This is the Forward’s coverage of former U.S. president Barack Obama and his relationship to the Jewish community.
Barack Obama
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Opinion A Personal Meditation on Meeting Lewis Black and Having an Inexplicable Out-of-Body Experience
I participated in a group blog called Rethinking Religion at Columbia University’s Institute for Religion, Culture & Public Life. They asked me to go and hear comedian Lewis Black get interviewed by the institute’s director, Mark Taylor, and then write a reaction. The interview took place at the Kraft Center for Jewish Life, which has…
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Opinion More Lessons From the Arab Spring, or Follow the Bouncing Logic
Recently published analyses teach the following lessons: Lesson 1. The Arab uprisings are not necessarily democratic in nature, and liberal readiness to back them — morally or with arms and material aid — is at best foolhardy romanticism. We should stand back and avoid getting involved. Why undermine existing regimes when the replacement might be…
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The Schmooze When Valerie Jarrett Revealed Her Jewish Roots
The White House can add one more senior staffer to its list of advisers with Jewish roots, and it is an unlikely name. Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s senior adviser and assistant for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement, disclosed her Jewish ancestry to a Jewish gathering on Monday. Speaking on behalf of the administration at the…
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Books ‘Obama’s Secrets’ at the Jerusalem Book Fair
Crossposted from Haaretz The Jerusalem Book Fair may be the only place where you can get from Russia to India via Angola. With a maze of stands representing publishers both local and foreign (this is Angola’s first showing at the biennial convention) you’ll need a GPS to find your way around, or at least a…
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Fast Forward Helen Thomas: Jews Weren’t Persecuted in Europe After the War
Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas said the Jews did not have to leave postwar Europe because they weren’t persecuted. In an interview Wednesday on CNN’s “Joy Behar” program, Thomas told Behar that once World War II ended, the Jews “didn’t have to go anywhere really, because they weren’t being persecuted anymore. But they were…
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News Peaceful, Gradualist … and Radical?
In the shaping of his perspective as a conservative political commentator, Stanley Kurtz credits his Jewish upbringing and studies of Jewish history and the Tanakh in college. Kurtz engaged historical sources directly as he researched the controversial book he published this fall, “Radical-In-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism” (Threshold Editions), which…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: Moe Howard, an Honorable Stooge
Last August, during President Obama’s visit to Martha’s Vineyard, a protest erupted over a T-shirt being sold at the SunStations shop in Oak Bluffs that portrayed Obama as Moe, Vice President Joe Biden as Larry, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Curly. The caption read: “The REAL Stooges.” The storeowner said no malice was intended,…
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The Schmooze New York Vs. Washington: Whose Menorah Is Bigger?
Is a New York-Washington rivalry about to erupt over menorah size? While NY1 News is claiming Mayor Michael Bloomberg lit “the world’s largest menorah” to kick off Hanukkah in New York last night, some news sources are claiming the National Menorah on the White House Ellipse — ignited yesterday in a ceremony attended by a…
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
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Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
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Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
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Fast Forward Lahmeyer, pastor who says Antichrist will be Jewish, heads to Oklahoma GOP runoff
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Fast Forward Democratic socialist whose Israel criticism ignited Jewish leaders’ concern leads D.C. mayoral primary vote
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Fast Forward Toronto police say young people are being recruited online to shoot at synagogues
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Fast Forward Feds investigating antisemitism allegations at American Psychological Association