Video: Nate Lavey A year and a half after the ouster of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the president of the Tunisian Jewish community is wistful for the one-party government that ruled the country for decades. “You cannot find a better government than what we had,” said Roger Bismuth, who has held the…
In their recent crafting of gay and lesbian marital rites, three Conservative rabbis altered the most fundamental piece of the traditional Jewish marriage ceremony: the liturgy of kiddushin. But rather than feel excluded, some gay Jews say they are relieved to be exempt from kiddushin, the part of the ceremony in which one partner —…
In this week’s podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis talks with Nate Lavey about his recent trip to Tunisia and the status of the country’s Jews. Then, Josh reports back on his recent trip to a cemetery convention where concerns ranged from how to handle trusts to missing bodies, voodoo and cow tongues. Finally, editor Jane Eisner…
In the scenic and enchanting lands of Transylvania, the ashes of a dead fascist have sparked a diplomatic incident. On May 27, the remains of Hungarian writer and politician Jozsef Nyiro were supposed to be reburied in the Romanian town of Odorheiu Secuiesc. The village is today heavily populated with Hungarians, as it was part…
Jacob Goldstein, colonel and Army Reserve chaplain, introduced the keynote speaker,Sidney Shachnow, a retired major general of the U.S. Army and a former commanding general of U.S. Army Special Forces Command, at the Jewish Community Memorial Day Event, held at The Jewish Center, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, on May 23. Wearing a camouflage yarmulke…
The Forward won awards for reporting and opinion writing in the Deadline Club’s 2012 contest sponsored by the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Staff writer Paul Berger and Editor-in-Chief Jane Eisner both won Deadline Club awards, marking the fourth consecutive year the Forward has won prizes in the prestigious competition. “Jane…
Jewish Democrats Brad Sherman and Howard Berman were headed for a face-off in the November general election after the two congressmen finished as the top two vote-getters in the June 5 primary. Sherman led with 42% of the vote, compared to 32% for Berman, with five other candidates, including three Republicans, trailing far behind. Under…
Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “Homosexuality is shameful” could cause a public school student to be disciplined for offending classmates, federal courts have ruled. But religious students say they should be free to express their beliefs — even if they are homophobic, racist or otherwise offensive — without being punished, especially in a…
Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas has written an e-book that recounts his fraught relationship with actor and director Mel Gibson and Gibson’s desire to write a “Jewish Braveheart.” “Heaven and Mel,” a 30,000-word Kindle e-book published by Amazon, had been scheduled for release on June 6, but was released four days earlier after news of its existence…
Despite an aggressive and widely distributed campaign of protest emails, only a cluster of demonstrators showed up to oppose the New York Israel Day Parade’s inclusion of several dovish groups among those marching June 3. As they marched down Fifth Avenue, the targeted groups such as the New Israel Fund, B’Tselem USA and Partners for…
Politics and music mixed as easily as kosher hot dogs and Israeli flags on June 3 at the Celebrate Israel Concert in New York’s Central Park, an informal conservative-tinged afterparty to the annual parade down Fifth Ave. The entrance to Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield required passing through two security checkpoints (replete with a assault weapon-toting…
