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.
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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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I went to protest with my grown children. What I saw gave me hope.
“He’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid…” —Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman Last month, Derek Chauvin’s knee was held on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the last three minutes of which occurred after Floyd was no longer responsive. Three other…
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Camp is a safe haven, and right now, we really need one
The first Jewish summer camps were founded at the turn of the 19th century as a youthful escape from squalid urban living. Out in the country, children could grow in little pockets of bliss separated from worldly ill. There was dancing, playing, swimming and very little worry. As time passed, camps of all sorts emerged,…
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‘I see you, I’m here to support you:’ marching in Lafayette Park
Last week, I had the privilege of joining protestors in front of Lafayette Park protesting the death of George Floyd. I began by talking to a friend of mine, Maurice Word, who was a Freedom Rider and was involved in dozens of civil rights protests in the South in the early 1960s. Mr. Word and…
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I protested in DC — in my tallis
Editor’s Note: Click here for an article about the author’s experience sharing Hebrew prayers with members of the National Guard. On Wednesday, June 3rd, I went to protest in Washington DC. I went because I believe it was demanded of me as a Jew and an American. First I want to speak to the question…
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What lessons should we learn from the pandemic of 2020?
There is little doubt that the world as we know it has been changed by the coronavirus. But there is also a very real human understanding that as people we have very short memories and the lessons that we take from an individual experience can be forgotten far more quickly than one could ever imagine….
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Which verse would the President quote?
As a rabbi watching President Trump standing, Bible in hand, in front of Washington DC’s St. John’s Episcopal Church, I wondered what scriptural verse the President could draw on for inspiration. We were, as we remain, in the midst of a national crisis. A double pandemic, Covid-19 and the virus of systemic racism. The moment…
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The return of keva
When the pandemic began about 10 weeks ago and the school closed its building, I did what many parents did – I came up with a schedule to help bring structure to my children’s days. It included time for school work, time for exercise, time for creating, time for play, and time for quiet. It…
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In Jewish tradition, racism is a sin
The experience of watching, on video, George Floyd desperately plead for his life — and yet still suffer the cruelest of deaths in the middle of the street in the middle of the day in the middle of America — has collectively galvanized millions of us. We’ve realized that we are obligated to struggle against…
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A Muslim and a Jew providing trans care in the Bible Belt
Israelis prefer Trump over Biden, state department accuses Russia of antisemitism, celeb discovers his relative lived with Anne Frank’s family, and the Jewish composer of the James Bond theme has died.
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‘The secret to our survival is Torah,’ a 2020 graduate speaks
This was the graduation address delivered by graduating senior Ariela Zweiback as the commencement speaker at de Toledo High School on June 4, 2020. Perhaps you have heard of the Greatest Generation. Well, when I heard this, I thought “Oh, what a cute name for our generation, that is so kind. I knew we were…
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What the Bible Can Teach Us About Quarantine
The word quarantine comes from quarantena, or “forty days,” in the Venetian language. It was first used during the Black Death epidemic in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to designate a period that ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore. As a rabbi and a student of religious history,…
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