state-sponsored show, which took place on Saturday and featured a host of top international comedians, was criticized by […]
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A school district in central Texas has removed “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” a classic young-adult novel dealing with the Holocaust, after reviewing books for material that could violate a new state law forbidding “DEI” classroom content. The novel was one of dozens to be removed after Leander Independent School District, in a suburb of Austin, undertook […]
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Rapper Azaelia Banks has announced that she will perform in Israel the week of the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks — and embark on a wide-ranging tour that includes a trip to a museum honoring an early Zionist leader who preached Jewish self-defense. “✨🇮🇱 Okay so listen… The Jewcy Diva is touching down […]
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“This country broke my penis, but it couldn’t break my spirit.” So says Jewish writer Gary Shteyngart in “The Guy Who Got Cut Wrong,” a new documentary from The New Yorker about the botched circumcision Shteyngart received as a 7-year-old Russian immigrant to the United States. Told with humor, sensitivity and pain, the 20-minute film […]
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Fortnite, the popular multiplayer online video game, has disabled a character dance feature — called an “emote” — following speculation that its gestures resembled a swastika. The “Peaceful Hips Emote,” which depicts actor and professional wrestler John Cena moving his arms up and down at a right angle, was part of a collaboration between Fortnite […]
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In keeping with pop legend Britney Spears’ penchant for posting seemingly random images on her social media, the star posted a photo of a group of Hasidic men playing chess over the weekend with the caption, “I like the beard !!!” While it was unclear whether Spears posted the photo because of the Hasidic subjects […]
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An electronic music festival in London has cancelled a set by an Israeli DJ, citing a blog post by a pro-Palestinian group that criticized the artist for serving as a “linchpin” of Israeli nightlife. In a Substack post, Ravers for Palestine urged the Origins music festival to cancel Israeli DJ Roi Perez’s set, accusing him […]
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