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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McGill Shaped Me Into A Better And More Engaged Jew
Attending McGill was the best thing to happen to my Jewish identity. For the first time, I was no longer the token Jew, but a leader in a vibrant Jewish community. Measuring quality of Jewish life on campus solely on perceived anti-Zionist rhetoric is immensely reductionist. Algemeiner ignores the vibrant, active Jewish community infrastructure on…
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At NYU, Cliques Aside, Jewish Culture Thrives
Walking onto NYU’s campus during my freshman year, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I feared the worst. I’d heard the stories about Students for Justice in Palestine antagonizing and threatening Jewish students, the administration and faculty taking part in the BDS movement, and Jewish students generally feeling unsafe. On top of the stress…
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At UCLA, Jewish Life Is What You Make of It
We certainly have to take steps to defend our identity against the BDS activism that percolates across many college campuses, but rather than hiding behind faces of nonchalance and indifference, our Jewish students work that much harder to connect with resources on campus to change the narrative. As someone deaf in one ear, I was…
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University of Washington Exponentially Enriched My Jewish Life
It is true that both anti-Israel sentiment and organizations exist on campus, but these people and groups are a small minority when compared to the greater student body
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Like the Maccabees, Vassar’s Jewish Community is Small But Mighty
My life began in the tight embrace of the Jewish Theological Seminary where my dad was undergoing rabbinical ordination and continued in the tighter squeeze of the approximate 100,000 Jews residing in the Greater Baltimore area. My senior year of high school, after attending a Jewish day school for nine years, spending seven summers at…
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Hunter College Jews Are Thriving
I am deeply troubled by The Algemeiner’s inclusion of Hunter College on its list of The 40 Worst Colleges for Jewish Students in America. I spent four years on Hunter’s campus as a student and an additional six months as a Hillel professional, and I speak from experience when saying that Hunter’s Jewish life on…
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What Really Happened at the Presidents Conference Hanukkah Party
On December 14, 2016, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations (the Presidents Conference) in concert with the Embassy of Azerbaijan held a historic Chanukah party in Washington, D.C. that will be talked about for some time. Controversy continues to swirl over not only who attended the party, but who did not; how many…
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At NYU, Interfaith Solidarity Abounds
If NYU rates #9 on the list of “Worst Universities for Jewish Students,” then the Algemeiner would weigh in as #1 on the list of “Worst News Outlets for the Jewish Future.” Generally, it doesn’t top that list. To the contrary, the Algemeiner has established an important voice in the Jewish communal conversation. It was…
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Despite An Active Anti-Israel Community, Columbia Is A Place Where Jews Thrive
Pundits have called this year the beginning of a new post-fact order, and a recent ranking of colleges by the Algemeiner lends credence to that classification. In a list entitled “The 40 Worst Colleges for Jewish Students, 2016,” the Algemeiner ranks Columbia University as #1. I graduated from Columbia University just this week, and I…
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Jewish Life at SDSU is Not Defined By The Haters
For the second year in a row, San Diego State University, my campus, has been called an unsafe place to be Jewish. In 2015, David Horowitz listed SDSU as the “sixth most anti-Semitic campus” in the United States. This year, The Algemeiner’s first annual list of the “40 Worst Campuses for Jewish Students” in Canada…
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Columbia Is Far From ‘The Worst College’ For Jews
A report by The Algemeiner recently named Columbia University as the “worst college for Jewish students in 2016.” In my five years leading The Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, Columbia/Barnard Hillel, I have seen multiple articles and reports criticizing Columbia University as being hostile for Jewish students. I cannot express in strong enough terms…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
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Fast Forward Hanukkah shooting leaves at least 15 dead at Australia’s most popular beach
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Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
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News Australia’s Jewish community is defined by Holocaust survivors, Yiddishkeit and immigrants
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Opinion Australia welcomed my family’s Holocaust survivors — and Bondi Beach soon became a symbol of renewal for me
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Fast Forward Sydney Opera House lit by giant menorah as vigils for Bondi Beach victims take place across Australia
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Fast Forward Columbia professor Mahmood Mamdani, father of NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, criticizes university over antisemitism and protests
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