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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Bintel Brief: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Answers Your Questions
With books like “Kosher Sex,” “Dating Secrets of the Ten Commandments” and “Judaism for Everyone” and his television series “Shalom in the Home” on The Learning Channel, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has brought an unabashedly Jewish perspective on family life and relationships to a popular audience. For the next month, he’ll be giving our readers some…
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In Other Jewish Newspapers: Monsters in Our Torah, Palestine Removed, A Gossip-Monger’s Journey, Etc.
HARRY POTTER’S JEWISH MONSTERS: The “Harry Potter” series has no shortage of Orthodox Jewish critics, what with its focus on magic and its Shabbat release date. “But”, Rabbi Natan Slifkin notes in Brooklyn’s Jewish Press, “some of the most striking inhabitants of Harry’s world are very much part of Torah. Many of the strange beasts…
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Is Noah Feldman The N.Y. Times’ New Jayson Blair?
The Orthodox Union waded into the Noah Feldman debate with guns a-blazin’ today. With a press release titled, “Noah Feldman as the ‘Jewish Jayson Blair’?” the O.U.’s Institute for Public Affairs charged that both Feldman and The New York Times Magazine, where the Harvard legal scholar’s much-discussed July 22 critique of Modern Orthodoxy appeared, “knew…
The Latest
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Roto: Rebuilding the Temple — in Wellesley, Mass.
Judy Avnery, Limud director at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, Mass., writes: The students of the Limud program (grades K-5) built this replica of the Second Temple made of 35,000 Lego bricks specially ordered from Denmark. Building a replica of Jerusalem’s old Temple connected these 365 young Jewish learners from Temple Beth Elohim to what…
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.1% of French Jewry Leaves in a Single Day
Last week, more than 600 French Jews (out of a total Jewish population estimated at between 500,000 and 600,000) made aliyah to Israel. While a participant quoted by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency cited the pull of Israel and insisted that she wasn’t “running away from France,” it’s likely, at least for some of the new…
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Bintel Brief: Alan Dershowitz on ‘Scooter’ Libby and Jonathan Pollard
Prof. Dershowitz, I was very interested to see that you argued for the commutation of the prison sentence of Scooter Libby. You see, I know this guy who is 20 years into a life sentence. He was a Navy analyst and got caught spying for another country. Did he deserve to go to jail? Sure,…
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Scientologists and More
Forward book critic Mark Oppenheimer is hosting a new podcast called Castaway, hosted by NewHavenIndependent.org, a new site founded by alt-press veteran Paul Bass. We’re biased, but if the first episode — in which Mark snags the president of the Church of Scientology for a rare lengthy interview — is any indication, Castaway is about…
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Books Happy Birthday, Harry
Dutch writer Harry Mulisch turned 80 yesterday. “I have a theory that everybody has an absolute age which he will always have,” he said in an interview. “My absolute age is 17.”
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The New He-Brewer
The baseball world is abuzz over Brewers third-baseman Ryan Braun, whose numbers in the big leagues make a compelling case for Rookie of the Year. Braun impressed the club in his first spring training game, going four for five with a grand slam, a three-run homer, a double, a single and a stolen base. Since…
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In Other Jewish Newspapers: Draft Dodgers, Ellison vs. Foxman, Cannabis Confessions, Etc.
HEBREW SCHOOL: Broward County residents packed a school board meeting to debate a planned Hebrew-language charter school, The Florida Jewish News reports. Some have expressed concerns that the proposed public school would inappropriately feature religious content. “My older brother learned Hebrew in a [public] high school in New York, and I was originally excited about…
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Good News on the Palestinian Front
This seems encouraging: Ha’aretz reports that Palestinian proponents of liberal democracy are mobilizing to provide an alternative to the gunman kleptocracy of Fatah on the one hand and the Islamist theocracy of Hamas on the other. An earlier attempt in this vein, in which now prime minister Salam Fayyad took a leading role, yielded paltry…
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Sports First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
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Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
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News Christians are displaying menorahs in their windows post-Bondi Beach attack. Why some Jews object
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Politics This politician refused to say ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ then blamed ‘political correctness’ for the backlash
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Fast Forward Just before Hanukkah attack, Jewish mayor of Bondi Beach region had been praised for fighting antisemitism
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Fast Forward Vance says ‘religious liberty is a Christian concept.’ Where does that leave Jews?
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Culture 26 conceivably believable pop culture predictions for 2026
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Culture A new organization aims to combat antisemitism and spread Jewish joy in New York’s theater industry
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