Andrew Friedman
By Andrew Friedman
-
Community An open letter to my non-observant son
My beautiful boy, I received your note today about our upcoming visit this weekend with surprise, and with sadness. Of course I have known for a long time that you do not observe the religious aspects of Judaism, so it was not a surprise that you said you’d be leaving our house to return home…
-
Books Remembering Israeli Literature’s Only Nobel Laureate
Shai Agnon was born on this day in 1888. To commemorate that auspicious day, we return to this story, originally published in 2013, about Israel’s only Nobel laureate for literature. Sitting in a lecture hall in the Talpiot section of Jerusalem, a group of 25 immigrants is discussing “A City and Its Fullness” (“Ir U’meloah”…
-
Books Remembering Israeli Literature’s Only Nobel Laureate
Sitting in a lecture hall in the Talpiot section of Jerusalem, a group of 25 immigrants is discussing “A City and Its Fullness” (“Ir U’meloah” in Hebrew), a collection of 150 stories by Shai Agnon about the author’s ancestral home of Buczacz, located in present-day Ukraine. The meeting, part of a five-week course titled “Agnon’s…
-
News Israel Proposes National Service To Stem Tide of Draft Dodgers
Jerusalem – In a dramatic reconsideration of a pillar of Israeli society, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has announced plans to offer Israeli youth a nonmilitary option for serving the country. According to the prime minister’s office, a new Civilian Service Administration will offer draft-age Israelis who are exempt from military service the opportunity to contribute…
-
News Liberals, Russians Boo Civil-Marriage Deal
Jerusalem – An agreement reached last week between Israel’s chief Sephardic rabbi and the state’s justice minister has been hailed for opening the door to civil marriages in Israel, but secular and non-Orthodox groups who have long fought to change the country’s marriage laws say that the deal does little to alleviate the plight of…
Most Popular
- 1
Music How a swaggering Jewish kid from East London became (albeit briefly) Britain’s greatest rock star and poet
- 2
News That whites-only, no Jews allowed Arkansas community is legal, says state’s attorney general. How?
- 3
Opinion As an Israeli political scientist, I resisted thinking this war was a genocide. Here’s what changed my mind
- 4
News In a first, Orthodox rabbinical school ordains an out gay rabbi
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture On a tour of Hasidic Brooklyn, this rabbi doesn’t have all the answers — but he knows who does
-
Opinion Which school of philosophy provides the best guide for how to think about Gaza?
-
Culture Everything’s terrible — but at least there are Moomins
-
Culture Roman Polanski’s take on the Dreyfus Affair is perfect for 2025. That’s the problem
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism