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.
Community
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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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My Judaism Has Flourished Tremendously at UCLA
I commenced my doctoral study at UCLA after living in Jerusalem, where panic about Jewish life on American university campuses runs high. I had previously lived in France, where the anti-Jewish culture involves real violence not symbolic walls or protests on campus, so I was reasonably suspicious of the gravity of the alarm. Now in…
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Older Jews Say Culture, Not Torah, Defines Judaism — Younger Jews Say Otherwise.
Back when I was serving as editor of my college Jewish newspaper, one of our staff members wrote an article about making the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPI) Jewish fraternity more Jewish – namely through increased religious observance. Frat brothers celebrating Jewish holidays, attending Shabbat services, and wrapping tefillin were the obvious ways by which to…
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Take It From A Brit: American Liberals Need A New Plan
As the endless autopsies of the 2016 election continue to pour in, what is clear is that the left needs a new organizing message. Luigi Zingales warns us against attacking Trump in order to focus on his policies, and Mark Lilla decries the end of identity politics for the progressive movement, but what is the…
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Dreideling Down in Dixie
A friend from Georgia once joked to me, “Everyone down here celebrates Christmas, even if you don’t celebrate Christmas.” The meaning of a Christmas tree in a Jewish home is different in a rural Southern town than it is in a Northern industrialized city. The story of Jewish assimilation and acceptance in the South has…
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Meet The Nimble Jewish Community of LA’s Eastside
This piece is part of a series on next-generation engagement following a panel discussion at the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation). This universal topic is front of mind with Jewish leaders striving to create pathways of inclusion and connectivity to Judaism for “Gen X” and millennial Jews. Each panelist, including this author,…
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Jews Should Be Fighting the Far Left, Not the ‘Alt-Right’
Liberal Journalists have had a tough couple of months. Liberal Jewish journalists? Even tougher. Nothing seemed to work this year. Trump was the worst person ever to run for President, they said. The mainstream media and Hollywood pulled out all the stops. Celebrity videos, polemics by noted thinkers like George Takei and Lena Dunham, CNN…
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WATCH: A Moving Yiddish Hanukkah Song For 2016
Among the numerous meanings Hanukkah has accrued over the centuries, the one that feels most urgent to me now is the opportunity to recall that bravery in the face of tyranny need not be confined to Jewish history. The tired, poor and huddled masses still yearn to breathe free, and Hanukkah is a reminder that…
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8 Ways to Boost or Change Your Career in 2017
This piece was contributed by Masa Israel Journey — for more information, click here. 1. Masa Israel Teaching Fellows Whether you’re a recent grad who wants to make an impact or a few years out of school and burnt out from the corporate grind, Masa Israel Teaching Fellows is a truly unique opportunity to contribute…
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You Thought 2016 Was Bad? It’s Only Going To Get Worse.
Since some time in the early 1960s pop culture has ruled the western world. Beginning a few years ago, but picking up deadly speed in 2016, the architects of that culture, now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, are dying, and it’s not going to slow down. 2017 is, aging and death being what they…
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A Holocaust Survivor’s Second Battle and a Dog Named Hexe
Sigmund Zlodak felt fine when he settled into his First Class seat on the 7 PM flight to St. Louis. Sig was the chief accountant for an investment firm in St. Louis; he had attended a two-day tax seminar in Denver, and he felt mentally fatigued after his close attention to the lectures on new…
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It’s More Important Than Ever to Support Israeli NGOs
Since the election of Donald Trump I have encountered long-time American donors to Israel who, alarmed by his discriminatory rhetoric and policy proposals, are redirecting some of their philanthropy to U.S. organizations that promote inclusion, diversity and equality. Executives and development officers of Israeli NGOs I talk to hear similar rumblings. We are concerned about…
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Culture Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase
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Culture A Jewish prophet of the 1980s would be horrified to see that we didn’t heed his warnings
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Opinion This is the most disorienting Rosh Hashanah in memory
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Fast Forward Meet Lev Kreitman, who brought down Tel Aviv shooter and survived Nova music festival on Oct. 7
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Forverts in English How can Jews committed to Yiddish culture call a massacre of Jews ‘resistance’?
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Fast Forward Suspect arrested in U of Michigan rabbi’s home robbery, with no evidence of antisemitic intent
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