Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the robust lives of American Jews. Here there’s a little of everything about the multifaceted world of Jewish life. There are light-hearted Jewish celebrity stories and shocking Jewish celebrity news. Food is also plentiful,…
Life
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Why ‘Shaming’ Get Refusers is Shameful
Recently, the High Rabbinic Court of Israel issued an excommunication order against one Oded Gez for refusing to divorce his wife. The Court called on the public to refrain from conducting business with Gez. It stated that no one should host him in their home, offer him food or drink, visit with him if he…
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The Messiness of Hoarding and Motherhood
“I come from a hot Yiddish mess of a family,” said Judy Batalion at a recent book talk in Boston sponsored by the Jewish Women’s Archive. That family, particularly Batalion’s unnamed mother, is front and center in her pitch perfect memoir, “White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daughterhood and the Mess in Between.” The physical…
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A Lesbian Ponders the Roots of Her ‘Bonanza’ Fetish
Growing up in Hudson in upstate New York in the 50’s, I was one of four Jewish kids in a class of 150. My grandparents were Orthodox and my minority status made me all the more serious about my religion. Labeled a bookworm, I was an intense student with a hidden, but equally intense fantasy…
The Latest
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The Thread that Links Israel’s Female Murder Victims
This week, after months of perseverance, I finally finished Roberto Bolaño’s “2666.” Those familiar with the book will understand why I am so smug. At a cool 1,000-plus pages, “2666” is no easy read. It is also deeply violent. At its centre lies the Mexican fictional border town of Santa Teresa, which is plagued by…
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How Did Republican Debate Turn Into an Episode of ‘Boys Gone Wild’?
Though I’m no fan of reality television, I am starting to understand its appeal. You’re got your “real” housewives, struggling salon owners, homophobic backwoods artisans, people whose first and last names begin with the letter “K” — and you’ve got the participants of last night’s Republican debate. As the Republican candidates for president gathered for…
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Don’t Go Gaga Over Ivanka — a Nice Jewish Daughter Doesn’t Atone for the Sins of the Father
I have one thing in common with Donald Trump. We both think highly of his daughter, Ivanka. Granted, I have not had any thoughts of dating her, like her father has. But I’m more than willing to admit she seems terrific: smart, gracious, and hard-working, even though by birth she wouldn’t have to do much…
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Video Voyeurism Is a Crime—Let’s Treat It Like One
A few months ago, a fifteen-year-old girl named Lee was taking a shower, she thought alone. When she went to school the next day and found her classmates laughing at her, she learned that a boy in her school in Beersheba had installed a camera in the stall. Now, thanks to Whatsapp, her naked body…
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The Parallel Lives of Two Jewish Orphans
I was in my first year at Goucher College in Baltimore in 1974, a world away from my home in New Orleans, when Miss Bessie Margolin graciously invited me to her Arlington, Virginia apartment for a visit. Her invitation was prompted by a letter of introduction from my high school guidance counselor at the Isidore…
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The Hillary Paradox Is Real
Joanne Cronrath Bamberger is the editor of the new book “Love Her, Love Her Not: The Hillary Paradox.” She is the publisher and editor in chief of the digital magazine The Broad Side, and her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Washington Post and USA Today. She lives in the Washington,…
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Iran-Born Artist Draws Comfortably From Both Nietzsche and Rumi
In the artist statement on her website, Los Angeles-based Angela Larian cites a variety of influences, including Plato’s and Nietzsche’s philosophies, as well as the writings of Persian poets Rumi (13th century) and Hafez (14th century). The blend, says the Tehran-born artist who moved to the United States as a 15-year-old in 1978, is “quite…
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#Parshachat merges Torah Talk and the Disability Experience
(JTA) — Last year, when a medical issue prevented her from going to synagogue on Tisha b’Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the ancient temples, Ruti Regan turned to Twitter and began posting about the fast day using the hashtag “parshachat.” Today, #parshachat has morphed into a weekly Twitter conversation about…
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Yiddish ווי ייִדישע קינדער־ליטעראַטור האָט געזאָלט העלפֿן קינדער פֿאַרשטיין די וועלטHow Yiddish children’s literature aimed to help kids make sense of the world
די אַמאָליקע קינדערביכער האָבן אָפּגעשפּיגלט כּלערליי פּאָליטישע וויזיעס און אויך אַ נײַעם פֿאַרשטאַנד פֿון קינדער און משפּחה־לעבן.
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