In a newsletter we sent out last week, we asked readers what they made of the recent spate of stories about instances of anti-Semitic vandalism, and what they thought it meant for American Jews. More than 140 of you wrote in to respond. Below, we’ve picked out some of your answers. Bear in mind that…
In a storyline that, like El Niño, sweeps around pretty reliably every four years or so, Republicans are planning a new gambit to win Jewish votes in the lead-up to the presidential race. This year, they say, it’s different. The Republican Jewish Coalition was at the center of the political world this weekend, playing host…
The mosque massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand that killed 50 Muslims last month was the work of a white supremacist, as was the murder of Jews, also at prayer, in November. These headline-grabbing incidents are the products of a global movement working largely behind the scenes, experts say. It’s diffuse and hard to track or…
President Trump and Vice President Pence will be speaking Saturday at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s National Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas. While both men have spoken at RJC events before, bringing in the sitting president and vice president for the same weekend event is a major coup for any political group and shows the growing…
Rafi Lehmann attends Shabbat services every single week at Princeton University’s Center for Jewish Life, the elite university’s affiliate of the Jewish student organization Hillel. But this Friday, he won’t be eating challah in the dining hall – he’ll be protesting outside it. That’s because Lehmann and the club he helps lead, the Alliance of…
Yeshiva University’s high school hosted a gay conversion therapist at a recent Parent Education Night, the Forward has learned. Dr. Gavriel Fagin, who runs a Brooklyn-based counseling service, spoke to parents of students at the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, stylized as MTA, at a mandatory event Monday. The website for Fagin’s practice, Tikun Counseling, advertises…
Esperanza, a domestic worker in a suburb of New York City, cleans the homes of four ultra-Orthodox families every week for $12 an hour. About a month ago, the mother of one of the families called Esperanza and told her not to come: All seven of her children, including her seven-month-old baby girl, had measles….
Update, 10:17 p.m.: This article was updated on April 1, 2019 to include context in the first three paragraphs about why Merrick Garland’s name is repeatedly invoked in national partisan debate. It happens regularly. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bemoan what he calls the Democrats’ reluctance to confirm many of President Trump’s nominees, as…
No matter where a Jew is, Shabbat starts at sundown. Except when it doesn’t, as at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. There, due to Air Force orders, services for the Jewish Sabbath start hours before the light begins to fade. The rabbi, Captain Shaul Rappeport, lives placidly with this quirk of custom. It’s…
Four pebbles balance on the headstone of Rose Gitlin, signs of a Jewish rite so ancient its origins are unknown. The Talmud says stones root departed souls to the earth. They also last longer than flowers. The superstitious offer them as a protection against demons and golems. Above Rose Gitlin’s name, below the stones, an…
Update, March 25, 2019, 3:01 p.m.: Adds that William Sullivan was arrested and charged with a hate crime. An organic health and vitamin store in New York state’s hippie-chic Hudson Valley was a surprising place to experience anti-Semitism and then a lack of sympathy, but 18-year-old Sarah Shabanowitz said that’s what happened to her. And…
