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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Rival Parties for Gay Jews on Christmas Eve
Jewish Christmas parties, such as the Matzo Ball, are geared toward straight singles. But tonight, there are also warring gay parties in New York City that are competing for the attention of Jewish gay men. There’s the third annual “Christmas Eve Jewbilee,” thrown by Jayson Littman of He’Bro, a gay, Jewish networking site. The party…
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Gershwinning on All Fronts: An American Jewish Lyricist in Excelsis
The distressing news about a battle over royalties between George and Ira Gershwin’s heirs coincides with a no less unexpected report that Beach Boy Brian Wilson has been allowed by the Gershwin Estate to complete songs left unfinished by George when he died of a brain tumor at age 38 in 1937. Ira, who survived…
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Disney’s (Jewish American) Princess?
In response to this post about the “What’s a Coastie?” song, Renee Ghert Zand of Truth, Praise & Help shared this video. Landline TV spoofs classic Disney “behind the scenes” shorts about the making of a fictional new animated film about a Jewish American Princess called “Rachel and the Dragon.” Watch the video here. This…
The Latest
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Why Garrison Keillor’s Rant Makes Me Say ‘Bah Humbug’
During this most wonderful time of the year, when non-Jewish people wish me a Happy Hanukkah with a knowing look in their eyes; I refrain from saying “Seriously, it’s a minor holiday. Merry Christmas, and get back to me on Pesach.” I 100% accept the fact that Christmas is really and truly a Bigger Deal…
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Good and Bad ‘Sex With the Rabbi’
“Sex With the Rabbi…” would be a great title for a sex column written by a rabbi’s spouse. (To any rebbetzins or husbands of rabbis reading, it’s yours!) But “sex with the rabbi” also a subject that’s been in the news lately — first as the informal moniker given by Modern Orthodox yeshiva day school…
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A Precarious Cocktail of Friendship and Real Estate
Dear Bintel Brief: My husband and I live in New York City and are getting ready to buy our first apartment. We realize that a home purchase is a sizable financial commitment, and we are preparing to take the plunge. Adding to what is already a tremendously stressful decision-making process, we are considering buying a…
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Plenty of Israelis Support Right-Wing Insubordination, Poll Shows
So, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the settler rabbi who was encouraging soldiers to disobey orders to dismantle outposts, appears to have backed down. But according to a surprising new poll, there are plenty of Israelis who think that insubordination in the army is okay. Jewish Israelis were asked if they deny the right of right-wing soldiers…
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Embracing the ‘Coastie’ Label
Coastie, a new term for out-of-state students that is floating around the University of Wisconsin, Madison, definitely seems like a euphemism for Jewish American Princess. And I am just not sure it is such a bad thing. The term, which, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been used at the school for around a…
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Cartoon Shows Sen. Lieberman Killing Santa
No one is accusing Sen. Lieberman of Christ-killing. Santa-killing, well, that’s a different story. See Bob Englehart’s recent Hartford Courant cartoon here.
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A Sign Stolen, A Book Abandoned, History Assaulted
This past summer I walked under the “arbeit macht frei” sign at Auschwitz, under the ominous symbol that I first learned about as a girl. I was with a group of five other women, each of us graduate-student fellows at the Auschwitz Jewish Center. This morning I woke up to learn that the sign was…
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The Jewish-American Lexicon
American Jews speak their own language. This is the thesis that Professor Sarah Bunin Benor is working under as she gathers up phrases and words for her project “Jewish English: Distinctive Lexicon.” I spoke with Benor recently and she explained that while it is not like Yiddish or Ladino, American Jews have a specific vocabulary…
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