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In Downsizing Economy, Is There a Jewish Way To Lay Off?
Behind the headlines about the massive layoffs sweeping the Jewish world are experiences like that of Rochelle Mancini. Mancini worked at the American Jewish Congress for 23 years until December, when her employer learned that it had lost much of its endowment in the alleged Ponzi scheme of Bernard Madoff. A few weeks later —…
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Israel Watches Carefully As U.S. Engages Iran
The Obama administration is moving ahead on its push to engage Iran, nearly concluding a review of its policies toward that country, and naming veteran Middle East diplomat Dennis Ross as a special adviser. As the American approach toward Iran takes shape, Israel is trying to ensure that America’s talks with Tehran are conducted only…
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Social Activism, Modern Orthodox-Style
It was a typical crowd for a Yeshiva University student event: long skirts and long sleeves for the girls, yarmulkes and tzitzis for the boys. But the January lecture featured no rabbi. And the topic was hardly typical Torah fare. Behind a lectern decorated with the university’s blue flag, Barry Gibbs, a burly Jewish Vietnam…
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Torah 2.0: Old-Line Publisher Brings Biblical Commentary Into Online World
America’s oldest Jewish publisher has embarked on a project to bring the study of Judaism’s most ancient texts into the digital age. The Jewish Publication Society, a 120-year-old organization devoted to publishing ancient and modern texts on Jewish subjects, has begun work on a project to publish the Jewish Bible, or Tanakh, as an electronic,…
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Study Kicks Off Gay Outreach Effort
Three-quarters of the rabbis who responded to an unprecedented new survey on diversity said they thought their congregations already do a “good to excellent” job of welcoming gay Jews. But for the gay Jewish advocacy group that undertook the survey, that’s precisely the problem. “Synagogues are resting on the assumption that ‘tolerance’ equals ‘welcoming,’ but…
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Coalition Negotiations Risky for Netanyahu
When it comes to assembling a governing coalition, the last thing Israel Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu wants to see is history repeating itself. During his previous stint as prime minister, from 1996 to 1999, the Likud party leader relied on a narrow hard-line coalition. That coalition pulled him in one direction, while America’s Democratic president…
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Wiesenthal Center Facing Opposition on Two Continents
Over more than three decades, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has cultivated a reputation for tracking down Nazi war criminals, speaking out against antisemitism and teaching tolerance. Now, its plans to move forward with two massive building projects, in Los Angeles and Jerusalem, are sparking a barrage of criticism that the center is acting insensitively —…
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A New Debate on Where Antisemitism Comes From
Responding to mounting signs of a resurgence of aggressive antisemitism in Europe and elsewhere, the British government recently hosted an unusual gathering to discuss ways of fighting the threat. Known as the London Conference on Combating Antisemitism, the mid-February gathering brought together 125 members of parliaments from 40 nations for two days of emotional calls…
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At Last, Pomedorn!
A t last, tomatoes! Forward reader Herbert Hoffman’s request to know why they are called *pomedorn *in Yiddish finally gets its answer. There are actually two answers, a short and a long one. The short one is that Yiddish *pomedor *(the singular form) comes from the same word in Polish. The long one is that…
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Deconstructing Cholent
The first time I came face to face — or rather, spoon to mouth — with a bowl of cholent, at the age of 24, I had no idea what it was. While I was growing up in a nonobservant home, my family had no need for such a meal, a hearty stew that simmers…
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The Paper Bag Players, 50 Years Young
When a 10-foot-tall woman made out of cardboard boxes continually knocks a man off the park bench the two are sitting on, causing his bowler to spin to the corner of the stage but his smile barely to waver, you know that you are either at avant-garde or children’s theater. If the props are made…
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