A fledgling American nonprofit group seeking to raise money for non-Orthodox congregations in Israel is meeting stiff resistance from a fund-raising arm of the Conservative movement. The new group, Kehillot B’ Yachad (“Congregations Together”), said it has compiled a 15,000-person e-mail list from contacts listed on synagogue Web sites. KBY is using the list to…
The new Jewish year of 5766 that began this week will be called in Hebrew “Tashsav,” after the four letters, e-q-y-z, whose numerical equivalent is 766. (z in Hebrew numerology equals 400; y, 300; q, 60; and e, 6 — the remaining 5,000 generally being unexpressed, although it can be indicated by putting the letter…
I’ve been getting up at five in the morning for the past two months. It would be nice if this new schedule granted me some insight into the human condition or the plight of the sick, but my observations are on a smaller scale. A lot more people than you might think are up that…
As a mom, and as a person of faith, I’m struggling to figure out what to tell Josie about Hurricane Katrina. Throughout the year, but especially around the High Holy Days, we ponder life and death, justice and mercy. Katrina — the hurricane and the human response to it — gives those issues special immediacy….
He was a new teacher, not yet 30, and I was a student, barely 17, when we first talked. I never sat in his classroom; we met in the very non-teacherly environment of Model U.N., for which he enthusiastically led our school’s delegation. But from the moment I met him, Rabbi Alan Stadtmauer became one…
Of all the cultural practices associated with American Jews, the Kol Nidre appeal, I used to think, has got to be among the most ill-considered, let alone poorly timed, of rituals. No sooner do American Jews, most of whom have not set foot inside a synagogue since the previous Yom Kippur, take their seats, than…
As national Democrats express glee at the troubles of Rep. Tom DeLay, Texas Jews are greeting his problems with mixed emotions. DeLay, the Republican from Sugar Land, Texas, who was forced to step down as House majority leader last week because of an indictment on a campaign finance charge, counts both staunch friends and foes…
“We are seeing a struggle between those who value science wherever it leads… and those who truly would like to turn the clock back,” Senator Hillary Clinton said. Clinton was the keynote speaker at Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine 50th Anniversary Gala, held September 18 at The Waldorf-Astoria. “I’m worried that there are…
Israeli officials are becoming more and more irritated –– despite repeated concessions and a formal agreement between Washington and Jerusalem –– by their inability to end their dispute with the Bush administration over Israeli arms sales to China, a top Israeli political figure told the Forward this week. “There was a series of mistakes, but…
Note: this recipe makes a very large pot of soup – if you are not feeding a large crowd you can half the recipe or freeze a few portions of the soup. Its great to have individual portions of soup you can pull out of your freezer and take to work, or to have a…
FORWARD FORUM Since the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees was established 55 years ago, the number of Palestinians registered on its dole has expanded exponentially. What was originally intended as a temporary agency has become a vast entitlement program, feeding, housing and clothing tens of thousands of people and providing free…
