Forget for a moment that John Demjanjuk is guilty. Forget what a German court has just concluded: that he was a camp guard at Sobibor between March and September 1943, when 28,060 mostly Polish Jews were murdered. Imagine instead that Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk, 91, is an innocent, elderly man who has been hounded for 34 years…
A seemingly minor proposal buried in the Federal Register is sparking debate over the extent to which separation of religion and state should be maintained beyond American borders. At issue is an attempt by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to ease existing regulations to allow funding for the construction and upkeep of religious…
After her husband stepped on the glass, and she survived the chair dance at their wedding without falling off, Emily Brecher changed into a traditional red Chinese dress. “Then my husband and I knelt down before my parents and my Jewish in-laws at the tea ceremony,” Brecher recalled. “The dim sum hors d’oeuvres were a…
A brand new American import has arrived in Israel, but it isn’t the usual fast-food chain or a television sitcom. Rather, it’s that staple of U.S. Jewish life, the community federation. For the first time, a group of philanthropists in the leafy city of Ramat HaSharon near Tel Aviv have created an Israeli charity —…
In the video, there was screaming, cursing and shooting that left one prisoner dead. But when, in early April, Israelis were given a fly-on-the-wall view of one of the most violent nights in the history of their prison service, other media outlets met it with a collective shrug. Those involved in monitoring Israel’s treatment of…
For the third year in a row, the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has honored the Forward with an award for excellence in reporting. The Forward also won its second consecutive award from the chapter for excellence in opinion writing. The judges said that two strongly worded editorials favoring construction…
Congress’s power of the purse is emerging as a key factor in Washington’s effort to influence events in a rapidly changing Middle East. First and foremost, Congress is reacting quickly to the Palestinian unity government recently announced by the moderate Fatah faction controlling the West Bank and the Islamist Hamas running Gaza. While the Obama…
When the phone rings and the person on the other end says she’s from a reality TV production company and would like to know if you’d be interested in auditioning to host a new parenting show, you tend to compartmentalize. Or at least I did. The call came last summer, and I laughed about it…
Ending a lengthy and unsuccessful drive for Israeli–Arab peace, George Mitchell is stepping down as the Obama administration’s special envoy for the Middle East. The White announced the former Maine senator’s resignation on Friday, pointing to “personal reasons” for his decision to end his role as negotiator. “As he returns to his family, George leaves…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s forthcoming speech before the U.S. Congress, the growing spotlight on the Ratner real estate family in light of a recent indictment of a New York state senator, and a Brighton Beach, Brooklyn gathering of Jewish veterans who served in the Soviet armed forces during World War II are the topics of…
Maybe it’s a sgule — a remedy prescription, for long life — to become a Yiddish writer. Itche Goldberg and Mordkhe Tsanin both died at the ripe old age of 102 a few years ago; poet Avrom Sutskever died in 2010 at 96. Now the New York Yiddish world has lost another wonderful poet, Jeremiah…
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