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 To Interview a Man About His Wedding Night
Like every member of the female species, I read Tuvia Tenenbaum’s interview with Racheli Ibenboim, an up-and-coming female Hasidic politician, with great excitement. This is the interview in which Ms. Ibenboim answers deeply personal questions, thereby revealing everything Tuvia ever wanted to know about Hasidic sex. When I read his highly apologetic, I’d-be-equally-voyeuristic-when-interviewing-a-man response to…
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The Rebbetzin Behind the Golem
Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly photo feature in which we sift 116 years of Forward history to find snapshots of women’s lives. Pearl Loew was the wife of magical Rabbi Yehudah Leib ben Betsalel, known as Rav Loew of medieval Prague, and thought to be the creator of the Golem. Like her husband’s creation,…
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BRCA1 Women Told To Remove Ovaries
We’ve long known that the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations commonly found in Ashkenazic Jewish women are linked to higher rates of breast and ovarian cancer. A new report published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology provides more details about ovarian cancer risk. The report notes that women who have the BRCA1 or BRCA2…
The Latest
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Wear Makeup, Get Expelled From School
Last week, I reported that women who wear makeup are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer, according to the findings of the Satmar Rebbe, Aaron Teitelbaum, a highly revered doctor from the IOBW (Institute of Blame Women, in case you didn’t read it). Well, sure enough, as his son promised in an announcement…
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Jewish Moms Responsible for Making More Jews
Ah, Jewish continuity. We want it. We need it. We have to have it. And yet, we have no idea how. Well, 72-year-old social work professor and former Evangelical Christian Venn Bengston has a few tips for us. He spent the last 50 years studying families and faith, with a focus on how how religion…
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‘Broad City’ Lady Stoners a Feminist Triumph
I love the pot-puffing Jewish broads of Broad City (both of whom the Forward recently interviewed about their very raunchy new Comedy Central show.) The show’s protagonists are “Abbi” (left in the photo) and “Ilana” (right), heightened versions of their creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. These gals are not “strong female characters” in the…
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Will Millennial Moms End the Mommy Wars?
Welcome to motherhood, millennials. According to a new report from the parenting website BabyCenter, the newest crop of moms, ages 18-32, are rejecting the helicopter parenting they experienced as children and are opting for a more relaxed approach. This new generation of mamas reports having been raised with parents that were more protective, worried and…
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Cheryl Crawford, Acting Coach to the Stars
Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly photo feature in which we sift 116 years of Forward history to find snapshots of women’s lives. Along with Lee Strasberg (middle) and Harold Clurman (at right), Cheryl Crawford (left) was part of a revolutionary movement in American theater. The trio’s collaborative project, known as the Group Theatre, began…
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In Search of My Ethel Mertz
I never seriously considered becoming Orthodox. I like shrimp too much and Florida is way too hot for wigs. But I was tempted twenty years ago by one phone conversation. The Orthodox woman who coordinated the chevra kadisha (burial society) I participated in was calling to request my assistance at a taharah, ritual preparation of…
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Orthodox Feminists Are Not Conservatives in Disguise
There is a rumor going around that Orthodox feminists are just Conservative Jews in disguise, or perhaps in denial. I’ve heard this idea in many settings. I was at a dinner last year honoring Jewish feminists when a woman at my table — a Conservative rabbi and prolific writer whom I greatly admire — reproached…
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Why My Son Underwent Metzitzah B’Peh
The controversial and potentially life-threatening practice of metzitzah b’peh, the oral suctioning of a baby’s circumcision wound by the mohel, is back in the news. As the controversy continues to brew in the secular media, and as Bill de Blasio takes his time coming up with an approach that is “much more effective at protecting…
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