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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My Son Is Refusing To Circumcise His Newborn
Dear Bintel Brief: My son married a non-Jewish woman. They have baby boy, and decided not to have a circumcision. My husband and I have told my son and his wife how important this is to us, but they still will not do it. Recently, we have read more about the health benefits of circumcision….
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The Jewish Soul of ‘The Golden Girls’
Maude is gone and Dorothy Zbornak is dead. Bea Arthur, who played those brassy, gutsy characters on the sitcoms “Maude” and “The Golden Girls,” died of cancer over the weekend at her home in Los Angeles. I was a little too young to appreciate “Maude” when it was broadcast in the mid-1970s, but confess a…
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Was Norman Levy in on Bernie Madoff’s Scam?
The first part of the Bernard Madoff story raised a profound and troubling question about human nature: How could a respected and successful man — a man almost universally described as kind, considerate and apparently trustworthy — knowingly fleece his closest friends, charities he had supported, even his own sister? But now that Madoff is…
The Latest
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The Sisterhood, Evolved
I remember the day my mother was asked to be president of our synagogue sisterhood. She was making chopped liver — yes, chopped liver — when the phone rang, and in hurrying to answer it, she accidentally spread the brown, smelly meat everywhere. No matter. She was thrilled to accept! After her own wedding, and…
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Nose Job as Art
The human body is the canvas in I Am Art — An Expression of the Visual & Artistic Process of Plastic Surgery, an exhibition at Apexart, a nonprofit space in downtown Manhattan. The exhibit presents plastic surgery as work that often requires “a great deal of artistic skill,” depending on the type of procedure, the…
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Media Roundup: Mikveh and the Single Girl, Nude Ladies Parties
• “The Good Body,” a follow-up to “The Vagina Monologues” by playwright Eve Ensler, top right, centers on a Jewish woman of a certain age who undergoes surgery to make sex more pleasurable for her husband. • Rabbi Andrew Sacks thinks more mikvehs should open their doors to non-married women. • Jeffrey Zaslow, the Forward’s…
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The Market for Jewish Eggs
Retail is sluggish; real estate prices are down; but the market for Jewish eggs seems not to be suffering — even though it costs the couples receiving them between $40,000 and $50,000. In New York, payment to the women who “donate” their eggs is between $5,000–$8,000; the rest of the money goes to pay medical…
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Offbeat Israel: Bull Sperm a Growing Industry in Israel
It’s the fantasy of many a meat-eater, and thanks to an Israeli company, it is about to become a reality — beef without all the calories. An Israeli agricultural company and a kibbutz have teamed up to develop cows which produce beef with just a 7% fat content, compared to the approximately 30% percent in…
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Steve Reich’s Pulitzer-Winning ‘Double Sextet’
“Ehmor m’aht, v’ahsay harbay — Say little and do much,” the fourth movement from composer Steve Reich’s “You Are (Variations)” 2004 ensemble piece is a pithy explanation of the style that first brought him attention, Grammy Awards in 1990 and 1999, and, this week, the 2009 Pulitzer prize for music. His innovative use of dialogue…
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Leonard Cohen, Macy Gray Headed to Israel
Two musical hit makers are on their way to Israel. “Hallelujah” singer Leonard Cohen has announced he will perform in the Tel Aviv area on September 24 as part of his ongoing world tour, which is currently winding its way through North America. Details have yet to be announced, but the musician and poet may…
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Bedtime Reading: Meditations on Sex
Two new books relating to sex, sexual identity and Judaism are on their way to your bedside table. While for the past few years books for Christians about keeping the spark alive in bed have been big sellers in Christian publishing, books focusing on the Jewish connection — Rabbi Shmuley aside — are a relatively new…
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News An Alabama millionaire offered Jews $50,000 to move to his town. 16 years later, what’s left?
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Culture Why is Israel’s attack on Iran called ‘Rising Lion’ — and what does the Bible have to do with it?
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News ‘Very misguided’: ADL regional board member resigns over organization’s approach to antisemitism and civil rights
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Culture His parents fled the Nazis in 1937 — now he’s using his chutzpah to fight Donald Trump
In Case You Missed It
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Antisemitism Decoded The far-right is saying Jews don’t serve in the military — they’re wrong
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Opinion Might Iran become Trump’s Iraq? Americans are wary — but shouldn’t be
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News Why isn’t a pro-Israel lobbying group considered a foreign agent?
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: אַ חסיד פֿאָרט קיין איראַן צו געפֿינען אסתּר המלכּהס קבֿרVIDEO: Hasidic Jew goes to Iran to find Queen Esther’s tomb
אַבֿרהם שוואַרץ איז געפאָרן אַהין מיט דרײַ חדשים צוריק, נישט וויסנדיק אַז אין גיכן וועט צווישן איראַן און ישׂראל אויסברעכן אַ מלחמה.
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