Scribe, the Forward’s curated contributor network, is a place for showcasing personal experiences and perspective from across our Jewish communities. Here you will find a wide array of reflections on Jewish issues, life-cycle events, spirituality, culture and more.
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You say matzah — and matzo and matzuh and matzee and more
Readers respond to our editor-in-chief’s column about a Passover copy-editing conundrum
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A Charedi Jew Explains: Why Do The Ultra-Orthodox Protest Women of the Wall?
Jewish law states that a court may not hear one side of an argument without the other party being present. If anyone should want to judge anything, they must listen to both sides of the argument, and only then can they find the truth. Many have written that the Charedi community ought to be ashamed…
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Passover And The Jewish Art of Questioning Everything
Don’t be alarmed, but Passover is coming! It often feels that as my Purim costume is being stored away the Passover dishes are simultaneously dusted off with the countdown to the Seder frantically beginning. Matzah suddenly appears everywhere, securing a brisket becomes a priority and spring cleaning takes on a completely different meaning. In just…
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Ties Of Violence: What It’s Like To Talk Israel In The Deep South
Jacksonville, Florida’s largest city was the first stop Mark and I made on our tour. For two weeks, we traveled throughout the Southeastern United States in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, sharing our story as Israelis, immigrants and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. In its ninth tour, “Between the Lines: Voice of Israel…
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What Campus Life Is Like For Jewish Republicans
A version of this article originally appeared in New Voices. The media has shown us months of outraged reactions over Donald Trump’s election, particularly among students. Campus protests frequently appear on our TV screens and in our newspapers. But few are talking about students who walk past the rallies that protest the result of their…
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No, Hillel Is Not Anti-LGBT: The OSU Controversy Explained
This week, Ohio State University Hillel was accused of being anti-LGBT because it was forced to disassociate with a Jewish LGBT campus group, B’nai Keshet, after the group decided to co-sponsor a fundraiser for queer refugees with Jewish Voice for Peace. I was shocked to hear this accusation and wanted to understand where it had…
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Dennis Prager, Shmuley Boteach and the Diabolical Bargain of Pro-Trump Jews
Jewish Conservative pundits who have long stood for family values and moral rectitude but now stand with Trump have revealed what apparently lurked underneath the whole time, in a manner no less maddening than the Evangelical Trump supporters who can lift their hand from a posture of prayer to shake the hand of a man…
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Hillel Must Do More For Queer Jews Like Me
A version of this article originally appeared in New Voices. I came out to myself, and my wider community, during my sophomore year of college. Hillel was the first organization I was involved in on campus, and before I ever entered queer spaces, I came out at my Hillel. The reactions made me reflect on…
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Violent Protestors — Not Women Of The Wall — Are Undermining Judaism
On the morning of March 28, the first day of the Jewish month of Nisan, the Women of the Wall will once again gather at the Western Wall for a women-led Rosh Chodesh (new month) service. Once there, the women will likely face an charedi Jewish mob intent on suppressing, or at the very least…
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How JCC Chicago Is Fighting Back Against Bomb Threats
The strength and resolve of our Jewish community is being tested yet again. The recent string of threats to Jewish Community Centers nationwide and acts of anti-Semitic vandalism have taken us back to a place many hoped had long passed. Sadly, bigotry and hatred against Jews and other minority groups is not new. Most of…
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Jewish News In The New Era Of Anti-Semitism
As a child of the 1990s, I rarely experienced anti-Semitism personally. I remember a few incidents where people driving by would yell anti-Semitic slurs at me and my friends as we walked to synagogue on Shabbat. I remember once discovering a swastika spray painted on the front door of my synagogue one day after services….
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Should A Synagogue Be A Safe Space?
When is a “safe space” not safe? Depends on who’s asking. The term itself was borne of the desire to cultivate nurturing community for vulnerable populations— think, say, LGBTQ teenagers, or survivors of sexual abuse. But in the age of an ascendant “alt-right,” some conservative commentators decry the very notion of safe space as a…
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In Case You Missed It
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Books This graphic history of Jerusalem is a big hit. But its Jews have hooked noses
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Culture Is now really the best time for a cutesy Jewish summer camp movie?
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Fast Forward Australia cancels Kanye West’s visa over controversial ‘Heil Hitler’ song: ‘We don’t need that in Australia’
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Yiddish טשיקאַוועסן: האָספּיץ־וואָלונטירס פֿונדאַציע שענקט שפּײַזקאַרטלעך צו אָרעמע פּאַציענטןTidbits: Hospice volunteer’s foundation donates grocery gift cards to poor patients
במשך פֿון זיבן יאָר האָט דזשעף לויִס אַוועקגעגעבן צען טויזנט שפּײַזקאַרטלעך.
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