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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WATCH: What We Can All Learn From the Story of Hanna’s Shabbat Dress
Suddenly we all are holding hands and swinging Doubling our smiles and tripling love and blessing Adding up to one so helping keeps us free That is what we learn and teach the world to be These words are from Suddenly Perfectly, the first English translation of the Hebrew song Tov Lanu Pitom, by Rafi…
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Why Take a Gap Year? Ask Me or Malia Obama
Although I did not grow up in the White House, Malia Obama and I are alike in that we both understand the merits of taking a gap year, which many students dream of doing – and few have the chutzpah to take on. We are both fortunate to have two college-educated, loving, and supportive parents…
The Latest
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It’s Time for the Jews to Stand Up for Themselves Instead of the Left or the Right
I have been politically active for over 60 years and have never seen Jews so detached from their own reality. Donald Trump becomes president and one of his first acts is to reach out to Benjamin Netanyahu and call the Jewish State “a beacon of hope,” taking Israel out of the woodshed where Barack Obama…
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Imagining a New Hanukkah Blessing for All
My family is a blended family: I was brought up as a Conservative Jew and now practice Jewish Renewal; my husband was raised Catholic but is non-practicing; my step-children are secular — and I’m bringing up my biological kid to recognize herself as Jewish. This can make sharing holidays a challenge. The first year we…
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Holocaust Survivors and Descendants Slam Steve Bannon and ‘Alt-Right’ in Scathing Letter to Donald Trump
Dear President-elect Trump: In your election night speech, you said, “Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division. It is time for us to come together as one united people.” Instead, those divisions are escalating. When members of the alt-right meet in Washington, DC and question if Jews are really people, it…
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Get the Facts About Gaucher Disease with No-Cost Genetic Screening (Sponsored)
Gaucher (pronounced go-SHAY) disease is a genetic disorder that can have serious consequences for the brain, bones, spleen and liver. The disease is quite rare, but the carrier gene is not. 1 in 10 Ashkenazi Jews is a carrier of the gene that causes Gaucher disease. This is why genetic screening is so critical. It’s…
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I Created a Jewish Dating App — Here’s Why I Decided to Try Matchmaking Offline, Too
Click here to anonymously submit a dating question for Sonya’s weekly column. As a founder of JCrush, nothing makes me feel more like I’m contributing to society than receiving emails from our users thanking JCrush for helping them find love. Every month, I read emails from beautiful couples from around the world that kindly…
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You Won’t Believe This Anti-Semitic Swedish Cartoon
A Facebook friend from Sweden shared a post criticizing this cartoon. The image was published Nov 20 on Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s leading newspapers. Usually I would not react to these types of provocations, but this particular one made me gag in my mouth a little bit extra. Antisemitic comic strip in large Swedish…
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Now is Not the Time for Single-Issue Advocacy
As we enter unchartered political waters, American Jews are asking ourselves and our communal leaders hard questions. How can we make a real difference individually and collectively? Who in our community is poised to stand up for core Jewish and American values that we previously took for granted? Which advocacy organizations should we get involved…
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Anti-Semitism in America is Nothing New. Don’t Deny Jewish History and Culture by Calling Us “White”
On Nov 22, 2016, Sarah Ruiz-Grossman, an Associate Editor at the Huffington Post, published an article titled “White Jews Have A Duty To Stand With Muslims And People Of Color.” Ruiz-Grossman followed up this doozy of a title with the sub-title “our current fears – which are new to some of us – are what…
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Can Silence Be Courageous?
In her essay “The Cowardly Reasons Jewish Organizations Won’t Speak up against Trump Appointees,” Dr. Lila Corwin Berman speaks powerfully about a moment of moral failure in the Jewish community. If her critique is right, Jewish leaders today are repeating one of the worst mistakes of history: saying and doing nothing in the face of…
Most Popular
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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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Fast Forward All the Jewish NHL players to watch in the 2024-2025 season
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Opinion A two-state solution may seem like a distant dream. Here’s why it shouldn’t be
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Opinion I’m a Holocaust survivor. Here’s why I celebrated my 80th birthday protesting at an Israeli prison
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Fast Forward Hurricane Milton forces Florida Jews to rethink Yom Kippur plans
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