Prime Ribs: BRCA News; Frum Fashion Show; ‘Calendar Women’
Prime Ribs From the Week’s News:
• There were no mini-skirts or corsets — or men — at this recent Jerusalem fashion show, featuring tsnius clothing for observant Jewish women.
• The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles this summer launched a blog all about mah jongg — the tile game that has long been a favorite pastime of Jewish women of a certain age. Blogger Elaine Sandberg takes on such pressing mah jongg issues as “the ‘trauma’ of finding a hand” and the “savvy discarding” of tiles — and she ends each post with “May the tiles be with you.”
• At a time when American colleges are graduating more women than men, a Washington Post blogger explains why “women’s colleges are not passé.”
• Their alma maters aside, 20-something women, who are childless, living in big cities and working full time earn an average of 8% more than their male counterparts, new census data shows. But that doesn’t mean wage discrimination — even in the cited demographic — is a thing of the past, Salon’s Tracy Clark-Flory explains.
• For women with the BRCA breast cancer genes, most prevalent in Ashkenazic Jewish women, the prophylactic removal of breasts and ovaries has been shown to improve health outcomes, a new study shows.
• Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi has reportedly granted permission for two Jewish women, born in Libya and living in Italy, to visit their family homes in their former homeland.
• Tablet has a story about two women whose struggles with infertility inspired a body of artwork.
• In time for the new year, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute is out with a new wall calendar, featuring “the cities behind the stories” of 12 Jewish women writers. Contributions include (Forward alumna) Lucette Lagnado on Cairo, Egypt, Tova Mirvis on Memphis, Tenn. and Clara Sereni of Rome, Italy — all paired with large color photographs.
L’shana tova.
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.
