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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How Israel’s ‘Sleeve-Gate’ Completely Missed the Point
Have you been witness to men in the workplace behaving unprofessionally and immaturely? Well, Israeli women members of Knessets (MKs) are not having any of it. Just last month, I relished this video of Yesh Atid MK Yael Gerban scolding Likud’s Oren Hazan for interrupting her (Oren, shev be’sheket – sit quietly, she yells like…
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Israeli Dad Gets Street Harassment Right — Or Does He?
If you’re a woman, chances are that showing a woman walking in New York City for 10 hours resonated with you in some way. The clip, which was seriously debated online, was meant to draw awareness of how problematic street harassment can be. Some were moved. Others dismissed the whole thing. But what would your…
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It’s Time to Embrace a Post-Modern Approach to Orthodoxy
Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Mordechai Willig that an evolving viewpoint on the place for women and gays in Jewish life are manifestations of post-modernism. In contrast, Modern Orthodoxy’s shift to the right can be seen as a rejection of post-modernism. He closes rather ominously with the exhortation that “authentic” Modern Orthodox Jews must “observe the laws…
The Latest
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When a Dutch Jewish Woman Taught SS Officers how to Dance
(JTA)- Even before Nazi racial laws turned her into a wanted person in her native Netherlands, Roosje Glaser had limited patience for rules. A lighthearted and sometimes frivolous Jewish dance instructor who loved jazz music and the company of handsome men, Glaser ignored the 1940 Nazi takeover of Holland and the murderous anti-Semitism it brought….
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What’s Wrong With Women Studying Talmud, Rabbi Willig?
Dear Rabbi Willig, We don’t know each other, and in many ways, I am outside of your target constituency. You, after all, are a , an institution I have never attended. In fact, I would assume that there is little we agree on, other than the binding nature of halakha or Jewish law. However, last…
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Italy’s First Woman Rabbi Searches Out Calabria’s Hidden Jews
Italy as a country is nothing if not traditional. Many of its cobblestone streets existed long before the U.S. gave so much as a birth cry and the Italian Jewish community boasts roots that go back to the second century B.C.E. The Renaissance is almost a modern phenomenon in comparison. But Rabbi Barbara Aiello, an…
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What’s Anna O Got To Do With It?
Here’s a really short history lesson. In 1880, a 21-year-old Jewish Viennese woman went to Sigmund Freud’s colleague, Dr. Josef Breuer, for help because she felt suicidal. Breuer diagnosed Anna O — whose real name was Bertha Pappenheim — with hysteria, a common label for distressed women in the late 1800s. I suspect that given…
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Why I Was Arrested in St. Louis
The hardest part about getting arrested was when they took away my necklace. I had not mentally prepared myself for it, probably because I forgot that I was even wearing it. It is a gold chain with three charms, each bearing the initial of one of my children. The necklace, and subsequent charms, were given…
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The Summer of Women Policing Other Women
In the opening scene of the 1988 Oscar nominated film “Working Girl,” Tess McGill mentions she has speech class that evening. Her friend Cyn responds, “Whaddya need speech class for, ya talk fine!” The question of whether women “talk fine” is not a new conversation. But this summer, women’s language choices and speech patterns have…
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Women Are Waging Peace — Maybe It’s Time to Listen Up
In light of the recent spate of Jewish terrorism in Israel, a friend of mine compiled the following list of names: Yisrael Lederman, David Ben Shimol, Haggai Segal, Yona Avrushmi, Raphael Solomon, Ami Popper, Baruch Goldstein, Yigal Amir, Eden Natan Zada,Jack Teitel, Asher Vizgan, Yosef Chaim Ben David, Yishai Shlisel. Some of these names should…
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The Nazi-Holocaust Survivor Romance Novel You Weren’t Waiting For
A few weeks ago in New York City, Romance Writers of America held their annual conference. The agenda included the RITA awards, the equivalent of the Oscars of the romance writing world, and one of those nominees, for “Best Inspirational Romance” and “Best First Novel,” was a book called “For Such a Time” by Kate…
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