Forward.com

Jewish Mother, R.I.P.The Jewish Mother, one of the most dominating icons of 20th-century American popular culture, has died. News of her death was released, inadvertently, by Brandeis University history professor Joyce Antler in “You Never Call! You Never Write! A History of the Jewish Mother.” Mother — also known as MA!!!!! — was 90 years old, give or take.…Read more

An Editor of Many Sins, But… ‘AntiSemite’?Last week, Judith Regan, the seemingly unassailable dragon lady of book publishing, was finally brought down. But after weathering more than a decade of hostility from nearly every corner of the industry — from accusations of questionable taste to serious charges of harassment and abuse — the editor was dethroned by one allegation that had never appeared on her rap sheet: antisemitism.…Read more

Finding Deeper Truths in FictionFor weeks, many of us “Diaspora Jews” have kept ourselves neck-deep in news from the Middle East: jumping out of bed to check the front page, keeping the television on all night, refreshing Web sites for the latest headlines. Of course, our new routine pales in comparison to what it could be — dashing into bombs shelters, being forced from our homes, arranging funerals. Still, it is a change, one that many of us experience in the form of this anxiety-propelled, bottomless need for information.…Read more

A Raconteur’s Return For Cindy Chupack, There Is Indeed Life After ‘Sex’As a writer and co-executive producer of “Sex and the City,” Cindy Chupack helped create a pop culture phenomenon — an instant classic that was at once of its time and timeless. The show, which completed its six-year run in February 2004, was sent off with a flurry of celebratory profiles, waves of chat-room anxiety and, finally, the tears…Read more

The Morning StarIn one of the last scenes of “The Passion of the Christ,” the character of Mary, played with emotive steel by the Romanian Jewish actress Maia Morgenstern, embraces the mutilated body of her dead son. Streaks of dirt and Jesus’ blood form swaths of darkness on her light skin, as Morgenstern looks ahead with a combination of maternal wrath,…Read more