David Ian Klein covers breaking news and international Jewish communities for the Forward. You can reach him at Klein@forward.com and on Twitter @davidianklein.
David Ian Klein
By David Ian Klein
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Fast Forward Pope Benedict XVI, who went from Hitler Youth to advancing Catholic-Jewish relations, dies at 95
Benedict visited synagogues and condemned antisemitism. He also reintroduced liturgy praying for the conversion of Jews
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News Founder of Jewish museum expelled from Iraqi Kurdistan
An American Jew who settled in Iraqi Kurdistan and dedicated himself to preserving its Jewish history has been expelled from the country. Levi Meir Clancy said officials told him he was a security threat, but that he believes the real reason for his expulsion is his outspokenness about those in the region who falsely claim…
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Food Pumpkin knishes and spicy pumpkin dip: Jews and pumpkins go back long before Thanksgiving
I love pumpkin. I love it in a sweet dessert, I love it in a savory stew, and — I’m not afraid to say it — I love it in my morning latte. But I’ve never imagined my ancestors who lived in a Belarussian shtetl would have felt the same. Jews, it turns out, were…
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Fast Forward Netflix’s ‘The Club’ offers a rare portrait of Turkish Jews, shattering historical taboos in the process
ISTANBUL (JTA) — Imported Israeli TV has given Netflix several big hits in recent years, largely focused on the travails of Orthodox Ashkenazi Jews. The latest breakout show about a Jewish community is very different. “The Club” is a Turkish drama about a Sephardic family in 1950s Istanbul, and it’s both reshaping what representation feels…
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News Searching for kosher food in Iraq — and other tales from a Hasidic travel blogger
Shloime Zionce, with his black yarmulke and long peyot, would not draw a second glance on the streets of Brooklyn or Jerusalem. In Beirut, Bogota or Kabul, it’s a different story. But that’s exactly where he’s been going, sharing his journey with his tens of thousands of YouTube followers along the way, attempting to show…
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News Ladino speakers dwindling, but newspaper reaches milestone: 200th issue
Throughout the world, only about 60,000 people speak Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish. But the historic language of Sephardic Jewry is enjoying a bit of a renaissance. And what is believed to be the only print Ladino publication in the world, El Amaneser, reached a milestone last week when the Istanbul-based publication cranked out its 200th issue….
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News After a month in hiding, Afghanistan’s last Jew arrives in Turkey
ISTANBUL — Zebulon Simentov looked tired but relieved as he exited the customs and baggage claim area of Istanbul’s new airport on the shores of the Black Sea Sunday morning. It had been quite a trip from his home in Kabul, where he became a minor celebrity to the international media as the last surviving…
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Food Fatty, crispy gribenes are finding a new home—as a diet chip
Gribenes are back. Those crispy, golden, fatty and slightly grotesque pieces of chicken skin fried in chicken fat have not returned to your local deli, but to your mass market snack aisle. Knobby, gnarled and often with a bit of feather attached, they were once a beloved part of Ashkenazi cuisine. Now, several startups have…
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Forverts in English A Yiddish word I never expected to see on a license plate
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News ‘No one’s allowed to talk to me’: At UW-Madison, trying — and failing — to talk about Israel
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Fast Forward New poll: 13% of voters who switched support from Biden cite his Gaza policy
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News A ‘quite religious’ anti-Zionist: Meet the Jewish Columbia student who wrangled the college newspaper’s opinion page
In Case You Missed It
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Culture LA’s Academy Museum initially excluded Hollywood’s Jewish origins. A new exhibit on Jewish film pioneers fixes that.
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Culture Whose art is it anyway? Inside the cultural battle between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters
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Culture Nearly 4,000 Jews died at Jungfernhof, a Nazi camp in Latvia. This artist is fighting for a memorial to them.
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Culture How a pair of visionary Jews found a link between Jewish and Native American cultures
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