Open Search form

Culture Cafe

Apply for a Blog

Bruce D. Forman

Jun 14, 2026, 9:36 PM

Would It Frighten You? What Spielberg’s New Alien Film Gets Backwards

Steven Spielberg's new film, Disclosure Day, opened this past weekend, and every trailer for it circles back to the same question: if proof arrived tomorrow that humanity is not alone in the universe, would it terrify you? It's a good...

Andy Blumenthal

Jun 14, 2026, 10:08 AM

Be Bold and Settle Our Entire Land of Israel

This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government moved forward with one of the most significant Zionist initiatives in decades, allocating over $350 million to authorize and establish 61 new Jewish communities in the ancestral heartland of Judea and Samaria....

Jun 10, 2026, 4:09 AM

Inches to Metric: Creating Mercaz Lavi – PTSD Center

Our team. Photo Beth Kopin

Our buddy Elie Spivack (co- founder of Mercaz Lavi) came to us four years ago. He was a distinguished combat engineer suffering from PTSD, (post traumatic stress disorder). We did not know it at the time. All we knew...

Jun 2, 2026, 6:45 AM

Edgar Morin (1921–2026): A Complex Mind

Photo/collage: Atmane Tazaghart, Global Watch Analysis

I learn of his death in my home, 3,500 miles away from Paris. To speak about the French-Jewish Edgar Morin, it would be good to go a little back in time. The thread that began in Spain –the West...– of...

Andy Blumenthal

May 31, 2026, 8:06 AM

Mamdani’s Enablers

We saw a disturbing display of political theater at Gracie Mansion recently. A crowd of progressive Jewish New Yorkers packed a Pre-Shavuot reception hosted by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. They smiled for photos and ate cheesecake, completely ignoring the mayor’s...

May 19, 2026, 3:28 PM

Art Collecting As Humanistic Duty

THE ART OF SURVIVING & SURVIVING OF ART Part II. Art Collecting as a Humanistic Duty Part I can be read here. In mid-March 2026, at the annual TEFAF Maastricht art fair of the best fine art on the market, a very...

Todd L. Pittinsky

May 18, 2026, 4:37 AM

Yes, You Can Quit the New York Times

A field guide for those who know better but have not—yet. There is a particular panic that sets in when one considers canceling The New York Times. Not fear of losing the paper so much as fear of losing the...

May 17, 2026, 4:51 PM

The Art of Surviving and Surviving of Art

The Monuments Men recovering Vermeer's The Art of Painting and Drost's Man with Plumed Red Beret. May 1945. The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

History Thriller about Art, Good and Evil In mid-March 2026, at the annual TEFAF Maastricht art fair of the best fine art on the market, a very meaningful acquisition of the great work by the fantastically talented pupil of Rembrandt...

Gabriella Jacobs

May 8, 2026, 11:30 AM

Café culture: Part of the Zionist dream

Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem. (Nati Shohat, Flash 90)

The best part of this week was Jerusalem cafés. On Monday, I met an old friend along the Mesila. For anyone who hasn’t walked there recently, the entire Baka/Katamon area is currently experiencing what appears to be a never-ending archaeological...

Heddy Breuer Abramowitz

Apr 26, 2026, 2:18 AM

Sarith Leila Haas solos at Marie Gallery and it is weighty

Large work by Sarith Leila Haas at Marie Gallery

I entered the Marie Gallery with a sense of déjà vu. I had previously exhibited there with the current solo artist at the invitation of the guest entertainer. It was not only familiar ground but also a familiar subject....

Load more