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Close to crumbling, the tomb of an ancient prophet is saved in Kurdish Iraq
For nearly 30 centuries the tomb of the prophet Nahum was an important pilgrimage site for Jews in what is today Kurdish Iraq. But after the founding of Israel in 1948, all its Jewish caretakers began leaving the region, and in more recent years, the Islamic State embarked on its campaign to destroy holy sites…
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A post-Yom Kippur apology: Sorry I don’t have anything to write about this week.
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. Click here for a free printable eBook of fall holiday recipes. I have nothing to write about this week. Over the 15 months or so…
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Letter from Chicago: ’Hannah is a wreck:’ a Chicago Jewish group joins suicide prevention efforts
“Matthew died last night. I’m shocked and sorry to tell you-it’s suicide. Hannah is a wreck.” I kept rereading the text as though the words would make sense if I inspected them more closely. I grew up with Hannah (For reasons of privacy, I’m not using the family’s real names here.) She and Matthew had…
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In overlooking Judaism, did I miss a chance to find meaningful community for my adult daughter with Down syndrome?
When our 18 year old daughter Sophie, who has Down syndrome, graduates from high school next year, leaving both the school’s fine arts program and her dance studio, I fear she’ll lose her community and the relationships she’s worked for years to foster. This is the stuff that makes life worth living for all of…
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Impatience. Hopelessness. Multi-tasking. Readers share the personal sins they’re repenting for this Yom Kippur.
“For the sin of not walking through the doors God opens for me.” That was what a rabbi I dated many years ago, when I was in my 20s and living in Los Angeles, said as we performed the tashlich ritual. Tashlich literally means “casting off,” and the ritual involves tossing pieces of bread into…
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Interview: Former prime minister Ehud Olmert says the two-state solution is not dead
Ehud Olmert was one of Israel’s shortest-serving prime ministers, in office just over three years — and is the only one (so far) who has been convicted of a crime, serving 16 months in prison for bribery and obstruction of justice. Now 75, Olmert remains fully engaged in his country’s rough-and-tumble politics, as one of…
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I spoke to a Holocaust survivor’s 3D hologram. Then I phoned the survivor.
I sat down across from Renee Firestone and asked her about her life during the Holocaust. The conversation flowed: what her life was like before the war, and how she endured Auschwitz. The small, spirited 97-year-old survivor was direct and honest, answering personal questions with powerful details—all the more remarkable because the real Renee Firestone…
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Manhattan JCC, emerging from COVID-era struggles, announces new head
Rabbi Joanna Samuels is set to become the new chief executive director of the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan at the beginning of next year, marking a significant transition at one of the largest Jewish community centers in the world. Samuels will replace Rabbi Joy Levitt, who announced her plans to retire last April. Levitt has…
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Recall or not, Gavin Newsom needs to atone—and so do his critics
It’s a coincidence that the election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom falls one day before the start of Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of atonement. But it may also be fortuitous. After a contest that has been alternately brutal and silly but always expensive, polls show that Newsom is likely to retain his seat. After…
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Burlington City Council doesn’t endorse BDS — but leaves the door open
The Burlington City Council narrowly voted to withdraw a controversial resolution to boycott Israel that, if passed, would have been the first such measure approved by an American city. The vote came after hours of heated comments from citizens in a meeting that stretched from Monday evening until the early hours of Tuesday morning and…
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Sponsor puts brakes on Vermont BDS measure for fear it’s ‘one-sided’
The sponsor of a City Council resolution that would make Burlington, Vt., the first city in the United States to endorse a boycott of Israel said he is sending the measure back to committee after a torrent of opposition over the weekend convinced him that it is “a little bit one-sided.” Ali Dieng, an independent…
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