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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Where’s the Jewish Helping Hand?
Recently, there was a tragedy in Winnipeg. A mom and her two young children died, possibly because of postpartum depression. The news unfolded slowly, in a compassionate way. The children, found dead, were the beginning; several days later, the mother’s body was found in the river. In the days and weeks that followed, Winnipeg jumped…
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Why Is Race So Hard to Talk About?
In the latest episode of The Salon on The Jewish Salon, panelists gathered to discuss race, and exactly why it’s so hard to talk about it. This time, host Jane Eisner and co-host Rachel Sklar were joined by Chava Shervington, President of the Jewish Multiracial Network; Dr. Ruth Pinkenson Feldman, aka “The Green Bubbie”; and…
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Anat Hoffman, Women of the Wall Denounce Latest Plan
People like to frame Women of the Wall’s struggle in terms of Jewish religious pluralism. That approach is mistaken, and a confluence of events this week reminds us of that fact. WoW’s fight is for women’s rights, civil rights and equal rights. It occurred to me how important it is to regard WoW’s struggle in…
The Latest
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Childless Does Not Mean Clueless
As if back-to-school season and the High Holidays weren’t enough to command our attention and energies, here in New York we’re anticipating mayoral primary elections (slated for September 10). Last week’s campaign developments, as noted in Kate Taylor’s “Trailside” column in The New York Times, included the following: “Two Democratic front-runners, Bill de Blasio and…
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Why Women Just Can’t Get It Right
Women. We can’t do anything right, can we? Choose not to become a mother, like the Sisterhood’s Chanel Dubofsky, and others view you as selfish. Chose to become a working mother and you are seen as selfish. Or, choose to become a stay-at-home parent and, yep, you are seen as selfish. Over the past few…
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Keeping Up With the Bat Mitzvah Dresses
I did not have a Bat Mitzvah. Having one wasn’t even an option for me. I was brought up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn in the 1950s and my parents did not join the nearby Conservative temple until it was absolutely necessary to Bar Mitzvah my younger brother, Arthur. Most Jewish parents did not…
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Judging a Hasidic Marriage Against My Own
I was on the plane home from our summer vacation when I saw something disturbing. After landing, the lady across the aisle from me began throwing up into a plastic bag. Fine, so she gets sick from turbulence. The disturbing part was how her husband responded: he didn’t. While she sat hunched over her bag,…
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My (Hopefully) Last Post on the Alice Walker Affair
When I saw Sarah Seltzer’s “Why Alice Walker and Michigan Are Both Wrong” posted on The Sisterhood late Thursday afternoon, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Or maybe bang my head against a wall. Laughter (rueful), because Seltzer’s response was so predictable (especially after her published comment on my original post about Alice…
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Jill Abramson’s Jewish Moment
Let me be clear. I am well aware of the fact that, for Americans and especially for people from New York, having a famous whatever with Jewish connections is not such a big deal, considering the impact of Jewish population in the cultural, political and intellectual life of the country. In Italy we are not…
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Why Alice Walker and Michigan Are Both Wrong
Alice Walker and the University of Michigan Center for Education for Women — which disinvited her from a speaking engagement at its 50th anniversary celebration, as the Sisterhood’s Erika Dreifus recently wrote about, then later re-invited her to speak at a public forum on campus — are both misguided. It was foolish of Alice Walker…
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Yes, Really, I’m Sure I Don’t Want Kids
In her recent Time Magazine piece, “Having It All Without Having Children,”, Lauren Sandler spoke to women and couples about their decision not to have children in the context of social pressure and statistics (19% of women aged 40-44 have no children, which is almost double the percentage from 30 years ago, according to the…
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