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….
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
- 2
News How Mamdani became New York’s next mayor, with Jews divided between fierce opposition and fiery support
- 3
Opinion I’m an Israeli who lives in New York. Here’s why I’m voting for Mamdani
- 4
Culture Mamdani quoted Eugene Debs in his victory speech — there’s a long Jewish history there
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
-
Film & TV On the trail of a priceless dove, a group of Palestinians and Israelis find that peace is for the birds
-
Culture Could poetry revive Yitzhak Rabin’s legacy among young American Jews?
-
Culture Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
