Welcome to Ask the Archivist, where Chana Pollack, the Forward’s archivist for the last 21 years, hunts down some mystery from our 125-year history. We can’t promise we’ll find exactly what you seek.

Weirdly, the word “weird” is having a moment. Shmegegge, a punchy noun considered to be an outlier term of unknown provenance, is also thought to be a unique American term, likely of Lower East Side ...

Yiddish, the historic language of Jews in Europe and Russia, was once nearly extinguished. But now Jews drawn to the language for different reasons are keeping Yiddish alive. Before World War II, some ...

Yiddish music has always evolved — from the shtetl to the stage, and now to the synth. For some time now a new wave of artists has been bringing its spirit into the digital age. Across clubs from ...

Manilow, Patinkin and music are featured on the former, while the Congress for Jewish Culture marks the 100th anniversary of its first performance with the famed drama. (JTA) — Two important cultural ...

(NPR and RNS) — In the first few days after Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, New York artist Joe Dobkin was scrolling through news coverage when he saw a video of an Israeli soldier on ...