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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Racists Anonymous: The false divide between ‘good’ and ‘evil’
I don’t know what it’s like to be ostracized for the color of your complexion. I can’t fathom being the target of random acts of cruelty that go unpunished. But I know what it’s like to be hated for simply being who you are. I know what it feels like to carry in your body…
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Remembering Elie Wiesel on his 5th Yahrzeit
Elie Wiesel made a commandment of memory. Whenever my students ask why they should study history, I always respond with a quote from Elie, who lived the answer: “Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.” Elie constantly reminded us of the power of memory. “If…
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Naftali Bennett is a historic Prime Minister. But not for the reasons you expect.
In his “History of the Jews,” the historian Paul Johnson coined the phrase “Non-Jewish Jew” for any Jew who, in his words, “denied there was such a thing as a Jew at all.” But it took Naftali Bennett and the Religious Zionist movement to trump the notion of the “Non-Jewish Jew” with that of racism…
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57 years after Mississippi Burning, the fight for voting rights is still alive
Nearly six decades ago, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner joined Freedom Summer— an effort to register Black voters in Mississippi despite violent voter suppression. As they did their work together, one Black Christian man and two white Jewish men — they were abducted and brutally murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi. Their horrific deaths…
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An open letter on discourse, inquiry and generosity of spirit
We are Jews of a variety of political, religious, and ideological stripes. We hold diverse views but we unite in affirming the indispensable need for rigorous, open discourse in all aspects of Jewish communal life. We write to note our concern that, in many key contexts and several critical moments, significant portions of our community…
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I support Jewish summer camps— this is how I helped ensure they would open this summer
As camp staff move onsite, children burst with excitement and parents fret over packing lists, we can reflect back on the past year and how we have gotten to this remarkable moment. Last May, as one by one Jewish overnight camps across North America publicly shared the news that they would close for summer 2020,…
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My time traveling cookbook
I swirled the last dab of icing on my pumpkin cheesecake, replaced the knife with a pen and scribbled on the top right corner of the recipe: “post(?)-pandemic — first time friends in house.” Then I breathed a sigh of relief. My pandemic kitchen was officially closed. Annotating recipes is nothing new for me. Who…
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How are we going to eat together again?
As reopening communal life grows tantalizingly close in many parts of the U.S., Jewish institutions are considering the best ways to resume in-person activity. To reduce the risk of suffering through a similar catastrophe again any time soon, the aspect of gathering that many have missed most, and that will inevitably grace our spaces once…
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My Palestinian Arabic tutor taught me more than the language
When the pandemic began, I found myself searching for a new Arabic teacher who could teach me online. I found Dima. She teaches me the Palestinian dialect. For more than a year now, we have met biweekly. While initially we kept a polite distance, our conversations broadened to include linguistic comparisons between Hebrew and Arabic,…
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What a medical miracle taught me about complaining Israelites
Seven years ago, my wife, Heidi was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer: uterine sarcoma. Despite my medical training and her fitness and self-awareness, the cancer was not diagnosed until it was advanced. The studies suggested that her life expectancy was less than one year. Determined to survive, Heidi underwent surgery and came home weak,…
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Our fellow rabbinical students are wrong to criticize Israel when it’s under attack
This is an open letter from Jewish seminary students to their fellow students who have been publicly critical of Israel during the latest conflict. On May 13, the Forward published a letter signed by scores of rabbinic and cantorial students criticizing Israel for its response in the recent Gaza conflict. Rabbi Bradley Artson, dean of…
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