This month marks the 70th anniversary of the German occupation of Budapest, which began on March 19, 1944. In 2006, my husband and I went to Budapest to see as much as possible that related to Jewish life during that horrendous time. Sixty-two years had passed since my second cousins, Eva and Alice Eismann, had…
Ruth Willig thought she was done moving homes. The 90-year-old moved into Prospect Park Residence, a Brooklyn assisted living facility, four years ago, and expected to remain there until her death. But last week, the management of the predominantly Jewish residence made an unpleasant announcement: everyone must leave within 90 days. “I was devastated. I…
He may lack the cachet and recognition of the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman, but in the federal government’s sprawling bureaucracy, Ira Forman is the only official tasked with identifying and addressing anti-Semitism worldwide on behalf of the United States. Now, suddenly, with Ukraine in crisis, Forman’s usually low-profile brief is front and center, as he…
Sam Lewis was my friend, my boss and my teacher through some tough and turbulent times, and taught me more about diplomacy than almost anyone. Sam, who died in his home in Virginia on March 10 at 83, was not just another career diplomat, especially when it came to Israel. After serving eight years as…
The Seesaw is a new kind of advice column in which a a broad range of columnists will address the real life issues faced by interfaith couples and families. Join the discussion by commenting on this post, sharing it on Facebook or following the Forward on Twitter. And keep the questions coming. You can email…
(JTA) — When even Russian policemen had to pass security checks to enter the Sochi Winter Olympics, Rabbi Berel Lazar was waved in without ever showing his ID. Lazar, a Chabad-affiliated chief rabbi of Russia, was invited to the opening ceremony of the games last month by President Vladimir Putin’s office. But since the event…
The owner of a travel site claims a Jewish air traveler cheated death when he decided not to fly on Shabbat — and avoided being on board doomed Malaysia Airlines flight 370. The lucky globetrotter changed his mind about booking the flight last Saturday after an observant travel agent refused to book the flight from…
A small Baltimore synagogue that pioneered use of bitcoin has decided to stop accepting the virtual exchange for donations after a leading exchange collapsed amid reports of seven-figure losses. Congregation Tiferes Yisroel had no relationship with MtGox, which declared bankruptcy over the snafu, and did not lose money when the bitcoin exchange went under. But…
(JTA) — News that Spain is proposing to offer citizenship to the descendants of Jews expelled in the 15th and 16th centuries spread like wildfire in Israel. Within hours of the Spanish government’s announcement last month, the Israeli website Ynet published a list of family names supposedly eligible for citizenship that contained some obviously Ashkenazi…
Mort Klein has been overwhelmingly reelected national president of the ZOA, beating Steven Goldberg, the first election challenger in Klein’s 20 years at the ZOA’s helm. Klein won a landslide victory victory in the election held Sunday afternoon at the ZOA’s national convention in Philadelphia, earning 93% of the vote, or 115 votes, to Goldberg’s…
When I was 18 years old I lived for six months with a family in the provincial Russian city of Novgorod. It was 1995, just four years after the fall of the Soviet Union, and I was the first Englishman that most people in Novgorod had ever met. My host family and their relatives had…
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