The Yiddish Forward devoted a page in its October 10 edition to Sukkot and Simchat Torah. These holidays are, like Thanksgiving, related to the harvest time. Indeed, some believe that the colonial Thanksgiving was based on the Puritans’ reading of the Old Testament. Sukkot runs for several days and closes with the reading of the…
For the last two months I’ve been teaching a course titled “Plagues and Politics: The Impact of AIDS on U.S. Culture” at Dartmouth College, and have spent an enormous amount of time thinking about the AIDS pandemic. So when the political flap over the historical accuracy of “The Reagans” — the CBS miniseries on the…
UNITED NATIONS — The administration has indicated that it would vote in favor of the first resolution introduced by Israel to the United Nations General Assembly in 27 years. The resolution, which is on the protection of children, was to be formally introduced in the third committee of the General Assembly on Wednesday in response…
On September 11, 2001, Julie Salamon threw her sense of altruism aside, gathered up her children and sought out a safe place to hide in her East Side apartment. For Salamon, a lifelong do-gooder, her human instinct came as a complete surprise. Her sense of shame grew even stronger as she watched her husband’s earnest,…
MINNEAPOLIS — In recent years, the leaders of Reform Judaism have instituted a slew of changes geared toward transforming worship in their synagogues and strengthening the religious observance of their followers. But, until last week, one thing had remained the same, the name of the movement’s congregational arm: The Union of American Hebrew Congregations. At…
WASHINGTON — With American and international support building for an alternative Middle East peace plan opposed by Prime Minister Sharon, several Jewish groups stepped up their attacks on the initiative and its supporters. Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Zionist Organization of America publicly rebuked Secretary of State Colin Powell this week for sending a…
UNITED NATIONS — The United States is embarking on the most comprehensive campaign in years to reduce the number of anti-Israel resolutions routinely passed by the United Nations General Assembly. Top State Department officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, have lobbied capitals, ministers and diplomats in recent months to reduce the number of votes…
Nate Levine may have cracked the JCC code. About a quarter-century ago, when Levine was a recent college graduate handing out gym towels at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, he overheard people talking about the JCC’s need for a new, modern facility. Private fitness clubs, with their seemingly inexhaustible budgets for equipment and…
• In the special literature section: New works by Gennadi Estraikh and Boris Carlow, and a “found manuscript” from the poet Misha Mogulevitsh. • In the “World of Yiddish”: A new Israeli film on Yiddish receives praise from professor Yitskhok Niborski, a rare appearance in New York by the Israeli Yiddish actor Yankev Bodo, and…
A leading critic of Mel Gibson’s controversial film about the death of Jesus has resigned from his post at the Anti-Defamation League. Eugene Korn, the ADL’s director of interfaith affairs, told the Forward that his resignation last week represented a “mutual decision” resulting from his need for “a more reflective and contemplative environment.” Korn’s departure…
JERUSALEM — Israelis often suppose that their long history of warfare, capped by three years of bloody intifada, have all but immunized them against life’s more mundane fears and anxieties. But nothing could have prepared them for the sheer terror raised this week by the specter of tainted baby food. That terror swept the Jewish…
