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When Jewish Leaders Decide To Harass College Kids — To ‘Support’ Israel
In June of 2015, one of the leading intellectuals of the Jewish establishment stood on stage in front of hundreds of American Jewish leaders and called for the community to picket outside the home of a college junior. It was the keynote speech at the American Jewish Committee’s annual conference in a year when the…
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Orthodox Panic Over Yeshiva Rules As New York Democrats Grab Reins
In the final weeks of 2018, New York’s Orthodox Jewish community went into full-blown panic mode. One Orthodox newspaper in Brooklyn, the Flatbush Jewish Journal, ran the screaming front-page headline “ATTACK ON OUR YESHIVAS!” in red, inch-high letters. “The Jewish people will not bow down or surrender to the wicked, not even before the commissioner…
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Catching Up With Amos Oz, An Urbane Rebel Of The Holy Land
Amos Oz greets me in the lobby of an elegant hotel, looking a little out of place. Like one of the characters in his new book, he is undramatically unkempt: glasses slightly askew; his gray pants and scruffy shoes melding into the background, as if he were a bus driver or a shopkeeper, someone who…
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New San Francisco Community Space Sees Protests Because Owner Is A ‘Zionist’
Manny’s, a new business in San Francisco’s Mission District, is part cafe, part bookstore, part political event hall. Owner Manny Yekutiel, a 29-year-old rising star in the world of liberal political organizing, calls it a “civic social gathering space.” It’s hosted incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, activists with Black Lives…
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Baltimore Rabbi Expelled By Reform Rabbinic Group Amid Sex Misconduct Probe
The former senior rabbi of a historic Reform synagogue in Baltimore has been expelled by the movement’s rabbinical association two months after being fired by the board for over unspecified allegations of the movement’s ethical code, Rabbi Steven Fink was fired in October after the members of Temple Oheb Shalom, a large, 165-year-old community, voted…
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Meet The Dream Defenders, Black Americans Who Embrace The Palestinian Struggle
On a chilly January morning in Nazareth, a group of young Americans of color, some swathed in kaffiyehs, performed a traditional Arab folk dance before chanting “Ferguson to Palestine, end the occupation! Ferguson to Palestine, we fight to free our nation!” Captured on a 10-minute video, the protest was entitled “Solidarity Demonstration in Nazareth: Ferguson…
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The Boxing Ring With A Mezuzah On The Door
Saturday mornings are busy in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay neighborhood, as residents run errands and grab meals. The Underground Boxing Gym on Avenue X is strangely quiet, though. No one is sparring in the ring, or punching the heavy bags that hang from the ceiling, as they are Sunday through Friday. “We’re not open on Saturday,”…
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Nikki Fried Rides Anti-Gun Wave To Unlikely Win In Divided Florida
Florida has an improbable new “farmer-in-chief,” a 40-year-old Miami-raised Jewish lawyer. Nicole “Nikki” Fried, who will become the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, won her first political race just as improbably: by picking a fight with the National Rifle Association and its iconic state lobbyist — a 79-year-old grandma who carries a gun…
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Birthright Bans ‘Hijacking Discussion’ After Anti-Occupation Walkouts
After a series of highly publicized walkouts on Taglit-Birthright trips this summer, the organization has included a ban on “hijakck(ing) a discussion” in the contract participants are required to sign to be accepted on its free 10-day trips to Israel. A new clause included in the contract appears aimed at preventing a recurrence of such…
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EXCLUSIVE: 3 Jewish Groups Work With Women’s March On Anti-Semitism
Three progressive Jewish organizations have been advising the Women’s March behind the scenes on its well-publicized issues with anti-Semitism and a sometimes-fraught relationship with the Jewish community, the Forward has learned. The National Council of Jewish Women, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Bend the Arc: Jewish Action are working with the Women’s March…
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Conservative Rabbis Can Get Kicked Out For Breaking These Four Rules
Once you’re a rabbi, you’re good for life — unlike a law or medical license, no central professional body can take the title away. And while you can get the title from a Jewish seminary, such as Hebrew Union College (Reform), Yeshiva University (Orthodox) or the Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative), there are thousands of rabbis…
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Culture Charlie Kirk kept a ‘Jewish Sabbath.’ What did he mean by that?
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