Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt
By Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt
-
Culture Why Do We Obsess About Bar Mitzvah Torah Readings — When There’s Little Textual Basis For Them?
This is part 1 in a series of articles examining the Bar and Bat Mitzvah ritual in America. Few institutions represent the American Jewish community like the bar and bat mitzvah. It would be surprising, given this cultural emphasis, if this ritual turned out to be almost as modern as the elaborate parties that surround…
-
Opinion It’s Time To Stop Patronizing Russian Jews
A black and white film. Moscow’s snow-covered streets. Lines of silenced Jews. Then: protests of Jewish youngsters shouting, “Let my people go.” Avital Sharansky appears, then the Jackson-Vanik amendment. Finally, the Berlin Wall falls, planeloads of Russian Jews arrive in Israel, a new era begins. “Because of us, the USSR fell apart,” activists say proudly….
Most Popular
- 1
News Indiana University removed its Jewish studies director. His replacement has ignited a firestorm over Israel.
- 2
Culture Is the movie ‘Nuremberg’ about the wrong psychiatrist?
- 3
Fast Forward Groundbreaking analysis of Hitler’s DNA shows no Jewish ancestry — but finds a genetic disorder
- 4
Opinion Israel deported me for helping West Bank Palestinians. I won’t give up on a peaceful future for the country I love
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish World Musician-ethnographer Michael Alpert to receive Dreaming in Yiddish Award
-
Culture A new documentary humanizes Israeli soldiers. It also alleges war crimes.
-
Fast Forward AI has a reputation for amplifying hate. A new study finds it can weaken antisemitism, too.
-
News Beer is no longer automatically kosher, rabbis say. Will observant Jews skip the Dos Equis?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism