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Reform seminary investigation: ‘Good old boys’ culture has left scars
The Reform movement’s seminary system has been plagued by an “old boys’ club” mentality that allowed sexual harassment, racism and discrimination against LGBTQ students to fester for decades, according an investigation released Tuesday by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The two presidents who led the school from 1971 until 2000 were both implicated in…
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NY Jewish and Latino leaders rub shoulders during Puerto Rico getaway
The annual SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico is organized to focus politicians on the priorities of New York State Latinos — but it’s in many ways a Jewish gathering too. Jewish leaders and activists were a visible presence at the event this past weekend, which drew some 800 attendees in total, including New York Gov….
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How to plan a shiva in less than two days
Since shiva starts right after the burial of the deceased, there isn’t much time to plan for it after someone dies. Planning a shiva at all – let alone in two days – can feel stressful or overwhelming, particularly as the news of the death is fresh and emotions are raw. This quick guide, which…
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Is a violent Marvel comics hero with Nazi symbolism inspiring Israeli soldiers?
This article is part of the Forward’s partnership with Shomrim, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in Israel. Click here to see the original, Hebrew version. Several Israeli soldiers and police officers have been spotted recently with a surprising emblem adorning their helmets or flak jackets: the skull worn by the Marvel comics character “The Punisher” –…
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‘The Torah is not a parenting manual’ — a mother of twins reflects on the Jacob-Esau story
This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent on Friday afternoons. Sign up here to get the Forward’s free newsletters delivered to your inbox. I was thrilled when our synagogue assigned bnei mitzvah Torah portions and our twins got “Toldot,” the coming-of-age story of the first biblical twins, Jacob…
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Decimated in the Holocaust, a Norwegian Jewish community revives
The Jewish community in Bergen — Norway’s second largest city — was decimated during World War II, when Nazis murdered 750 of Norway’s 1,700 Jews. But now Jewish life in Bergen has returned — officially. Bergen Jews created a new organization, Det Jødiske Samfunn i Bergen, last year, and the city recognized it in December….
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Why Jews, yes, Jews, should join L.A.’s street vendors struggle
I was standing on the sidewalk waiting my turn at Tacos La Guera, a street vending stand that sets up each evening between a Whole Foods parking lot and the four lane cacophony that is Lincoln Boulevard. “How many tacos?” a young man named Rafael asked me, pressing a 12-inch chef’s knife against a massive…
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Their same-sex rabbinical wedding was a historic first for the Conservative movement
(JTA) — You could call it bashert: 15 years after a landmark decision in Judaism’s Conservative movement that paved the way for gay and lesbian students to enter its rabbinical schools and for rabbis to perform same-sex weddings, it would seem like destiny that two Conservative rabbis would wed. Of course, it happened at Camp…
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‘There’s not going to be closure’: Charlottesville rabbi grapples with far-right trial
Rabbi Tom Gutherz of Charlottesville’s Congregation Beth Israel hates the story about how he and his members left via the back door that Shabbat morning in 2017 as white supremacists marched on the streets out front. It’s technically true. The synagogue had started services an hour early so they’d be done before the “Unite the…
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How the Jewish mayor of Minneapolis won re-election
Jacob Frey, the Jewish mayor from Minneapolis, breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday as he was declared the winner in a tough re-election bid after a rocky first term in which he gained national attention over issues related to police reform. In his victory speech, Frey attributed his win to the support from a…
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An L.A. museum puts the saga of Soviet Jewry on display
In the dark days of the Cold War, photographer Bill Aron, the son of a Russian émigré to Philadelphia, traveled to the Soviet Union. In Moscow, Leningrad, and Minsk, he took portraits of refuseniks— Soviet Jews who were demanding their freedom— as well as photographs of the Jewish synagogues and those worshipping there. Starting Nov….
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