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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4 Biblical Tests For Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh
Many in our nation will ask if Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh passes biblical muster. To answer that question, I propose the following biblical standards; standards that would, on the basis of the Bible, surely serve as an effective litmus test. “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your…
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Netanyahu Cares More About His Power Than About Jews
It’s not every week that the Israeli state Holocaust memorial of Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) issue statements rebuking the Prime Minister of Israel for distorting the historical record of one of the greatest tragedies ever to befall the Jewish people. But it did happen last week. What provoked this…
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American Jewry Is Israel’s New Opposition Party
Recently, two seemingly unrelated events transpired in the relations between Israeli and American Jewry: Last month, the Jewish Agency’s board of governors voted for Isaac Herzog (former chairman of the Labor Party), to become chairman of the organization, in a direct rebuttal of the prime minister’s choice of candidate. Next, two senior ministers avoided taking…
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No, Ashkenazi Jews Are Not ‘Functionally White’
One of the founders of the NACCP, Walter Francis White, was a “white-passing” African-American. He was the 4th of seven children born to George White and Madeline Harrison White, who were both born into slavery in 1857 and 1863, respectively. Because Walter was very fair-skinned and had straight-hair, starting in 1918, he used his ability…
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When It Comes To The Occupation, Which Side Is The Chicago Jewish Community On?
For most of us, this was not our first Greater Chicago Jewish Festival. In years past, we have sat at our congregations’ tables or attended with our families. We share fond memories of kosher hot dogs and klezmer music, of sponsor tote bags and stress balls. For most of us, however, this was our first…
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The Supreme Court’s Baffling Decision On The Muslim Travel Ban
The day before Justice Anthony Kennedy retired, he joined a 5-4 Supreme Court majority in upholding President Trump’s (Muslim) travel ban. The executive order in question banned entry from six predominantly Muslim countries and added North Korea and Venezuela as window dressing. The Court found the ban supported by the record in the case and…
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Is The Israeli Arab And Ultra-Orthodox Population Actually Booming?
Long-term population projections anticipate that the demographic composition of Israeli society will change substantially over the next 50 years, which will have an impact on the Israeli economy. Based on current fertility rates, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) estimates that Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) and Arab Israelis — who make up approximately one-third of the…
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What It’s Like To Wear A Yarmulke In Europe
“Traitor!” Each baseball season, I occasionally get this slightly amusing accusation from a few friends and my younger sisters. After all, I have lived in Baltimore for almost 18 years, and I still cannot bring myself to root for the Orioles. Instead, I am a huge Red Sox fan. This is true even though I…
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How Philip Roth Helps Us Understand Our Immigration Crisis
In his 2004 novel “The Plot Against America,” the late Philip Roth depicted an America that loses its soul: A wealthy celebrity wins a presidential election by scapegoating an entire community and goes on to turn the U.S. government into an instrument of bigotry and authoritarianism. While Roth’s first-person account weaved together an alternate past…
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How An Immigrant Sephardic Family Made Its Home In New York
I was a first-born son in 1943 and, in the Sephardic tradition, was named David after my father’s living father. My middle name, however, came from my mother’s beloved sister Lee, whom I never met because, as Mom told me, she died young of a broken heart. Mom was second-youngest in a family that emigrated…
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What ESL Teachers Know About Family Separation
The shoes. I can still see all those tiny little shoes, piled high into the sky and miles from the children that once molded them. It’s an image that, all these years later, I still cannot remove from my memory. One of the most dramatic images in Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem,…
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