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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To Counter Anti-Semitism, Israel Must Remember Africa’s Christians
Kenya`s relationship with Israel was sealed in blood more than 40 years ago. In retaliation for providing critical support to Israel during the Entebbe rescue, Uganda killed hundreds of Kenyans. Many estimates place the number of Kenyans killed in retaliation higher than the number of hostages rescued in the historic raid. Supporting the Israeli rescue…
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Netanyahu’s Policies Threaten Israel — And American Jews
I have always been one of Israel’s greatest supporters. I am a pioneer of private investment in Israeli companies. I have devoted myself to Jewish and pro-Israel causes through the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, Hebrew Union College and other institutions. And I have worked to ensure that US support for Israel remained strong and unwavering….
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Is It Easier To Keep Shabbat Than It Is To Keep Kosher?
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. Just as God works in mysterious ways, so, it seems, do human beings grow in mysterious ways. Each Jewish person decides on a particular course, as well as to the degree in which they plan on committing and investing themselves in the observance…
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I Am A Rabbi, And I Was Arrested On Capitol Hill While Protesting For A Clean DREAM Act
Last week I joined 100 Jewish community leaders from around the country in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building. Organized by Bend the Arc Jewish Action, we marched in together, many in Jewish ritual garb, sat down, and sang about building a world of compassion. When the U.S. Capitol police warned us that…
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Palestinian Children Are The Child Soldiers No One Is Talking About
For a month, Israel-focused media and NGOs have been fixated on the case of Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teen whose family scripts physical confrontations with Israeli soldiers. The resulting videos are distributed as either heroic resistance, in the Palestinian version, or cheap media manipulation to demonize Israel. In an awkward attempt to respond to this…
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Why My Synagogue Is Taking A Break From Singing Carlebach
Our nation’s reckoning with sexual assault has unfolded with powerful parallels in our Torah’s narrative of our liberation from Egypt. As more and more women have come forward to describe harrowing experiences of sexual assault, I am reminded of our enslaved ancestors who dared to mark their doorposts with blood, identifying themselves as one of…
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Age, Not Political Party, Is Key To Understanding American Views On Israel
The partisan divide over Israel has never been clearer than when President Trump mentioned Jerusalem during his State of the Union speech on January 30. Republicans stood for yet another ovation while almost every Democrat stayed in his or her seat (except for Senators Charles Schumer and Joe Manchin and Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz). The partisan…
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The Number on Great Grandpa’s Arm: A Holocaust Film Appropriate For The Whole Family
Jack Feldman has a story to tell. A story about surviving the Holocaust, about giving back to his community in America and most importantly, it’s a story about living and living well — not just being “the number” on great-grandpas’ arm. Jack, his great-grandsons, and the number he bears on his arm make the story…
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A Letter To Ahed Tamimi On Her Birthday, From One Teenage Girl To Another
Dear Ahed, I know that you’ve grown up facing the daily brutality of the Israeli Occupation and that right now, on your 17th birthday, you’re sitting in Israeli prison. But I need to tell you something: I am alive because of Israel. I mean that literally. My paternal grandparents were able to escape Nazi occupied…
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5 Things I Learned From Losing A Fight Against Anti-Semitism — In My Own Town
The local paper at the checkout line immediately caught my eye. My seemingly placid northern New Jersey town, Roseland, had erupted in Fury over a councilman, Thomas Tsilionis, who had exchanged vile texts with another council member, David Jacobs, in a group chat between the six city council members and the mayor. The texts contained…
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I Was Publicly Blacklisted By A Shadowy Website For My Views On Israel
Earlier this week, I discovered I’d been added to Canary Mission’s database. Canary Mission is a McCarthy-esque blacklist, a website that collects and publishes information about activists who support Palestinian rights. The site claims to document “people and groups that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses,” with the…
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
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Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
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Culture She was my Hebrew school bully — and I finally learned what happened to her
In Case You Missed It
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Culture In this Holocaust story, there are few words, no swastikas, no yellow stars — just movement, passion and empathy
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Opinion What Democrats fighting Trump should learn from Germany’s failure to stop Hitler
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Fast Forward 31st anniversary of AMIA bombing marked by ceremonies in Argentina, Israel and, for the first time, Congress
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Fast Forward Mike Huckabee to Israel: End hostile treatment of Christian allies
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