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My Quixotic Hunt for Bernie Sanders’ Kibbutz
It’s a constant of virtually every profile written about Bernie Sanders: Shortly after college, the Vermont senator now running for president volunteered at an Israeli kibbutz. Depending on the writer, this detail might speak to Sanders’s Jewish identity, his stance on Israel, or his socialist values. Were any or all of these honed in the…
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Was Battle Against Iran Deal a Noble Crusade — or Epic Flop?
The TV ads attacking the Iran nuclear deal are still being aired in dozens of states, voters are still organizing congressional call-ins and hundreds of top pro-Israel activists still plan to fly into Washington for a last-minute push when Congress returns from recess. But the fight is over. With Senator Barbara Mikulski’s September 2 announcement…
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The Full Transcript of Forward Editor-in-Chief’s Interview With Obama
Here is the transcript of Jane Eisner’s interview with President Obama on Friday, August 28 in the Oval Office. The questions have been edited slightly for clarity. His responses are published here in full. JANE EISNER: You have been generous in explaining the Iran deal to all sorts of people, so I want to focus…
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President Barack Obama Speaks to Jews in Historic Interview With the Forward
At the end of my interview with President Obama the morning of Friday, August 28, after he had defended with lawyerly precision the pending multinational nuclear agreement with Iran and voiced a determined optimism that the toxic relations between his administration and Israel will be repaired, I asked him a more personal question. He had…
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Is Modern Orthodoxy Reaching Its Breaking Point?
A white rabbi and black minister (this isn’t the start of a joke) link arms and are swept up in the sound of a gospel song. Not only the two clergymen. As the song soars, an entire congregation is on its feet in this Orthodox house of prayer and the congregants are trying to overcome…
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Barack Obama Reaches Out to Jewish ‘Family’ on Iran and Israel
President Obama sought to reach out to Jews as “family” Friday as he made a dramatic new appeal for support of the nuclear deal with Iran — and vowed to repair the damaged relationship with Israel. In an hour-long webcast address sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of…
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Mahmoud Abbas Builds $13M Presidential Palace
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is reportedly having a $13-million luxurious presidential palace built near Ramallah despite his government facing a $2-billion deficit. According to the Times of Israel and several other Israeli news outlets, the project, which includes two helipads, is listed on the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction website devoted to…
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Reading the Talmud in a Most Unlikely Place — Iran’s Holy City
The Shia holy city of Qom teems with mosques, mullahs and madrassas. So, it was a little surprising to hear Qom religious scholar Hossein Soleimani’s response when I asked him to name his favorite writers. “Adin Steinsaltz, for his translation of the Talmud,” he responded promptly. “And also Martin Buber.” Soleimani was one of several…
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Pew Study Finds Orthodox Similar to Evangelical Christians — Not Other Jews
Wearing black hats or donning small yarmulkes, Orthodox Jews represent a distinct subgroup within the Jewish community — more observant, more conservative and more insular. But the revelation in a report released today by the Pew Research Center is that Orthodox Jews vote, believe, worship, act and raise their children more like white evangelical Protestants…
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3 Iran Deal Opponents Call for More Civil Debate
Three New York Democratic lawmakers called for more substance and fewer personal attacks in the debate on the agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. Reps. Eliot Engel, Nita Lowey and Steve Israel released a statement Tuesday supporting a “serious debate” over the agreement. The statement criticized comarisons between the deal and the Holocaust, as well as…
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Is Birthright To Blame for Sexual Harassment on Trip?
Taglit-Birthright Israel sends 200 groups of young adult Jews to Israel each year. This summer alone, the program hosted 30,000 participants, an all-time record. Many of those participants say that Birthright is a life-changing experience. But something went very wrong on a trip in early June, and those involved assert that the organizer’s lax regulation…
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