Arts & Culture

Living, reading, watching and listening Jewishly—that’s the crux of Moment’s Arts & Culture section. Here you can find book reviews, poetry, fiction, art and music. Don’t miss our fantastic interviews with artists and musicians.

 hhihhh___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yiddish storytelling

Yiddish Storytelling for a New Generation

Yiddish has a rich legacy of storytelling for children, including both global classics and works that originated in the mother tongue of Ashkenazi Jewry. Join Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone translator Arun Viswanath and Miriam Udel, editor and translator of Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature for a wide-ranging conversation with Moment Deputy Editor Sarah Breger about how they are helping to bring the legacy of Yiddish into the twentieth century, their work in relation to broad developments in Jewish history and how it intersects with their own family narratives.

Continue reading

Jewish humor zoominar

What’s So Funny About Jewish Humor with William Novak

Jewish jokes are a precious commodity and a special part of our heritage. Some of the best ones are worth looking at as succinct and entertaining expressions of our values. William Novak, co-editor of The Big Book of Jewish Humor, in print since 1981, explores some of the values behind the jokes and how they can be treated as secular Jewish texts. From well-known classics to relatively obscure examples, there is some history, commentary and plenty of laughs.

Continue reading

Mank film poster

Mank: A Heroic Tragedy With No Tragic Hero

No one enjoys looking in the mirror more than Hollywood, and no one does it better—as vastly entertaining show-biz movies like Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood can all attest. Now comes Mank, David Fincher’s loving and atmospheric re-creation of 1930s Hollywood.

Continue reading

What to Watch: "The Crossing"

When Children Rescue Children

It’s a rare treat to discover a film that appeals across the generations, but The Crossing is a perfect example. This movie is true family-friendly storytelling. Set in 1942 Norway, during the third year of the German occupation, this is a particularly poignant and uplifting tale of ordinary youngsters rising to the challenge of rescuing Jewish children during a brutal period of history. 

Continue reading