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Love and Translation
My mother and I used to fight about translation. These were not genteel disagreements but passionate, intemperate shouting matches. She would say: “That’s not what I meant! You twisted my words. Why can’t you just translate what I wrote?” I would say: “Because it’s not English; you can’t say that in English!” Or, “It’s too…
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Giving Mom the Ultimate Art Party
Allen Salkin rose early one recent Saturday morning, padded into the kitchen of his apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and started baking. One tart tartine, two grapefruit and blueberry pies, three cherry pies and a dozen spinach pies later, Salkin flung open the door of a small gallery on the ground floor of his…
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Sign Language of the Times
In feature films, the deaf have made for exotic yet sympathetic characters. From Jane Wyman as the saintly eponymous innocent in “Johnny Belinda” (1948) to Marlee Matlin’s Oscar-winning turn as a self-possessed, sexually confident woman in “Children of a Lesser God” (1986), the portrayal of deaf characters measures our society’s slow acknowledgment that the deaf…
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Israel Loses a Real Opposition
In Israel, some say a new phase of stability has begun. To others, what lies ahead is an era of unaccountability. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bombshell of a governing deal with Israel’s major opposition party leaves the government with no other faction in parliament of significant size opposed to it. After Netanyahu consummated his coalition…
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Liberating Washington’s Letter, Recalling Sendak
In this week’s podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis talks with children’s book author Laurel Snyder about beloved author Maurice Sendak, who died this week. Then Forward fellow Naomi Zeveloff interviews Forward intern Charles McLagan about his experiences attending Jewish day schools. Finally, Forward staff writer Paul Berger stops by to discuss his series of articles about…
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Looking Back: May 18, 2012
100 Years Ago in the Forward The criminal trial of one Joseph Toblinsky opened in the courtroom of Judge Siebury. Tablinsky is renowned as one of the most fearsome gang leaders on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In fact, his gangs allegedly extort money from thousands of local businessmen. No stranger to New York City courtrooms,…
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Lucette Lagnado Recalls “Jewish” Egypt at American Friends of Rabin Medical Center Luncheon
At the American Friends of Rabin Medical Center’s April 26 luncheon, held at the restaurant Fifteen Central Park West, guest speaker Lucette Lagnado recalled an Egypt where “Jews, Muslims and Christians lived side by side until 1953.” She explained, “There was once a vigorous 80,000-strong Jewish community between Cairo and Alexandria; what is left now…
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Romney Dated Jewish Girl in High School
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had a Jewish high school girlfriend, the Washington Post reported May 10. That girlfriend, who dated Romney only briefly, was Mary Fisher, the daughter of Max Fisher, known as the “dean of the Jewish Republicans.” Mary Fisher later became a prominent HIV/AIDS activist. According to the Washington Post, Romney…
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Washington’s Iconic Letter To Be Displayed
After a decade hidden from view, one of the most important documents in American history is set to burst back onto public display, the Forward has learned. George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, in which the first president vowed that America would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution…
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Forward Campaign Led to Letter’s Release
The Forward’s campaign to return to public view George Washington’s iconic letter on religious freedom started when reporter Paul Berger attended a lecture more than a year ago. Jonathan Sarna, one of the foremost historians of American Jewry, told the group that the original letter – one of the most important documents in American history…
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Jewish Groups Back Obama on Gay Marriage
Jewish leaders praised President Barack Obama’s statement that he personally supports gay marriage. “I am pleased that the President has made a decisive statement in support of marriage equality,” said National Jewish Democratic Council chair Marc R. Stanley in an emailed statement. “President Obama has admirably continued to demonstrate the values of tikkun olam in…
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