Will This Beauty Become First Jewish Miss Germany?
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — A Jewish woman has qualified for the final round of the Miss Germany 2018 contest.
Tamar Morali, 21, won the title of Miss Internet over the weekend, which qualifies her to compete against about 20 other women who have won in other categories to become Miss Germany. She was chosen among the 10 contestants in the final round by a panel of celebrity judges, as well as in online voting, following evening gown and bathing suit competitions, as well as a personal interview.
Morali said before the last round that organizers told her she is the first Jewish woman to get this far in the Miss Germany competition.
The final stage of the contest organized by the Miss Germany Corporation will take place in Germany’s Europa Park on Feb. 24.
Morali was born in the German city of Karlsruhe but grew up in Vienna, Austria, where she was active in the Jewish community. At 17, she spent a gap year in Israel, and she is currently studying toward a bachelor’s degree in communications and business there, at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
In 2011, a Jewish woman, Valeria Bystritskaia, was crowned a Miss Germany in a different competition. But fearing anti-Semitism Bystritskaia, a Russia native who moved to Germany at the age of 7, kept her Jewish heritage a secret.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
