Alison Kaplan Sommer
By Alison Kaplan Sommer
-
Israel News Reality TV Star’s Conversion Plight Reveals Orthodox Rabbinate’s Kafkaesque Grip
(Haaretz) — The struggle against the ultra-Orthodox grip on Israel’s Chief Rabbinate in issues of personal status in Israel has a new, and very attractive, poster girl. Alin Levy, an Israeli reality TV star, says she has been told she cannot complete the process of converting to Judaism because she is an actress. Levy blasted…
-
Life Too Sexy for Purim?
(Haaretz) — It seems terribly appropriate that International Women’s Day was happening this year as Israelis were caught up with preparations for the holiday of Purim — and not just because it is the only Jewish holiday with a woman, the heroic Queen Esther, who saved her people by charming a king, at its center….
-
News ‘Shul on the Beach’ Makes Orthodox Waves in Los Angeles
Did you hear the one about the Orthodox synagogue located between a rehab center and an erotic lingerie shop, steps away from medical marijuana clinics and tattoo parlors, with a dead-on view of a beach where bikini-clad sun worshippers frolic? If you haven’t, it means you’ve never been to the Pacific Jewish Center on the…
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion Hamas made a remarkable offer — because Trump laid a remarkable trap
- 2
Special Report This school is fighting antisemitism all wrong. Why is it working?
- 3
Books A bespectacled, Jewish hypochondriac with literary pretensions and a creepy fascination with his stepson’s girlfriend — Guess who?
- 4
Opinion Israel is at an existential pivot point. It never needed to go this far.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish freelance journalist Emily Wilder is detained as Israeli military intercepts Gaza aid flotilla
-
Fast Forward Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square is transformed by cautious optimism — and gratitude for Trump
-
Fast Forward Jewish groups welcome ceasefire plan as a step toward a ‘lasting regional peace’
-
Fast Forward In National Book Awards finalist, Jewish trans boy and golem team up to save the world
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism