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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These 4 Young Leaders Are Fighting Back Against Hate And Poverty — With Jewish Values
Becca Heller’s organization, International Refugee Assistance Project, was ready when, on January 27, 2017, the order banning people from several predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States was issued. IRAP organized a task force of 1,600 pro bono lawyers at airports across the country to defend the rights of incoming refugees and immigrants. Becca…
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75 Years Later, A New Curriculum For The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF) and the Sigi Ziering Institute of the American Jewish University held private screenings in Los Angeles and New York of the critically acclaimed film Uprising to coincide with the re-release of a curriculum about one of the most important feats of resistance during the Holocaust. Jon Avnet I was…
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Five Easy, Healthy Ways to Jazz Up Your Hummus
Whether it’s your next afternoon snack or party dip of choice, hummus is impressively healthy, absolutely delicious, and — surprisingly — really versatile! Traditionally, hummus (which has origins in the Middle East) has a base of ground chickpeas, olive oil, and tahini. Thanks to the chickpeas, hummus is rich in protein, which is essential to…
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Why Can’t You Let Us Be ‘Just Jewish’?
I recently read about Naomi Wadler, the 11 year-old girl who gave an impassioned and fearless speech at last month’s anti-gun rally in Washington DC, only to be picked on by other kids for being black and Jewish. I know exactly how Naomi must feel because 30 years ago, I was Naomi. I am now…
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Why Are We Still Honoring Nazis For Their Medical Discoveries?
Medical eponyms, honorary names the medical community gives to those who make a medical discovery or create an invention in the field, are very common. They include Crohn’s disease, named after Burrill Bernard Crohn, one of the scientists who first published an exhaustive description of the condition about the disease. But unfortunately, eponyms honoring Nazi…
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Dear Rick Jacobs: Please Stop Talking About Israel
Rabbi Jacobs: We are American and Israeli citizens who live in Jerusalem, where we are active members of a Conservative/Masorti synagogue. One of us represented a large U.S. Jewish Federation in Israel for 28 years. The other was a long-time leader in a Diaspora community, serving terms as president of a Conservative congregation and as…
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How Barbara Bush Became A Modest Fashion Icon
Former First Lady and First Mom Barbara Bush left us on April 17, 2018. No other woman besides Abigail Adams held both titles in history. She died in 1818, exactly 200 years ago. Besides that fact, Barbara Pierce Bush left a legacy as fashion icon like no other. Bush was “every woman’s mentor” on how…
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What Being Gay Taught Me About Zionism
This Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of Israel’s independence, which incidentally lands a week after Holocaust Remembrance Day. It’s a symbolic reminder of how far the Jewish people have come in such a short span of time. Yet seventy years later, the debate over the history of the country continues to divide people across the…
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We Have Not Yet Learned The Lessons Of The Holocaust
I am a formerly incarcerated Jewish lesbian and the daughter of two survivors of the Holocaust. In past years on Yom HaShoah, I watched my parents light candles and testify about their experience. Every time they spoke they relived the horrors they endured. For some seventy years, they, all survivors and the world, said “never…
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The Right Holocaust Lessons Can Help Us Prevent The Next One
The latest survey sending shockwaves through the Jewish community is one that found U.S. knowledge about the Holocaust to be severely lacking. According to a recent survey conducted by Schoen Consulting and commissioned by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, almost 50 percent of Americans cannot name a single concentration camp. Of course,…
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What It’s Like To Wear A Big Old Yarmulke In Small-Town America
On Wednesday, November 9, 2016, I decided to wear my kippah full time. It was the day after America elected Trump and I decided I needed to make a religious and political statement to my fellow citizens to make them more sensitive to a minority. So I did. This is what I’ve learned in the…
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FIRST PERSON As a rabbi, he helped others mourn. So why wouldn’t his daughter say kaddish for him?
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