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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Are American Haredi Women Leaning In?
A photo posted by The JWE (@thejwe) on Oct 18, 2015 at 9:06pm PDT I was surprised and saddened by Livia Levine’s recent article in the Sisterhood, “Can Haredi Women Learn to Lean In.” It is disappointing and disheartening that Haredi women in Israeli don’t see themselves as competent enough to be managers and surprising…
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Gush Etzion Women Find Respite From Terror Through Theater
I was backstage behind a curtain at the Alon Shvut Community Center in Gush Etzion, when my phone pinged. I read in the dark on my tiny phone screen. My heart sank. I quickly scanned the brief article. I knew there’d be more. This was a big one. And then I heard my cue. It…
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Barbie’s ‘Real’ New Body Still Ain’t Too Real
The announcement this week that Mattel is launching a new line of Barbie dolls with “realistic” bodies was greeted with cheers in the feminist community. It was a welcome response to a decades-long struggle against the ubiquitous commercial messages that an ideal woman should have a ridiculous body size and shape – unattainably thin limbs,…
The Latest
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What Donald Trump and NFL Football Tell Us About Chained Wives
(JTA) — Following eight years of struggle, an Israeli mother named Adina Porat finally received a Jewish writ of divorce, or get, earlier this month, bringing back into the headlines the plight of “agunot” — so-called chained women trapped in marriages and unable to move on because their husbands refuse to grant a divorce. Porat’s…
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‘Real Housewives of Potomac’ Tells America You Can Be Black and Jewish
In the event that you’re not keeping track of the many permutations of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise, the latest location is Potomac, the wealthy suburb of Washington, DC. Like the Real Housewives of Atlanta, RHOP’s entire cast is composed of black women, but unlike Atlanta, Potomac’s population is 75.8 percent white. The show has only…
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Before Settling Down, Gaza Couples Get U.S.-Style Marriage Help
(Reuters) – Hesitant but curious, several Palestinian couples walked into a classroom in Gaza this week to attend the first marriage guidance program in the conservative, Hamas-run enclave. The initiative, backed by three Palestinian ministries, the Islamic University and British-based charity Interpal, is designed to prepare young couples for married life, including religious, legal, medical…
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Modesty Is the New Sexy on the Red Carpet
Pity Jennifer Lopez. As far as memorable red carpet moments go, she set such a high bar at the 2000 Grammys with her now-legendary plunging green Versace dress that she seemed destined to never top it. But many fashion insiders (and followers) have been buzzing about the actress-singer’s Golden Globes gown earlier this month. That’s…
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How To Talk About Rape Culture in 2016 – Start By Admitting That It Exists
When you type “rape culture” into your search bar, Google helpfully shows you that “rape culture myth” (emphasis mine) is the second most popular search term for the phrase. This tells us much of what we need to know about the status of the conversation; people don’t even believe that it’s even a real thing….
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Inside the World of Ultra-Orthodox Dating
It happens every (weekday) evening across the entire land of Israel. Dates involving religiously observant Jews who have been brought together by a matchmaker take place in hotel lobbies, in certain approved cafes and pubs, and also in family homes. And if you’re a so-called hilltop youth in the West Bank, it could also happen…
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Can Haredi Women Learn to Lean In?
I teach management in a Haredi college for women in Jerusalem. I’m not myself Haredi and so I’m often surprised by the students’ knowledge base – sometimes they are much more aware of the “outside” world than I would expect (with knowledge of things like Abercrombie and Fitch’s discriminatory hiring policies) and at other times…
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For Women, Gender Bias Continues Even In Death
I read obituaries. I like getting the whole picture about a person’s life, to be moved by other people’s passions and work. Perhaps it is the sociologist in me, inspired by Margaret Mead, who liked to be inspired by people’s real lives. Perhaps it is more compulsive, my need to know where we are headed,…
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