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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Obama at the Million Man March
A few right-wing bloggers have begun buzzing over a 1995 Chicago Reader profile of Barack Obama in which the then Illinois State Senate candidate discussed his participation in the controversial Million Man March, convened by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The 1995 march drew hundreds of thousands of black men to the National Mall…
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Spitzer on Rye
Out-saucing the sauciest New York Post headlines, Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, an age-old establishment across Fifth Avenue from the Flatiron Building, brings us…
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Yid Vid: Yael Naim May Be Big on TV, But Hadar Manor Is Queen of the Tube
What is it with young Israeli singer-songwriters making great music in Europe? First, we saw the ascent of 30-year-old Yael Naim, the Paris-based songstress who became suddenly famous after her beautiful single “New Soul” was used in an Apple commercial. Now, across the Channel, another young Israeli is getting a bit of attention of her…
The Latest
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Jewish Burka Booster Busted
For the past couple months, I’ve been following the story of a small number of Israeli ultra-Orthodox women who have recently taken to wearing burka-style clothing in a display of over-the-top modesty. They were being encouraged to dress this way — in defiance of the ultra-Orthodox rabbis — by a charismatic female guru who lives…
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Ari Shavit: Olmert’s a ‘Captain Without a Compass’
Ha’aretz’s Ari Shavit renders a harsh verdict on the tenure of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Despite Olmert’s “many good qualities,” Shavit writes, the prime minister “has no core. He has no Tablets of Stone. In the most profound sense, he does not know where he came from and where he is going.” And the result,…
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In Other Jewish Newspapers: Sahl vs. Bruce, Typecasting David Schwimmer, Ali G.’s Welsh Roots
ARTISTS’ EXODUS: Many Israeli artists are taking their creative juices elsewhere. The Jewish Week chats with New York’s Israeli expat artists. HIGH PRIEST, HIGH PRICE: Tired of Bush masks and Batman costumes? Now, you can dress up like the high priest from the ancient Temple instead. In response to a Purim request from a local…
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Inflicting the 10 Plagues on Marshmallow Bunnies
Easter may have come incredibly early this year, and Passover is still nearly four weeks away, but I can thank a clever Flickr user, operating under the moniker “stylecouncil1,” for reminding me of the traditional connection between these two springtime holidays. A year ago, “stylecouncil1” posted a set of photos — which was only brought…
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Bintel Brief: Shoshanna Rikon on How To Help Singles — on the Sly
Dear Shoshanna, I’m a rabbi, and I’m working with my local Jewish community center to form a singles group. There are a lot of singles in our community, and we’re concerned about the escalating intermarriage that goes on. We want to develop some programming to attract Jewish singles so that they can meet each other…
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Obama Plays the Purim Card
A week ago, Media Bistro’s TVNewser blog reported that the Clinton campaign may have objected to the possible scheduling of a debate on the first night of Passover (although the blog was tentative on this point, suggested other possible motives and issued an update that the holiday’s first night was only one of the nights…
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Books Did Tolkien Take a Page From Purim?
Jewschool’s Ben Dreyfus notes a striking similarity between J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece “The Lord of the Rings” and the Purim story: Haftarat Zachor (which is read twice this year here in Jerusalem) + Megillat Esther = The Lord of the Rings. One of them is totally plagiarized. After winning the war with Sauron, Isildur is…
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In Other Jewish Newspapers: Irish Jews Are Smiling, Jewish Wife Swap, Richard Lewis Speaks
CHINA’S GREAT JEWISH HOPE: Can 29-year-old Shi Lei bring Kaifeng’s ancient Chinese Jewish community back to life? Boston’s Jewish Advocate profiles a young man whose exploration of his heritage “has taken him from Kaifeng on the banks of China’s Yellow River to Israel, where he studied at Bar Ilan University and Machon Meir yeshiva in…
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: היסטאָריקערין וויווי לאַקס באַשרײַבט געשיכטע פֿון לאָנדאָנער ייִדישער פּרעסעVIDEO: Historian Vivi Laks tells history of the London Yiddish Press
שבֿע צוקער פֿירט דעם שמועס מיט וויווי לאַקס און ביידע לייענען פֿאָר עטלעכע פֿעליעטאָנען פֿון יענע צײַטן.
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Yiddish World Puppet Monty Pickle is guest on the Forward’s ‘Yiddish Word of the Day’
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News Who is Bruce Blakeman, the ‘Almost Orthodox’ Jew running for New York governor?
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