There were Hebrew school classes and youth activities, bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and a full roster of minyans in Butte, Montana. There were three synagogues — two Orthodox and one Reform. There once were upward of 1,000 Jews. There were…. And that is a problem for synagogues in small towns like Butte and in…
As New York prepares to inaugurate same-sex marriage on July 24, two men married to each other 5,500 miles away are fighting a battle for the rights of Jewish men and women in Israel who take advantage of the new law and others like it. Just as every Jew has the right to immigrate to…
On the boat sailing along the Danube River, Israeli and Palestinian peace activists seemed closer than ever. Sipping Hungarian wine on deck and sharing laughs, diplomats, prominent activists and journalists from both sides formed a close pact, joking over their own roles in what is widely known as the peace industry. But while the industry…
On July 14, France celebrates Bastille Day, commemorating the storming of the Bastille, back in 1789, during the French Revolution. To mark the occasion, the Forward has compiled some of its must-reads about France. “The France That Hasn’t Shown Its Face to Dominique Strauss-Kahn” A professor of French history discusses France’s culture of anti-Semitism, which,…
Hours after the mutilated remains of an 8-year old Orthodox Jewish boy were found in Brooklyn Wednesday, his close-knit religious neighborhood of Borough Park seemed transfixed by the horrifying story. Outside a funeral home on 38th Street, people wondered how little Leiby Kletzky’s mother could cope with the trauma. At a table near the window…
A male ballet dancer is old enough to be a young artist’s grandfather, and yet they enter into a relationship to repair the hurts in each other’s lives. This is the premise of Israeli writer, Evan Fallenberg’s, second novel, “When We Danced on Water,” the follow up to his award-winning debut, “Light Fell.” His translation…
His Royal Highness Prince Edward Charms the “Colonials” at Award Gala Held at The Pierre The guest of honor at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award dinner, held June 23 at The Pierre, was Prince William’s uncle, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. Created by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1956, the award is dedicated to…
Fracking, the controversial technique for extracting natural gas that energy companies are promoting as America’s path to energy independence, has come to the sunny, idyllic world of Jewish camping. Four Jewish summer camps have signed leases with gas exploration companies which could allow the deep bore drilling technique — criticized by many experts as damaging…
The Knesset’s recent vote outlawing any advocacy of a boycott of Israel or the occupied territories and Jewish settlements under its control is seen by some as a mortal threat to democracy. But there are others who see the law in more concrete terms: as a threat to themselves. The Law to Prevent Harm to…
It was September 1960, with hometown hero Richard Nixon running neck and neck with John F. Kennedy in the final stretch of the race for the White House, when a handful of Jewish families in Whittier, Calif., a small city 12 miles southeast of Los Angeles, decided to reinvent themselves as Jews. They formed a…
My husband, Martin, and I have been married for 31 years, so it’s not as if there hasn’t been time to consider an end-of-life strategy. We could have resolved the issue while driving to Costco, except it’s a conversation Martin was determined to avoid. That we had no Exit Plan was less troubling when our…
