Oldest Bat Mitzvah Girl In History Was 101 While Esther Eisner sounds absolutely wonderful and should be lauded for becoming bat mitzvah at the age of 99 (“Oldest Bat Mitzvah Girl in History! [Or So We Think]”, December 2), my co-author, Paula Wolfson, and I interviewed and photographed an older woman on her bat mitzvah…
Kinky’s Candidacy Is Not Just About Politics A November 25 letter writer, having let a yucky word push his buttons, chides the Forward for implicitly approving Kinky Friedman’s campaign for governor of Texas (“Too Kinky for Texas”). As a native New Yorker happily residing in Providence, R.I., I could have only one reason for wishing…
Recognize Chabad Way I have no doubt that Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov, my colleague in Munster, Ind., is most deserving of the rabbinic award he garnered from his local federation (“Chabad Makes Inroads at Parley,” November 18). I am less sure, however, of the Forward’s attempt to portray his wife’s position in her local Conservative Hebrew…
The Cost of Free Tickets Opinion writer Diana Furchtgott-Roth says that churches have open-door policies on Christmas and Easter (“High Holy Days Ticket Prices Are Costing Community,” November 4). That is true. But she leaves out the part that churches have many more members to support their activities than synagogues. A good-sized synagogue will have…
Magazine a Source of Connection for Youth Rapper 50 Shekel is an embarrassment to the Jewish community (“Racy Pics Make Rapper Blush,” October 28). Heeb magazine, on the other hand, is a blessing to the Jewish community. As a college student, I have seen many of my fellow students who claim to have a Jewish…
Fund Ethiopian Efforts After years of stonewalling and foot-dragging by the government of Israel and the Jewish Agency, it will take deeds, not more words, in order for success and not “the sad reality” to be the hallmark of Ethiopian Jewish aliyah (“Poverty and Crime Rates Reveal Israel’s Failure To Absorb Ethiopian Immigrants,” October 21)….
Don’t Turn Communal Back on Jewish Felons I am very disappointed that no one in the Jewish community seems willing to help Barry Gibbs (“Out of Jail, Mob Fall Guy Pines for a Shul and Some Shellfish,” October 7). After all, we help Israel, Holocaust victims, Jewish arts and culture, Jewish education, hurricane and tsunami…
Atone for Editorial Sin The October 7 pre-Yom Kippur editorial outlining the Forward’s regrets for journalistic sins committed this past year overlooked your most egregious misstep (“Begging Pardon”). I refer to the recent front-page nonstory about a gifted former educator’s personal struggle to come to terms with his sexual identity and his place in a…
Torah Values Remain Mandell Ganchrow and his supporters need not be concerned that Yeshiva University is any less committed to the values of Torah u-Madda than it has been in the past (“Yeshiva University Catching Flak For Dropping Old Hebrew Slogan,” September 30). On the contrary, the Center for the Jewish Future was established by…
Anti-Israel Problems At U.N. Unimproved Perspective and context are needed to fully assess Israel’s stature in the United Nations system. A September 16 editorial shortchanges both by taking an unwarranted swipe at our television ad on the U.N. and Israel (“UNimproved”). The nuanced ad was aimed primarily at the unique gathering of more than 170…
Engaging Intermarrieds Is Not a Zero-sum Game Opinion writers Jack Wertheimer and Steve Bayme mount a strong attack on the proponents of outreach to the intermarried and the programs they sponsor (“Real Realism on Intermarriage,” September 9). In effect, their position is that the only way to be sure that the children of an intermarriage…
די ווילנער דאָקטוירים יעקבֿ וויגאָדסקי און צמח שאַבאַד זענען אויך געווען געזעלשאַפֿטלעכע טוער.
יעקבֿ פֿינקלמאַן באַשרײַבט אויך זײַן לאַנגיאָריקן פֿאַך — ווי ער האָט צוגעשטעלט וויסן אין טעלעקאָמוניקאַציע איבער דער וועלט
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