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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What the Best Hanukkah Gift Taught Me About The American Left
This year’s overlap of the Jewish and Gregorian calendars has landed Hanukkah directly on top of Christmas. While also inspiring many pithy mashup titles, this has helped illustrate a truth that undercuts one of the polite fictions of Jewish life in America: that Hanukkah would look anything like how we celebrate it today if Christmas…
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8 Days of Meaningful Hanukkah Giving
On Hanukkah, it’s not about what we give as much as why we are giving it. In America, the chaotic holiday season seems to span for months. Luckily for us Jews, Hanukkah is smack in the middle and a symbol of so many positive values. Let’s put aside the “To Gift or Not to Gift”…
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The Yiddishe Mame on Black Friday
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Thanksgiving with the Yiddishe Mame
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I Worked with Keith Ellison. Here’s Why Pro-Israel Jews Should Be Cautiously Optimistic.
There is a good possibility the next Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is going to be my friend and Congressman, Keith Ellison. In the decade since he was first elected to Congress, Rep. Ellison and I have fostered a close relationship. I respect Rep. Ellison and strongly support many of his domestic policies…
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4 Existential Questions Worth Asking on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is the most Jewish of American holidays. It recalls the Torah’s instruction that “when you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which God has given you” (Deut. 8:10). Thanksgiving calls on Americans not to hoard the earth’s bounty, but rather to share with “the stranger,…
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Gender Bending in the Torah: Was Rebecca a Young Man?
I am responding in this series to frequently asked questions about some gender-bending translations of Torah texts I have proposed in a few articles since 2008, and in an Op-Ed in The New York Times, “Is God Transgender?” (August 12, 2016). So far, we have looked at Eve as “he” and Noah repairing to “her”…
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What Should You Do When Someone at Dinner Says Jews Control the Media?
On Saturday night, my husband and I went out to dinner with friends in a suburb about 25 minutes away. We were enjoying a restaurant featuring an eclectic menu of Asian fusion food. Sitting at the next table were a father, his adult son and daughter and their significant others. They were all in their…
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My Grocery Aisle Encounter with the New Age of Anti-Semitism
“That’s a big f**king yarmulke,” says a voice coming from behind me. I’m shopping at a Fairway supermarket in Manhattan and turn around to face a white man in his thirties sporting a blonde crew cut. “Excuse me?” I ask. I’m holding onto a shopping cart full of groceries for a dinner my community prepares…
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In Dating, How Picky Is Too Picky?
When I was in my twenties, I knew exactly the type of guy I was searching for. He was Brad Pitt. He also had an unrealistic list of qualities, mostly superficial ones, that I was sure one person could possess. I often heard my friends in their thirties and forties tell me that as you…
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Judaica Items You’ll Want to Buy Right Now
What do you love more- giving or getting? Giving gifts or getting gifts? Giving love or getting love? Before I became a mother, I was certain that getting was the preferred option, but as my five sons have grown — as well as my deep love for them — “giving” seems to feel so much…
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Opinion New York’s Israel Day parade was a shanda — but not because of Mamdani
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Opinion How can I live freely as a Jew in a world where strangers rip my mezuzah off my doorframe?
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News Floyd Mayweather showered cash on Jewish causes — and now he’s suing their ‘Robin Hood’ alleging $175 million got diverted
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Opinion Israeli and diaspora Jews live in different realities. The Israel Day parade proved it
In Case You Missed It
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News In the race for Jerry Nadler’s seat, much talk on Israel but little disagreement
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Film & TV A Hasidic wedding entertainer tries to keep up with the times — if his ego will let him
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Yiddish חיים בארס נײַ בוך דרייט זיך אַרום אָפּאַטאָשוס נאָוועלע „אַ טאָג אין רעגענסבורג“Chaim Beer’s new book revolves around J. Opatoshu’s novella ‘A Day in Regensburg’
„לווייתן ברוח“ באַקענט דעם לייענער מיט באַקאַנטע ייִדישע פֿיגורן, ווי י. ל. פּרץ, ש. אַנ-סקי און חנא שמערוק
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Fast Forward The Jewish Brigade fought fascism in Italy. Now its flags spark protests.