Rachel Hale is a former news intern at the Forward and is now a freelance writer. Follow her on Twitter @Rachelhale32.
Rachel Hale
By Rachel Hale
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News ‘It’s like having your hands and legs tied and your eyes wide open’: a Russian Jew in L.A.
Anastasia Shostak always expected to celebrate on the day she became a United States citizen. But on the day it happened — yesterday — the Russian-born Los Angeles resident’s thoughts were thousands of miles away— 6,337, to be exact— in Sumy, the northeastern Ukrainian city where her family is hiding in a neighbor’s basement. “If…
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Fast Forward Posts on Indiana University Greek life forum call Jews the ‘worst’ people
Indiana University students and organizations are pushing for administrators and Greek life leaders to take action against antisemitism following online posts that targeted members of Jewish Greek life. The comments were posted on Feb. 20 by an anonymous user on Greek Rank, a popular online forum where users can rank and post about different sororities…
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News Skating to ‘Schindler’s List,’ figure skater Jason Brown to make second trip to Winter Olympics
Jewish figure skater Jason Brown has competed around the world to the musical stylings of Simon and Garfunkel, “Hamilton” and Prince, but says no program has meant more to him than the one he’s taking to the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games: a free skate routine to the soundtrack of “Schindler’s List.” “‘Schindler’s List’ is a…
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Fast Forward Students demand further action after Ohio State professor says ‘Jewing people down’ in class lecture
Ohio State University students and faculty are demanding administrators address a professor’s use of the phrase “Jewing people down” in a Zoom lecture. “I need to convey my utter dismay at having a professor on staff at The Ohio State University plainly using this very derogatory term to describe ‘Hard’ bargaining negotiations,” Chabad Director Levi…
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News As faculties push petitions critical of Israel, professors push back
Chloe Levian, a senior at the University of California, Los Angeles, has only been back on campus a little over a week, but she has already added an additional stressor to her workload: handling anti-Zionism on campus. “Israel’s definitely a divisive topic here. The department statements have just made it very difficult to want to…
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News What to expect attending your first shiva
Whether it’s a bris, bat mitzvah or a shiva, there’s a ceremony for every aspect of Jewish life — and death. But when it comes time to observe these moments for the first time, the anxiety that sometimes surfaces can be unnerving. Sitting shiva, the traditional week-long mourning period following a funeral, is no different….
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News He was a Borscht Belt comedian. Now he’s saving sea turtles.
A butcher, comedian and environmentalist walk into a bar. Turns out they’re all the same guy: Harvey Lashinsky. The Borscht Belt bred comedian used his Yiddish influenced sense of humor as a relief from his job at his family’s meat shop in a tiny Catskills resort town. Now, he adds another role to his resume…
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News Five Shiva traditions from around the world
At a typical American shiva, the seven-day period of mourning following a death in the family, a series of traditions are observed — doors are left unlocked, food is brought by community members and lots of time is spent remembering loved ones lost. Jewish texts and historic traditions have given mourners a guide to all…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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