Delegitimization — it’s the new buzzword in the world of pro-Israel activism. The term, used to describe a broad spectrum of anti-Israel protests, has become a major rallying point for the American Jewish community and is the up-and-coming cause for Jewish organizations. In particular, supporters of this emerging advocacy effort point to the campaign to…
Four hours before my flight to Berlin is scheduled to depart from JFK International Airport, I stand at the check-out counter of Zabar’s, attempting to lift three overstuffed shopping bags. They contain $150 worth of coffee, babka, bagels, rugelach, hard salami, chocolate and smoked salmon — all Zabar’s own house brand — plus Melinda’s hot…
When Rabbi Dov Yonah Korn arrives for services at New York University on Friday nights, it’s like the captain of the football team has shown up at the homecoming party. As a student leads the evening prayers, Korn works the men’s side of the mechitza, doling out shakes, hugs and brotherly kisses. His sharp Borsalino…
As Passover approached, Israeli and Jewish families around the world were urged to save an empty seat around the Seder table for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held in captivity by Hamas for more than three years. The family of another missing Israeli soldier, Guy Hever, could only hope for such attention. Now his parents…
On the morning of the 99th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Esther Malka Boyarin is sweeping trash off the stoop of the Stanton Street Shul, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Boyarin is not the janitor — she’s a synagogue board member. But such distinctions are blurred at the synagogue, one of the poorest…
Shortly before noon on a sunlit weekday morning, elderly men and women begin shuffling into the basement of a Brooklyn synagogue, some with the aid of home attendants. Many of the women wear attention-grabbing print tops, large necklaces and, in a few cases, sunglasses. The men opt for their best leather shoes and a suit,…
A gay couple from Tel Aviv has petitioned Israel’s high court for the right to have a baby through a surrogate mother, an option now open only to heterosexual couples. The request by Tel Aviv spouses Etai Pinkas and Yoav Arad comes as the gay community in Israel is experiencing a small-scale baby boom. In…
The Toronto Jewish Film Festival began in 1993 with 30 films and one screen, and has mushroomed into the world’s largest Semitic cinema event, with 100 programs unspooling at four venues. The festival is notable for its fearless programming choices; executive director Helen Zukerman and her crew have consistently opted for provocative content over political…
It used to be so simple: On Sunday mornings I’d go upstairs to my grandma’s part of the house, snuggle in bed with her and sing “You Are My Sunshine.” How she kvelled. But being a grandparent now involves, for many of us, trans-Atlantic baby-sitting, or jetting down to Florida, or perhaps learning the shorthand…
Dr. Basil Hirschowitz, Medical Pioneer and Inventor, Honored With Castle Connolly National Physician of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award If you have ever had, or plan to have, an endoscopic procedure, then drink a l’chaim to South African born Forward reader Dr. Basil Hirschowitz, who was an honoree at the Castle Connolly National Physician of…
Well my name is Moses, you can call me Mo, I was found in the bulrushes ages ago. Grew up in the palace, Tutankhamen was my neighbor. We lived like kings thanks to cheap slave labor. (Snap snap) Boy! Bring me another cheese blintz– I was the first Jewish Egyptian Prince. (CHORUS) Go go! Go…
