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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How Israeli Colleges Are Discriminating Against Ultra-Orthodox Women
The segregation of ultra-Orthodox men from women during higher education degree programs is against Israeli law, as well as a violation of educational ethics, claims a group of Israeli professors in a new appeal to Israel’s High Court. Sixteen academics from across Israeli institutions have launched a campaign to close gender segregated college- and university-level…
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How To Help Someone Who Had A Pregnancy Or Infant Loss
When Shoshana Traum lost her first baby at only five days old — after going into early labor at 27 weeks — she had no idea that there was a support group for infant loss. “When we left the hospital we didn’t know we needed help, that this would mess us up for a long,…
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11 Up-And-Coming Modest Jewish Brands You Need To Know Now
A few years ago, when fashion cycled back into more modest dress codes, the tone was distinctive in its religious flavor: modest dress wasn’t just another seasonal fashion trend, it was a revelatory moment for Christians, Muslims and Jews who ascribe to laws of modesty. A large part of this revolution was due to social…
The Latest
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Why Are Some American Jews Opting For Independent Bar Mitzvahs — Outside The Synagogue?
Some people call them “unaffiliated,” some call them “independents,” and others, “off the grid.” They’re the members of the Jewish community who don’t belong to a synagogue, or affiliate with any particular denomination. According to the oft-cited 2013 Pew Study on Jewish Americans, 22% of American Jews consider themselves Jews with no religion (a breakdown…
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Why I’m Going Back To Hebrew School — 40 Years Later
The textbook for the intensive Hebrew class that I enrolled in this past summer was called “Hebrew from Scratch”. Which didn’t technically apply to my situation, at age 48, in the Beginner Aleph classroom. Forty years earlier, living in Brooklyn and attending my neighborhood public school there, I had begun Hebrew School in Sheepshead Bay’s…
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How Jewish Day Schools Are Excluding The Disabled — And What We Can Do About It
While there are indeed monetary barriers in the American Jewish community, inequality is not restricted to only dollar signs, but also to letter grades, physical barriers, and other obstacles. This phenomenon in our community is particularly found in Jewish day schools, which experts and advocates say are remarkably behind in providing equal opportunities for those…
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‘And He Shall Rule Over You’: The Genesis of #MeToo
It has been both heartbreaking and also oddly unsurprising to see so many women in my Facebook feed identify as victims of sexual assault and harassment. I say unsurprising because, tragically, there is a human propensity to fall prey to the ugliest trappings of patriarchy. Also unsurprising because we’ve been here before – this story…
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While American Orthodox Feminists Fight for Clergy Recognition, Israeli Feminists Revolutionize Israel
In Jerusalem, at the tenth bi-annual conference of Kolech, the Religious Women’s Forum, Dr. Ronit Irshai stood up and looked around the full conference room. “Where is everyone?” she said. Irshai is a scholar of gender studies and Jewish law at Bar-Ilan University, a leading feminist and author of ground-breaking work on fertility and Jewish…
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Yeshiva University Democrats Find Their Voice — On Conservative Campus
Until Donald Trump’s election one year ago, less than eight students at Yeshiva University would attend the events organized by the school’s Democrats club. Little did they know that just a couple of months after November 8, the club would grow significantly, reaching its peak of 50 active members this year. Matthew Haller, 20, and…
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Mayim Bialik Is Right About Beauty Obsession. My Orthodox Community Can Learn From Her.
When Mayim Bialik wrote about the power of modesty, amid the promiscuous values of Hollywood — as an Orthodox Jew, I was deeply moved. Not only was it empowering to hear a Hollywood actress extol the Jewish ideals of modesty, but it also struck me as an ever-more relevant reminder for my own community. In…
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Confronting My Sexual Assaulter — 40 Years Later
I didn’t hear the screened door in the back of our house open as my cousin’s 30-year-old husband, Harold walked in. He asked me to baby-sit that night for their children. My cousin was the one who usually called. His coming over was odd. Dressed in a yellow cotton shirt and khaki pants, he stood,…
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