Louis Keene is a reporter for the Forward. His work has also been published in The New York Times, New York magazine and Vice. He is based in Los Angeles.
Louis Keene
By Louis Keene
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Books An oral history of the most epic Jewish summer camp prank ever
The summer before 10th grade, some friends of mine pulled off what I have long thought had to be the most outrageous prank of all time: spoiling the biggest twist in the Harry Potter series for an entire sleepaway camp. It happened at Camp Ramah in Ojai, Calif., on July 18, 2005, two days after…
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Fast Forward YU student accuses basketball player of rape, says school investigation fell short
A Yeshiva University student accused a member of its men’s basketball team of raping her and the school of treating her callously in an anonymous piece published Wednesday in the student newspaper, the YU Commentator. “The school didn’t want to do anything against the basketball team publicly, because they don’t want any negativity about that…
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News Scandal-plagued Chabad of Poway returns to family control as independent board steps down
The family of a rabbi who made his San Diego-area synagogue the center of a sprawling network of tax fraud has regained control of the synagogue’s finances, state filings show, replacing a board that had sought to bring accountability to the institution. For decades, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein had exploited a lack of oversight at Chabad…
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Fast Forward Lawsuit: Monsey rabbi sexually assaulted children — and his bosses covered it up
A rabbi sexually assaulted children while he was supposed to be treating them for mental health issues, and the prominent Jewish institutions he worked for covered it up, claims a lawsuit filed in New York August 13. Rabbi Yaakov David Klar allegedly carried out his abuse while he was a social worker at Chai Lifeline,…
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Culture Scrap the sermon? In the pandemic rabbis decide less is more
A time to learn, a time to feel, a time to snooze: the rabbi’s sermon. For centuries it has given Saturday morning prayer services their character and depth — and their length. But last summer, when Orthodox synagogues across the United States held abridged outdoor services to limit the spread of COVID-19, the sermon —…
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Culture Twists and turns: How a Jewish gymnastic prodigy became an Olympic diver
Not long after Brandon Loschiavo started taking gymnastics at the age of four, he made a bold declaration to his mother. “He told me, ‘Mom, I’m going to go to the Olympics,’” recalled Laura Loschiavo. “He’s pretty committed, so once he says something he usually does it.” Nearly two decades later, Loschiavo is in Tokyo…
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Culture As Team Israel takes the field vs. U.S., a random history of the countries’ other rivalries
At 6 a.m. tomorrow, Team Israel will take on the United States in its second game of Olympics baseball. (Israel dropped its first game, 6-5, to South Korea in extra innings.) As you may have read before, Israel’s baseball team is largely made up of American-born players — who had to acquire Israeli citizenship to…
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News LA teachers working to quash a union BDS vote say they’re winning
An intense campaign to derail a Los Angeles teachers’ union resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is working, say members of Jewish groups that banded together to defeat it. Pressure from the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, the Anti-Defamation League and a host of other Jewish groups will likely mean the union will…
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Opinion I spoke out against Mamdani. Then he won. Here’s how we walk forward together.
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News Indiana University removed its Jewish studies director. His replacement has ignited a firestorm over Israel.
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Fast Forward Groundbreaking analysis of Hitler’s DNA shows no Jewish ancestry — but finds a genetic disorder
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Culture Is the movie ‘Nuremberg’ about the wrong psychiatrist?
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Fast Forward He was Zohran Mamdani’s Jewish wingman. What’s next for Brad Lander?
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Fast Forward Is dining-hall matzah ‘DEI’? The answer isn’t clear to UVA’s pushed-out ex-president.
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Fast Forward Following uproar, IDF cantor to perform at Amsterdam Hanukkah concert after all — but not for everyone
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Opinion Israel deported me for helping West Bank Palestinians. I won’t give up on a peaceful future for the country I love
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