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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Prime Ribs: ‘Bra-gate’; Ultra-Orthodox Women in the Army; Circumcision and Cervical Cancer
The Israeli army approves enlistment of 10 ultra-Orthodox women. Teenagers are turning toward plastic surgery to avoid bullying. The most liberal Orthodox Jewish rabbinic organization in the United States rejected a proposal to admit women. Israel’s press office apologizes for “Bra-gate,” in which they denied entry to a reporter who refused to remove her bra…
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What ‘Funny Girl’ Could Teach ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Country Strong’
The fact that “Black Swan” and “Country Strong” are both movies about women who are ravaged by fame is hardly a spoiler. Anyone who has seen the films’ trailers — Natalie Portman’s bloody back and Gwyneth Paltrow’s teary battles with the bottle — gets a sense of how these characters’ quests for beauty and success…
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‘Graphic Details’ Q&A: Michael Kaminer
What began with a 2008 story about autobiographical comics by Jewish women in the Forward has developed into a touring museum exhibit. Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women is the first exhibit to explore what co-curator Michael Kaminer calls a “unique and prolific niche of graphic storytelling” by Jewish women. The exhibit features the…
The Latest
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‘Devora’s’ All-Woman Production Pushes the Feminist Envelope
There is a moment during the performance of the play “Judge! The Song of Devora” when you’re not entirely convinced that this is, in fact, an all-women production. When Sisera, the legendary 12th century Canaanite general described in Judges (chapters four and five) appears on stage played by the inimitable Yael Valier of Efrat, the…
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Hadassah’s Leadership on Madoff, Fundraising and Growth
Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, has just voted in a new national president, so we thought it would be a good time to check in with the venerable but embattled organization. Hadassah recently agreed to pay $45 million to settle with the court-appointed trustee in the Bernard Madoff bankruptcy. The settlement was first…
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Why My Mother Spent Her 89th Birthday at a West Bank Checkpoint
My mother recently celebrated her 89th birthday in a most unusual place for a party — the Tayasir Checkpoint, situated in the northeastern West Bank, halfway between Nablus and Jenin. Barren hills, not yet softened by the green grasses that grow in winters with good rainfall, crowd around an intersection of two roads. One road…
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The Life of Hannah Senesh — on View
“Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame/Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart/Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor’s sake/Blessed is the match consumed in kindling fame.” These words were written by Hannah Senesh, just before she entered Hungary on a ultimately fatal…
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On Becoming Comfortable in the Kitchen
Recently, I had dinner with K, a friend from college. We sat in her spacious one-bedroom apartment, where she lives alone, and we drank wine and ate steak, and talked about when we were 20-years-old, living in a tiny apartment in Amherst, Mass., thinking about whether or not we could afford to include fresh broccoli…
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Communal Pressures To Get a Get
I come from a family where halacha is championed alongside the freedom and power of the individual. It is a hard balance to forge, and it is one that comes with contradictions and hurdles. Recently in the news was the story of a Capitol Hill staffer who would not grant his wife a get, or…
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Knesset Feminists: Meet the Women Who Left Labor with Barak
This has been an interesting week for Knesset women. And when I say “interesting,” I am possibly referring to the famous Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” These are interesting times for women MKs for sure. The first bit of news was that the new renegade party of Ehud Barak has two women…
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Sonia Peres, Reluctant Political Wife, Passes Away
Sonia Peres, wife of Israeli President Shimon Peres, died January 20 as she had lived — quietly and privately, as far as she could get from the spotlight enjoyed by her gregarious, political husband. She was 87. She died in her modest apartment in suburban Ramat Aviv, far from the grandeur of the presidential residence….
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