(JTA) — Bentzion Coopertstock was a father of 11 children, but they weren’t the only ones who knew him as abba. Cooperstock was well-known as the abba (Hebrew for “father”) of Meron, the northern Israeli city where thousands of pilgrims gather every year to celebrate the end of a plague that killed thousands of Jews…
For thousands of years, the Jewish story has been characterized, largely, by the yearning for our homeland. Now, for the third time in history, we have a sovereign Jewish state in our ancient land. But there remains wide variation in how even Jewish Israelis view ourselves as a people-with-a-state. As Passover approaches, I’ve been thinking…
Carefully, with great precision, Hilda Namm recited the Hebrew words from the 25th chapter of the Book of Exodus. Her daughter Evelyn sat closely beside her on the couch in Hilda’s home. The two were close together, their shoulders often brushing, Hilda in a white top with a wide collar, Evelyn wearing burgundy. Evelyn handed…
(JTA) — Daniel Scully was a fanatic Cubs fan — so much so that it was his standard sign-off. Every time he hung up the phone or finished a text message, he would end with “Go Cubs.” Scully was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, the middle child of three siblings. He worked for…
Since the coronavirus outbreak, virtual cocktail parties between staff and parents have became a part of life at Charlotte Jewish Day School in North Carolina. Almost 10% of the school’s families have already said they’re not sure they’ll be able to keep paying tuition, and staff members are trying to keep communication open and soothe…
More than 10 million Americans lost their jobs in the past two weeks as a result of a coronavirus-related economic slowdown, which means that many are both struggling to provide for their families and also grappling with the social stigma and psychological ramifications of being unemployed. While a cultural emphasis on professional success is widespread…
Editor’s note: The Forward, in collaboration with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Jewish media outlets around the world, is sharing obituaries of people in the Jewish community who have died from the coronavirus or ensuing complications. Learn more here. (JTA) — Aron Halpern barely survived the Holocaust before making his way to the United States,…
(JTA) — Immanuel Chanuka was known for the care he showed to elderly members of the Copenhagen Jewish community. He would visit them in the hospital and bring them food after they were released. He didn’t own a cellular phone, so he would borrow one to call older community members and see how they were…
(JTA) — In 1944, Ronald David Bayfield dragged himself out of a burning tank and, despite suffering severe burns, carried a wounded comrade on his shoulders back to Allied territory. That act of valor during the invasion of Normandy earned Bayfield the admiration not only of the man he saved, but also of the many…
The last time I spent Passover locked in a room I was 9 years old. My uncle refused to let me sit at the Seder table so long as I insisted on wearing a Mets cap instead of a yarmulke. To this day I’m not sure whether he exiled me because he was a stickler…
(JTA) — Hours before he was rushed to hospital in Milan because of the coronavirus, Efry Levy Azizoff was chatting on the phone with his friend Amichai Lazarov. Azizoff was already feeling unwell, yet he didn’t even mention it, Lazarov recalled. “I felt that something was off, but you conveyed nothing about your discomfort,” Lazarov…
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