If 2010 is a year of economic transition, Jennifer George is riding the wave. George, 31, began this school year filling in for a kindergarten teacher on maternity leave at Adelson Educational Campus, a Las Vegas Jewish community school. But since November 1, she’s been working in the school’s development office. “It’s weird not being…
For David Goldstein, who grew up in an Orthodox household but has largely abandoned religion, it is still a thrill to hear his children speak Yiddish. Having them learn the language at the school run by the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring is Goldstein’s way of passing on the things he thinks are most fundamental about Jewish…
The Obama administration’s announcement that attempts to extend the Israeli settlement freeze was met with an outburst of joy among Israel’s pro-settler politicians and also from an unlikely source — Democratic congressman Gary Ackerman, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia. “I sincerely hope this decision represents a strategic shift in…
Eric Cantor is in for another two years of lighting the Republican congressional menorah on his own. Randy Altschuler, who represented the last chance for getting another Jewish Republican elected, conceded Wednesday to incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop. It was the only House race still contested after the November elections and both sides were following each…
America’s largest pro-Israel group is no longer a Jewish one. Or at least that’s what one might gather from Christians United for Israel’s recent announcement that it now has more than 500,000 members. In its November 30 press release touting the milestone, CUFI boasted that this makes it “by far the largest pro-Israel organization in…
Stanley Fischer, a Litvak From Rhodesia (Now Zambia) Who Transformed Israel’s Economy, Honored at Yivo Institute for Jewish Research Benefit, at N.Y. Public Library “I was born in Lusaka, Northern Rhodesia [now Zambia]… a true Litvak,” began Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel and honoree at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research’s December…
This quickly written e-mail is classic Irene Backalenick, consumed by her search for well-written plays, memorable acting and script-faithful yet thought-provoking directing: “i’m trying to work this one out….the fringe festival, with its numerous plays, is all over downtown manhattan, scattered in place and overlapping in time….it’s difficult to schedule, but i’m planning to write…
Republican Joe Straus was elected speaker of the Texas House of Representatives in late 2009, but ever since this November’s elections he has been working to fend off challenges to his leadership coming from Tea Partiers and conservatives in his own party. Above the ground, the debate is over politics and conservative values (Straus’ opponents…
The Obama administration is still in full-court-press mode on the ratification of the New START treaty, still hoping to get a vote during the lame duck congressional session. The treaty has broadbased support in the U.S. and abroad, and passage is a top priority for President Obama, but a conservative minority opposing it is digging…
This year, New Year’s Eve falls on a Friday. The auspicious convergence offers an extra opportunity to party, or to infuse the Sabbath table with even more simcha (joy) — and also to celebrate a Jewish bartender who fuses his faith with his passion for spirits. The Forward spoke with Ari Moffic Silver, a former…
“Saving the world” is a loaded proposition. The children of the 1980s and ‘90s, who heard that phrase have come of age and are often called apathetic, self-absorbed and quietly glued to their screens. Not the case, says Courtney Martin, an editor at Feministing.com and a senior correspondent for the American Prospect Online. Her new…
דאָס בוך איז גרונטיק געפֿאָרשט, לעבעדיק אָנגעשריבן — אָבער אידעאָלאָגיש באַפֿאַרבט
