Opinion

Can we make our synagogues secure without causing the vulnerable to suffer?

Synagogues are often a provider of needed social services, which leaves them vulnerable to violence.

From generation to generation: King’s legacy endures in families’ movement stories

From generation to generation: King’s legacy endures through families’ movement stories

Several communities across the country are observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day with multigenerational activities, in which grandparents, parents and children reflect, and act, on the legacy of King’s work. The Forward asked three individuals from the Black Jewish community whose families had different experiences in the Civil Rights Movement to write about one of their forebears, and how those lessons helped shape them. Here are their essays.

What a civil-rights rabbi taught me about dying with dignity — and living with purpose

This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent on Friday afternoons. Sign up here to get the Forward’s free newsletters delivered to your inbox. Download and print our free magazine of stories to savor over Shabbat and Sunday.

I was in a movie with Zelenskyy. His Jewish optimism will help him beat Russia

“Hey, do you know you were in a movie with the new Ukrainian president?” my brother texted me in the Spring of 2019. He included a screenshot of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s IMDb page.

I am a rabbi in a hospital ICU. This is what the COVID surge looks like to our exhausted staff.

A rabbi tries to provide comfort. But it is science that provides the miracles.