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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First, It Was Tutu — Now Two University Presidents Have Made the ZOA’s Enemies List
Last year, it was Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu whom the Zionist Organization of America wanted drummed out of polite society. In that case, the ZOA could at least point (however clumsily) to a number of one-sided and perfervid criticisms of Israel by Tutu. (But does that mean a university should withdraw an invitation for…
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A Living Lens: The Forverts Reunited Shlomo Artzi’s Family, Too
Last week, I posted the story of how the Forverts reunited Israeli writer Nava Semel’s family. What I didn’t know then — but do now, thanks to our archivist extraordinaire, Chana Pollack — is that Semel is the sister of folk-rock star Shlomo Artzi. Chana also passed on this great video of Artzi singing in…
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Clinton, Obama Split Connecticut’s Lieberman Dems
Plenty of folks are wondering where fans of Joseph Lieberman will end up politically now that the Connecticut senator has crossed the aisle to endorse the presidential bid of his Republican Senate colleague John McCain. It’s a hard question to answer, but exit polls from the Connecticut’s closed Democratic primary shed a little light. The…
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In Other Jewish Newspapers: Kaifeng to Jerusalem, Divestment Dud, An Israeli in Dubai
SHOAH’S NO LAUGHING MATTER: Writing in the New York Jewish Week, Rabbi Joshua Hammerman says that with time the Holocaust is becoming assimilated into the larger Jewish story — becoming “normalized.” While he sees this process as healthy, he notes one unfortunate side effect: the emergence of crude Holocaust humor that is offensive to survivors….
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AJCommittee’s Honorary President Blasts Internal Memo on Obama
Last week, the Forward reported on an internal memo circulated among American Jewish Committee staffers that raised concerns about what Barack Obama’s policies would be on the Middle East. The AJCommittee distanced itself from the memo — which seemed to echo concerns about the Illinois Democrat’s candidacy that had been percolating in some pro-Israel circles…
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Time for an Arabic ‘Hatikva’?
It’s no secret that many of Israel’s Arab citizens do not particularly embrace Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikva,” what with its talk of the “Jewish soul” yearning for Zion for 2,000 years. Last year, Israel’s first Arab Cabinet minister, Raleb Majadele, caused quite a stir when he explained why he refuses to sing “Hatikva.” “I fail…
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How Anthony Lake Became a Jew — First in Others’ Eyes, Then Officially
Speaking before an audience at New York University’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life — where he was boosting the presidential bid of Barack Obama — former Clinton administration national security adviser Anthony Lake related the amusing story of how he was often mistaken for a Jew, sometimes allowed others to think he was a…
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Loving Us to Death?
Writing in Newsweek, Rabbi Marc Gellman argues that “America is loving her Jews to death.” Writing in Radar, “single shiksa” Amber Sutherland offers to help speed the process along.
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Marty Peretz: Obama’s Kosher on Israel
Barack Obama has managed to elicit widespread concern among the pro-Israel community, concerns that he and his campaign have worked hard to allay, but with mixed results. That’s why I bet his campaign’s pretty pleased to have New Republic editor Marty Peretz — someone whose passion for defending Israel (and badmouthing the Palestinians) is beyond…
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A Living Lens: The Forverts Reunited Nava Semel’s Family
From the mailbag: I just received a note from Israeli author and journalist Nava Semel. Ms. Semel was writing to alert us to the publication of her new book, “Israisland,” but she included a story that she rightly surmised might interest me. “My American grandfather found out that his abandoned son survived the Holocaust through…
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Why Did Josephine Baker Hire a Torah Tutor for a Non-Jewish Orphan?
The January-February 2008 issue of California magazine, U.C. Berkeley’s alumni publication, has a wacky article about famed entertainer Josephine Baker’s attempt to build a village du monde in southwestern France, where the woman who was dubbed the “Black Venus” would be able to prove that people of different races and religions could all get along….
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