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For many synagogues, live-streamed services are here to stay after the pandemic
When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered synagogues across the nation a year ago, many congregations that previously avoided technology use on Shabbat embraced live-stream and video conferencing as the only viable and safe solution to maintaining community. Now, for many, the needle has moved, and post-pandemic, synagogues intend to keep those options available indefinitely. “I have…
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Former Soviet Union Jews eat pounds of matzah per person — the most in the world — every year. Here’s why.
(JTA) — When it comes to consuming matzah, the Jews of the former Soviet Union are in a league of their own. At the top of the chart are Azerbaijan’s 8,000 Jews, who this year are expected to consume 10 tons of the unleavened bread cracker that Jews eat on the week of Passover to…
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Your weekend reads: Passover myths debunked, NJ’s top Jewish judge, and lessons from Boulder
Each week, Forward editors pick highlights from our coverage to savor over Shabbat and Sunday. You can download and print a PDF of those stories by clicking here, or click on any of the headlines below. Have a great weekend! Your Weekend Reads. (You can download and print a PDF of these stories by clicking…
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Ladino is seeing a virtual renaissance thanks to Zoom
When professor Bryan Kirschen was asked to set up an online Ladino course by the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America last spring, he thought he would get a handful of students. Instead, he got hundreds. “It was incredible,” said Kirschen, professor of Spanish and Linguistics and co-director of the Ladino Collaboratory at Binghamton University in…
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Hasidic Brooklyn’s child matchmaker is under investigation
Read this article in Yiddish During a Hasidic teenager’s first day at a new Brooklyn yeshiva last year, the head of the school approached him to talk about arranging his marriage. “He told me, ‘Wow, you’re so cute. You’re going to find a girl fast,’” said the former student, who spoke on the condition of…
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Jewish advocacy group taps new CEO whose previous nonprofit was involved in $57M fraud scheme
Gideon Taylor was selected to succeed JCRC’s longtime executive Rabbi Michael Miller, who is stepping down in June after more than 36 years
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Leading Jewish scholars say BDS, one-state solution are not antisemitic
Boycotting Israel and calling for an end to its Jewish majority is not inherently antisemitic, according to a new definition of antisemitism released Thursday by a group of more than 200 scholars of Jewish studies. The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism represents the latest salvo in the debate over how to define anti-Jewish bigotry and is…
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Why do the Jews of India call Passover ‘The holiday of the covered clay pot with the sour liquid’?
The Bene Israel, India’s largest Jewish community, doesn’t call Passover Passover. The word in their language, Marathi, is “Anashi Dhakaicha San,” which means “The Holiday of the Closing of the Anas.” San is the word for holiday, and anas refers to a sour liquid in a pot. It makes sense that the Marathi word for…
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How is this White House Seder different from all others?
The Biden administration is hosting a virtual Passover Seder open to the general public on Thursday in a move to expand its outreach to the broader American Jewish community, the White House told the Forward on Wednesday. Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and a Member of the Tribe, is expected to…
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A new study has found that heartbeats actually harmonize during this religious ritual
Two anthropologists have discovered that the heartbeats of those who practice Sufism, a mystical dimension of the Islamic faith, beat in tandem during a communal ritual in which all of the congregants join in deep meditation or an ecstatic trance. Rabbis and cantors told the Forward they were not surprised. “Anyone who has been at…
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After King Soopers massacre, Boulder’s Jews mourn friends and neighbors
Just before authorities released the names of the victims of the Boulder, Colorado shooting, Liz Hanson woke up and got dressed, slipping into a pair of tie-dyed pants she bought at the store of her friend Lonna Bartkowiak. Moments later she learned that Bartkowiak, 49, had been shot and killed. “I found out she was…
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