Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Ashkenazi Jews, a major Jewish diasporic ethnic group native to Europe.
Ashkenazi Jews
The Latest
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Community WATCH: I’m Not White — I’m Jewish.
This slam poem was written in order to give a voice to this issue of being racially advantaged, but ethnically disadvantaged with the threat of persecution no matter what year it is. Now more than ever, it is crucial that we do not lose the ability to look back and see where we came from…
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Opinion Many ‘Sephardic’ Jews Aren’t Actually Sephardic
During my childhood in the 1960s and 70s in the USSR, the only books published about Jews were ideological works that criticized Zionism, Israel and what the Soviets considered the “national Jewish mentality.” As you might imagine, thanks to these books, many of us had a totally distorted picture of our true origins as Jews….
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Yiddish World Forverts Editorial: What’s Our Agenda?
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. As editor of the Forverts, most of the questions I get from readers involve either the price of an obituary or a request to decipher a handwritten postcard written by a deceased relative. Recently, though, I got an email with a very different sort of question: “I’d…
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Opinion Can Amir Peretz Finish What Israel’s Black Panthers Started?
To understand the polarization in Israeli society between the center and the periphery, the divide between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, right and left, we must look back to the often fraught relationship between economically dominant Kibbutzim and neighboring “development towns.” Since the establishment of the state of Israel, this dominance was characterized by segregated living conditions…
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News Raging Blaze Kills Quixotic Dream Of Revival For 167-Year-Old Lower East Side Synagogue
When a 167-year-old synagogue burned to cinders Sunday, lingering hopes of preserving the old Jewish Lower East Side burned with it. Beth Hamedrash Hagadol had survived a century and half as the most visible monument to a Jewish community that has its spiritual roots on the crowded blocks between the Bowery and the East River….
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Fast Forward WATCH: Six Brave People Try Ashkenazi Food For The First Time
Director Meir Kalmanson invited six brave non-Jewish folks to try a few traditional Ashkenazi foods for the first time. Watch the hilarious results for yourself below. WATCH:
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Food Mimi Sheraton Says Charoset Is Not Just For Pesach Anymore
Although it stands as a symbolic reminder of the mortar used by the Jewish slaves who built the pyramids in Egypt, the fragrant spread called charoset deserves more than a once-a-year ritual appearance at the Passover Seder table. Related The rich fruit spread is made in two lovely versions, delectable either for breakfast or tea-time…
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Opinion Tough Decisions: Reproductive Choice and Jewish Genetics
As Sarah and her husband were checking off last-minute wedding preparations and appointments, they got a suggestion from their rabbi. He asked them if they’d been genetically tested for diseases common among Ashkenazi Jews. The couple, both Ashkenazim, took the rabbi’s advice and headed to their local JCC for a blood test. They figured it…
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