For 125 years, the Forward has delivered accurate, timely and nuanced news to American Jews. From breaking news to in-depth investigations, our reporting team covers the people, institutions and issues that define the many ways to be Jewish in the…
News
-
1,000 Mitzvot Down, She’s Still Doing Good
About a month after her father passed away in 2006, Linda Cohen awoke in the middle of the night with an idea. Cohen had been looking for a better way to grieve for her father, one that would both honor his generosity and improve the world around her — something that went beyond saying Kaddish…
-
Transgender Jews May Be Nothing New
There is always that question of what the shtetl Jews who populate the stories of writers like Sholom Aleichem might think about a transgender folk-punk band named Schmekel, which will be appearing October 29 at the Nehirim Queer Shabbaton, at the JCC in Manhattan. Bands like Schmekel, which uses Yiddish as an alternative culture to…
-
Christian Backers of Israel Reach Out to Blacks
Once known for their work together on civil rights, African Americans and Jews have experienced decades of contention over a range of issues since the 1960s. But now, some in the pro-Israel community see an opportunity to reconstitute a black-Jewish alliance centered on Israel. With the coming of age of a new generation of black…
The Latest
-
Young Writers Ask What Is Next To Occupy
For the Torah Shall Go Forth to Zuccotti Park, and the Word of God to Wall Street By David A.M. Wilensky Jews of my parents? generation were broadly involved in the protests of their youth: marching in Selma, Ala; riding for freedom; marching on Washington. Given that, the attempt by the establishment and by politically…
-
Noam Shalit: ‘I Just Hugged Him’
Noam Shalit, father of the recently released Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, spoke to the press near his home in Mitzpe Hila on Tuesday night, saying that his son had finally returned home after a long and exhausting battle. Gilad Shalit returned to Israel for the first time on Tuesday since he was abducted by Hamas…
-
‘Our Bodies’ Gets an Israeli Makeover
If you’re a “woman of a certain age” in Israel, you don’t have a straightforward term like “menopause” to refer to that stage of life. In Hebrew you’re stuck with gil ha’blut, which translates roughly to “the age of worn out.” In Arabic it’s sinn al-ya’s — “the age of despair.” So when Dana Weinberg…
-
Romney Finds Mainstream Niche
Last month, a fundraiser for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney made manifest what insiders have long known to be true: Romney, currently seen as the Republican frontrunner, is the hands down favorite of the Republican Jewish establishment. The September 26 fundraiser, held in the New York law office of longtime Republican activist Philip Rosen, was…
-
After Release, Gilad Shalit Faces Struggle
Uri Ehrenfeld knew exactly how Gilad Shalit felt as the pale and scrawny soldier strode to freedom on Israeli soil October 18 after five years in captivity. Ehrenfeld, who spent months in captivity during the Yom Kippur War, relived his own rush of emotions when he watched Shalit hug his father and return to a…
-
Surviving The Darkest Hours of Grief
When it comes to writing about grief, perspective is often a liability. Grieving is so smothering an experience that it’s almost impossible to conjure up from a distance. And yet so few people have the inclination or the presence of mind to document its intensity in real time. It’s no wonder that the best contemporary…
-
Walking Streets of Jaffa to Promote One-State Solution
It’s an ideology with few followers among Israeli Jews, but activists for the one-state solution are reaching out to American visitors via tours of the Arab-Jewish town of Jaffa. And they are doing so with the help of Israel’s Reform movement. Jaffa, now part of the municipality of Tel Aviv, was a town in which…
-
Books Yid Lit: Jeffery Eugenides
It’s rare to find a novelist and Ivy League professor on a billboard in Times Square. Though Jeffrey Eugenides rises above Broadway in wind-blown clothes, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Middlesex” and “The Virgin Suicides” is a soft-spoken Michigan native who describes himself as equal parts hillbilly and Greek. In his new novel, “The…
Most Popular
- 1
News Who was Horst Wessel, and why are people comparing Charlie Kirk to him?
- 2
Culture Charlie Kirk kept a ‘Jewish Sabbath.’ What did he mean by that?
- 3
Film & TV Robert Redford’s legacy is surprisingly Jewish
- 4
Antisemitism Decoded Israel is being blamed for Charlie Kirk’s death. Here’s what that conspiracy theory says about the far right’s divide
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture This Israeli photographer’s work is all about ‘subverting masculinity’
-
Opinion The terrifying Nazi precedent for Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension — and the reasons to stay hopeful
-
Fast Forward Freed hostage Edan Alexander says he’s returning to the IDF next month
-
Yiddish World How a Yiddish acting troupe fooled the Tsarist government
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism