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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Torah Study Is Becoming One Big Crowdsourcing Project, With Launch Of ‘929 English’
Israeli website “929” — devoted to the study of all 929 chapters of Tanakh (Scripture) — just announced that it is launching an English-language website on Monday. The website, and its app, invites participants to “read the Tanakh from cover to cover, one chapter a day – five per week”, and currently gets around 270,000…
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Meet The Sheitel Fairy Godmother, Providing Wigs To Needy Orthodox Women
Staci Segal is on a mission to get sheitels, the wigs worn by married Orthodox women, into the hands and onto the heads of those that do not have the means to afford them. According to Segal, the starting cost for a decent sheitel made of human hair, the preferred material starts at $500 and…
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What It’s Really Like To Be An Extra For ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’
While the Concord may have closed twenty years ago, I recently chanced on a glimpse of what it once was to be a resort guest at the grandest of Catskills resorts, circa 1959. It all started with the flyer. I’m sure it circulated around the Upper West Side faster than word of Loehmann’s demise. …
The Latest
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Being Single In A Marriage-Obsessed Community Is Tough — Whether You’re Jewish, Muslim Or Mormon
In religious communities, the pitied are often easily noticeable. In some communities, it is distinct to where they live and what positions they hold. In others, what they are allowed to wear. In all, it’s as obvious as a naked finger. “No wedding band,” someone whispers in performative sympathy, fondling her own glittery ring. “Poor…
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Orthodox Scientist Develops ‘MonitHer’ To Detect Breast Cancer At Home
A handheld ultrasound is being developed so that women can monitor their own breasts at home, allowing for a speedier detection of breast cancer. The brains behind the product, Orthodox Jew Yehudit Abrams, is a former biomedical scientist at NASA, but has changed gears in her career to focus on the software of this product,…
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I Don’t Want To Marry Young — Despite Pressure From My Syrian Jewish Community
When my ancestors escaped Aleppo decades ago, settling in what is today’s 60,000-strong Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn — they had left Syria behind, but brought with them our language, food, and values. For the community’s women, the expectations were clear: Women wed young, had children, and became shaatras — the ultimate homemakers. While our…
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Hasidic Judge Ruchie Freier Is Starring In A New Film
(JTA) — Like many heavily Orthodox sections of Brooklyn, Borough Park has been served for decades by an all-male volunteer ambulance corps called Hatzalah. The corps caters to a religious Jewish community with particular needs and customs — including one custom that can increase the tension for patients in already stressful emergency situations. The strict…
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Twitter Debilitated Me. Here’s Why You Should Quit.
On July 15th, 2017, I went off Twitter. I closed my account and waited for the digital tremens to hit me. As it happened, my bout was brief; I picked up my phone with intent, the way 25 years ago, having sworn off smoking, I’d rummaged around for a stale pack of cigarettes. But now…
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After ISIS, Secrets Of Jewish Mosul Emerge From The Rubble
One year after Iraq’s second largest city was liberated from the clutches of ISIS, Mosul’s diverse and rich past is slowly coming back to life. One of the most fascinating sites to emerge after the defeat of ISIS has been one of the ancient Jewish synagogues of Mosul. ISIS took control of Mosul in June…
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The Other Intermarriage Crisis
The seven couples sat in a circle staring at each other warily. Many of them had come to the gathering with deep reservations, but also a sense of hope that it would be the start of something better. All of them were grappling with a strong sense of being stuck between two worlds. One of…
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Jewish Facebook Was My Synagogue. Until Racists Crashed The Party.
As a Jew of color, I found my Jewish community — of all places — on Facebook. It was there that I could find other like-minded Jews. It was there, on ‘Jewbook’ as we called it, that I could be unafraid to be different — among the spaces for Jews of color and queer Jews,…
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