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
-
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
-
Trusting Young Adults to Build Their Own Communities From the Ground Up
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,…
-
What It’s Like to Experience Sexual Abuse as a Man
A Response to a Response to a Response to a Response. As someone who was in an abusive relationship, I know abuse is more than he said she said. Abuse isn’t black and white. It’s more like splattered black and blue shades that mix as they drip towards the edge of the frame. Like a…
The Latest
-
Not Even Queen Esther Can Save Us Now That Donald Trump Is in Charge
This week, Donald Trump elevated Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News, to the position of Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President. Former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, welcomed the appointment as “excellent” and said it indicated that Trump intended to follow through on the promises he made…
-
Ask the Rebbetzin: How Do I Help My Children Move Past This Election?
Dear Rebbetzin, How can we begin to heal our divided country? Sincerely, Where do we go from here Dear Where, I feel crushed by the enormity of this question. The divide is huge and I have witnessed so much blame and accusations over the past week. I’ve been invited to join the revolution, the unifying…
-
Steve Bannon’s Appointment Demands a Morally Courageous Stand from Every Jewish Organization
An Open Letter to the “Organized” Jewish Community: For more than a generation, we’ve had an alphabet soup of Jewish organizations serving a variety of constituencies: Some with great vigor and vitality, others merely limping along, vestiges of a bygone era with funders too attached to nostalgia to cut the chord. Nonetheless, in America—in Diaspora—our…
-
What the Death of My Mother Taught Me About Charedi Jews and Arab Israelis
The plane was rapidly approaching Tel Aviv airport. Leafing through the newspapers distributed earlier by the flight attendant, I couldn’t escape the headlines. They were filled with reports about the latest violence erupting between the charedim and “secular” Jews, the tensions with the Arab-Israeli population, the dissatisfied immigrants from the former USSR and Ethiopia, the…
-
As American Jewish College Students, We Are Deeply Concerned About the Election of Donald Trump.
To the leaders of the American Jewish community, We write to you as American Jewish college students who are deeply concerned about the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States, and its implication for millions of people in our country, in Israel and around the world. In the book of Exodus,…
-
All Jews Should Register as Muslims: Because We Know the Horrors Of Religious Registration All Too Well
In a German Prisoner of War (POW) camp in 1944, the American Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds called upon all of the captured soldiers to stand with the Jews of the camp despite Nazi orders to separate. Edmonds, a Christian, feared for the fate of the Jewish soldiers if the Nazis were able to identify them,…
-
From Freedom Riders to Safety Pins
People are wearing safety pins as a way to protest the recent election of Donald Trump. “Wearing my #safetypin because I am a queer, Jewish woman and I stand with all of my fellow humans,” wrote Miranda Day on Twitter. “For my Hispanic great-nephew, my Jewish great-niece and my African-American 2nd cousins I wear my…
-
How a Snowstorm Shiva Forged David Friedman’s Friendship with Donald Trump
The night before the election, David Friedman spoke at a standing-room only event and opened it by telling a story that the media would never cover: the moment that cemented his friendship with then real estate magnate Donald J. Trump. It was during a snowstorm, and David’s father has just died. Neighbors told David that…
-
3 Ways Our Progressive Traditions Will Help Us in the Age of Donald Trump
Last Tuesday’s election result was a historic setback for all those who envision the United States as a welcoming and nurturing home to everyone. This unprecedented outcome flies in the face of the rights and privileges which are the foundation of our democracy and the progressive Jewish values which have served as a lodestar to…
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase
- 2
Culture A Jewish prophet of the 1980s would be horrified to see that we didn’t heed his warnings
- 3
Opinion This is the most disorienting Rosh Hashanah in memory
- 4
Fast Forward Meet Lev Kreitman, who brought down Tel Aviv shooter and survived Nova music festival on Oct. 7
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish ווי האָבן ייִדן געהיט די ייִדיש־קולטור אױף יענער זײַט „אײַזערנעם פֿאָרהאַנג“?How did Jews maintain their Yiddish culture behind the Iron Curtain?
ייִדישע ליטעראַטן, װאָס האָבן געטרײַ געדינט די קאָמוניסטישע רעזשימען, האָבן גענוצט זײערע פּריװילעגיעס כּדי אָפּצוהיטן ייִדיש.
-
Fast Forward All the Jewish NHL players to watch in the 2024-2025 season
-
Opinion A two-state solution may seem like a distant dream. Here’s why it shouldn’t be
-
Opinion I’m a Holocaust survivor. Here’s why I celebrated my 80th birthday protesting at an Israeli prison
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism