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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If Young Women Aren’t MIA On Abortion Rights, Where Are They?
I read Sarah Seltzer’s recent Sisterhood blog post, “An Intergenerational Battle Over Abortion,” with interest. And I’m wondering if there’s any evidence to support her supposition that young women do support abortion rights, and their contributions to the movement are unappreciated. Aside from citing one young woman frustrated with not being appreciated at a NARAL…
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How Badly Do Women Want To Be Married? New Research Challenges Talmudic View
How badly do women want to be married? This is a question that has been asked from the Talmud to The New York Times, and the answers can be counterintuitive. Tav l’metav tan du m’lmetav armelu. “It’s better to lie with another body than to lie as a widow.” (Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 7a) This Talmudic…
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An Intergenerational Battle Over Abortion
As we anticipate the possible Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan — she is Jewish, pro-choice and said to be on Obama’s short-list — pro-choice activists are preparing themselves for a tough, abortion-focused confirmation process, no matter who is nominated. Meanwhile, a recent Newsweek article has generated heated online debate, by positing that there’s an…
The Latest
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The Hairy Issue of Female Hair Removal
For the most part, body hair as a political statement has fallen out of favor with third-wave feminists who, unlike their second-wave sisters, seem at home with a shaven armpits and legs. The New York Times recently had an article about women’s mixed feelings about visible body hair on women. The news hook was Mo’Nique’s…
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We Earn 77 Cents for Every Dollar Men Earn: What We Can Do
Do you ever feel like you’re working harder but earning less? Running only to feel like you’re falling behind, financially speaking? Well, it’s not just because of the recession, but also likely because you’re a woman. Tomorrow, Tuesday, is the day that the pay that working American women have earned in 2009 and 2010 catches…
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On Yom HaZikaron, Remembering Trailblazer Keren Tendler
The somber atmosphere of Israel’s Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) permeates Israel today. The entire country stops to memorialize and listen to the stories of soldiers who lost their lives in Israel’s wars, both to honor and celebrate their lives and their contributions, and to embrace their families who must live with the pain of their…
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Danger in Doubting Women’s Tales of Sexual Assault
A 27-year old woman from Pardes Hanna committed suicide after the police released the prime suspect in her rape. The suspect is a former police officer in the Hadera police station in Israel — the very same station where the woman went to complain. In other words, the man was believed and let go by…
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Mary Gaitskill’s Liliths
Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and writer of fiction about women, strip poles and sexual guilt, Mary Gaitskill read a story at Franklin Park bar in Brooklyn on April 12 in which cuckolded political wives Silda Spitzer and Elizabeth Edwards become the Eves to Ashley Dupré’s and Rielle Hunter’s Liliths, and in doing so they take a…
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Biblical Matriarchs, Chick Flicks and the Power of a New Dress
In almost every single chick flick, there is a pivotal scene during which the character goes shopping. It is almost always presented as a montage of different stores, outfits, looks, and expressions, and it signals for the character a passage to second chances, redemption, and, ultimately, a resurrection. I would like to be able to…
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Digest: When Is It Okay to Laugh at Jewish Women?
The Sisterhood Digest: • Haaretz profiles Tzvia Greenfield of Meretz, the first Haredi female Knesset member. Greenfield, a peace activist and mother of five, says she is troubled that Orthodox women today are expected to bear more children than they were in decades past: “Large families thirty years ago was six children; now there’s 13…
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The Truth About Modern Orthodox Jews and Gender
Elana Sztokman is a fabulous writer whose pieces are always an asset to The Sisterhood and the rest of The Forward (and I get a gold star for having made the shidduch). But in her new blog post, Jewish Feminists Launch RCA Protest, Elana gets a few important things wrong. The first is that she…
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