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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Hello from the Sisterhood’s New Editor
Dear readers, I’m thrilled to introduce myself as the new editor of the Sisterhood blog. As the deputy culture editor of the Forward, I’ve been covering gender and Judaism for the past two years, writing about topics like halachic infertility, Hasidic feminism and transgender Jews. But my path to the Sisterhood actually began long before…
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Secular Spirituality Is Not an Oxymoron
Recently while talking with champion swimmer Diana Nyad, Oprah Winfrey expressed confusion over the concept of Nyad’s being both an atheist and a spiritual person capable of awe. David Edwards at Raw Story summarized their encounter Oprah Winfrey recently spoke to atheist long distance swimmer Diana Nyad and told her that she definitely wasn’t an…
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My Jewish Mother and President Obama
Sixty years ago on September 19, my mother went into labor. Unluckily for her, it was Erev Shabbat and Kol Nidre night. As virtually all of the obstetricians in Philadelphia were Jewish — even the most secular would have been in synagogue — a retiree was brought in to deliver me. The good doctor had…
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What About Malala’s Religion?
Last week Malala Yousafzai charmed Jon Stewart’s, and therefore America’s, socks off when he interviewed the Nobel Peace Prize contender about her new book, a memoir about her experience as an education advocate and a victim of the Taliban. Yousafzai, 16, was all conviction and grace when explaining to Stewart that she knew she was…
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Books ‘My Basmati Bat Mitzvah’ — and Pew
Earlier this month, my social media feeds were full of comments about the recent Pew Study, A Portrait of Jewish Americans. Even more than the actual study though, it was the New York Times article about the findings that generated the most conversation, with its telling headline, “Poll Shows Major Shift in Identity of U.S….
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Mourning My Friend and My Dad
Last week I attended the funeral of a girl who was my age, 39. Jodi and I grew up together. We lived next door to each other as children, from when I moved into my house right before kindergarten until we left for college. For me she will always be that little girl that I…
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Forgiving The Men Who Sexually Abused Me
Content warning: The author has requested that there be a content/trigger warning as this piece talks about sexual abuse and rape. You tell your editor you’ll write a piece about forgiveness and sexual abuse — about surviving being both sexually molested and raped, and then forgiving your abusers. And you’ll write it for Yom Kippur….
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More Than A Fashion Statement
Two new feminist t-shirts entered the world this past month and I am not sure which will incite more scandal, considering the context. One is a tight, black, short-sleeved v-neck tee that has “’Daughters of Israel, Do Not Dress Provocatively” printed across it in Hebrew. This is the same language women find on signs posted…
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The New Meaning of the Bar and Bat Mitzvah
We humans are resistant to change. It unsettles us. Causes us discomfort. And anxiety. And yet, as first articulated by the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, change is the only constant. Whether or not we like it, things do change. What is in our control is how we choose to handle it. Do we deny its inevitability…
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Hey, I’m the 94% Too!
A little over a month ago, I began an experiment in what I thought of as Doing Jewish Things. I wondered, if I observed certain customs or ventured into areas of Judaism I had previously ignored, would it have any discernable impact on my life? Would I feel better, more engaged, less inexplicably guilty about…
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Learning To Pray Every Day
A friend of mine posted a crowd-sourcing question on Facebook one day: “What are things you try to do every day?” I’m not sure the reason for her question — though she is a cognitive psychology student studying morality — but it stuck with me, mostly because it was something that seems to capture a…
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