
Erika Davis

By Erika Davis
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Life Stepping to Women’s Rights
There’s something incredibly powerful about stepping, a form of percussive dance in which the participant’s entire body is used as an instrument to produce complex rhythms and sounds through a mixture of footsteps, spoken words and hand claps. These rhythmic stomping and beats can have a profound effect on the listener as well as the…
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Opinion Yeshiva Rabbi and the Jewish N-Word
I am lucky to have never heard the word nigger used towards me. As a black woman in the United States this is rare, even rarer since I spent the majority of my childhood summers in rural North Carolina with my mother’s family. I have vivid memories of riding in the back of my uncle’s…
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Life Black, Latino and ‘Kinda’ Jewish
A few days ago three gentlemen, Jacob Salamon, Jared Bauer and Josh Cohen, released the first video in a series entitled “Bubala Please.” According to their Facebook Page, the series follows “two angry, misunderstood gangsters who come to find they’re both kinda Jewish. As their friendship develops, they decide to produce a variety show to…
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Life Far Rockaways Desperately Need Your Help
In the Far Rockaways, there is no Red Cross relief, no FEMA, no National Guard shuttling in supplies for the elderly Polish and Russian Jews living in high rises without power or heat. There is no relief for the poor black and Latino families living in low-income housing. The lights haven’t come on, and for…
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Food The REAL Food Stamp Challenge
I recently found myself in one of my favorite places in NYC — The Union Square Farmer’s Market. As I wandered through the stalls, admiring the colorful varieties of cauliflower and broccoli I reflected on how much my shopping habits have changed. Sure, I occasionally shop at the Green Market at Grand Army Plaza in…
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Life What Makes a Family?
A few weeks ago I was at a Rosh Chodesh gathering, and as it often happens in a room filled with women, the conversation turned to families and babies. I began to feel pangs of jealousy immediately. I was jealous of the ease with which women who are married to (or in relationships with) men…
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Life Today is National Coming Out Day, My Story
I came out when I was 28, old by “normal” standards. I’d been dating the woman I’m with currently for about six months at the time and while I’d never been in a relationship with a woman prior to this her, I knew that it was serious. I knew it wasn’t a phase and I…
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Life The W-Word
I’m going to be honest here, I watch the Presidential Debates for pure amusement. And as Erin Gloria Ryan said over at Jezebel, last night’s debate may go down in history as the most boring 90 minutes ever aired on national television. This may be true but it wasn’t a complete waste of time. I…
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Fast Forward Mamdani tells Colbert — and a national audience — why NYC Jews shouldn’t fear him as mayor
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish World Popular Yiddish learning tool now offering small grants
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Yiddish „דאָס לעבן רופֿט“ — אַ ליד פֿון מאָראַלישער קלאָרקייט פֿאַר אונדזערע צײַטן‘Life Calls’ — a Yiddish poem of moral clarity for our times
חנה סאַפֿראַנס בוך פּאָעזיע איז אַרויס בעת דער וויעטנאַם־מלחמה און איינס פֿון די לידער הייסט טאַקע „אַ מאַמע אין וויעטנאַם“.
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Fast Forward Exclusive: Mamdani pledged to arrest Netanyahu. A poll shows how New Yorkers really feel about that
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Culture She revolutionized the world for LGBTQ Jews, and now she’s ready for a new challenge
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