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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How I Came To Serve Store-Bought Latkes
I did something last night that I’ve never done before: Serve store-bought potato latkes to a gathering in my home. I was not raised to serve store-bought anything to guests, and rarely have deviated from that central teaching, driven home in childhood by a mother who not only made all of our food, but a…
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Jewish Female Scholars Find Inspiration in Same
In the past two weeks, I have had coffee with two important Jewish women who have spent the fall semester as fellows at the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. Both have reminded me of the value of good conversation and the affective and intellectual gifts of getting together with…
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On the Senate Floor, It’s Lieberman vs. Franken
Watch the Jewish senator from Minnesota shut down the Jewish senator from Connecticut:
The Latest
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Kohelet à la française: French poet Charles Juliet Meditates on “Ecclesiastes”
Apart from historically being a nation of skeptics, France has been hampered in its literary appreciation of the Old Testament by the problem of translation. After a solid start in 1902 with the “Rabbinate Bible” overseen by then-Chief rabbi of France Zadoc Kahn with the assistance of such eminent 19th century scholars as Mayer Lambert…
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Paid Maternity Leave Should be a Right, Not a Privilege
Oh to be a working mother in Israel, where women who give birth will soon get 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. Fourteen weeks? I’d have been happy to get 14 days of paid leave in this country. In Jane Eisner’s Forward editorial this week, she writes about Israel’s move to extend legally mandated maternity…
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On the Heels of Hatch’s Hanukkah Song, the Ballad of Mormon by a Jew
Thanks, Orrin Hatch for the most publicized (first-ever?) Mormon-rendered Hanukkah Song. Conan’s self-proclaimed only Jew Max Weinberg returned the favor last night with a little ditty for the Mormon community to sing at Christmas time. Doubt they will though, since its purpose is to count all the ways in which the singers know nothing about…
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Moldovan Priest Ritually Desecrates Menorah
In a chilling ceremony in Moldova’s capital on December 14, Orthodox priest Anatol Cibric along with about 100 singing and banner-holding supporters ritually desecrated a public menorah, placing it at the feet of a statue of Stephan the Great. Israel National News reported the priest’s words as: Stephan the Great defended our country from all…
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Stephen’s Hanukkah Fry Up
The bewildering world of the interTweet gets stranger day-by-day. Tom Cokill, a self-avowed Roman Catholic, followed his twitter post about Leeds United’s glorious victory over Accrington Stanley, with a correction of Stephen Fry’s spelling of Hanukkah. Herewith the tweet from Stephen Fry, read by millions daily: Just emerged from fun hannukah party at the Chief…
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In Turning 40, Freedom
I turn 40 next week, and I want to celebrate. I’m not talking about a Madonna-style birthday celebration of pretending I’m still 22, or an Oprah-style event involving a car giveaway (although perhaps if I could actually do either, I might consider it). I’m thinking more along the lines of a celebration of life, of…
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Masorti Leaders Challenge Oren’s Remarks on Tallit Arrest
Leaders of the Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel today sent Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. a letter questioning recent remarks which seemed to criticize accounts of a woman who was arrested at the Kotel for wearing a prayer shawl. Ambassador Michael Oren, speaking at last week’s convention of the United Synagogue of Conservative…
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Aftermath of Mosque Arson Attack — Condemnations and Settler Rabbi Dance and Chant
This weekend the “price tag” policy of extremist settlers got well and truly out of hand. Price tag is an attempt to demonstrate to law enforcement bodies that any action which interferes with settler interests will result in vandalism on highways and in Palestinian villages — and sometimes also harm to individual Palestinians. On Friday…
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