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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Israeli Rightist: Conversion Is Existential Issue
The debate over conversion has been heating up, here in America and in Israel. Last week, the left-wing Israeli daily Ha’aretz weighed in with a searing editorial urging the rabbinate to stop obstructing the conversion of the masses of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not considered Jewish under halacha. This week, it’s…
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Kvetching About Ohr Somayach
Blogger David Kelsey (aka The Kvetcher) is no fan of Ohr Somayach, the Jerusalem-based ultra-Orthodox outreach organization. In post after post on his blog, the indefatigable Kelsey has kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism against Ohr Somayach, which he sees as a “fundie black hole of destruction of self” and has dubbed the “Dark…
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The Country So Nice That Bush Wants To Visit Twice?
About to make the first visit of his presidency to Israel, Presdient Bush reportedly is already planning a second trip to the Jewish state. Ha’aretz reports that Bush plans to visit again in May for a convention Israeli President Shimon Peres will hold to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state.
The Latest
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In Other Jewish Newspapers: Lubavitcher vs. Lubavitcher, It’s Raining Babies, 99% of Jews Agree
LUBAVITCHER VS. LUBAVITCHER: The leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement has won a court battle for control of their main Crown Heights synagogue against their more messianically inclined brethren, The New York Jewish Week reports. Also in the Jewish Week: Murdered Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto had long maintained a close friendship with Jewish Democratic lobbyist and…
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Forget ‘Kosher Cheeseburgers,’ Let’s Focus on Rebuilding the Temple
Rabbi David Bar-Hayim thinks Israel’s Orthodox Jews are debating the wrong things. By way of example, the rabbi points to a few silly questions that have been posed to him about food: Whether religious Jews should eat anything that looks non-kosher Whether the desire for kosher cheeseburgers indicated a character or spiritual flaw Whether one…
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Iran’s New TV Network Has No Sense of Humor
The folks who run the Web site of a new Iranian government-sponsored English-language TV network— the Islamic Republic’s answer to CNN and al-Jazeera English —apparently don’t get the concept of satire.
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Who’s Your Messiah?
“If you believe that a dead man is the messiah, does that disqualify you from converting to Judaism?” That’s the question raised in a Jerusalem Post article about an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who came to Israel under its Law of Return and was interested in converting to Judaism. While the rabbis were…
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Jew vs. Jew in Germany
The Economist offers an interesting look at Germany’s Jewish community, which has grown dramatically thanks to an influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. But it is a community deeply divided, between the native German Jews and the Russian-speaking newcomers, who now make up more than 90% of the population. The Economist reports: As…
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JVoices Announces End to Its Own Writers’ Strike
I recently engaged in some good-natured ribbing of the lefty blog JVoices over its announcement that it would cease publishing for the duration of the writers’ strike as an act of solidarity. I may have thought the JVoices gesture was a little bit silly, but, I must confess, I never expected that the big Hollywood…
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Jonah Goldberg Has Lost His Mind
National Review contributor and L.A. Times columnist Jonah Goldberg is coming out with a new book: “Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.” From the publisher’s book description on Amazon.com: Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics….
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A Living Lens: Rockville, Md.
I had the privilege to be introduced by Herman Taube, a longtime contributor to the Forverts. In his short speech, Taube — a prolific poet — told the audience that his relationship with the paper began on April 18, 1947, four days before its fabled 50th anniversary (see above picture). As Taube and his wife,…
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