This is the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
COVID-19
The Latest
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	Culture Can Sacha Baron Cohen be Borat and still tell the truth?
For a while now, Sacha Baron Cohen has had an issue with juggling multiple personas. On the one hand, as Borat, Bruno and his coterie of characters on “Who is America,” he is a cartoonish sounding board for America’s worst qualities. On the other, he is an increasingly serious out-of-character activist, a full-throated opponent of…
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	Culture Is ‘hot-desking’ our future? Ask a Manager weighs in on the future of work
I cook something from scratch for lunch most days — quickly sauteing some vegetables to throw over pasta, or reviving leftovers with a fried egg and some experimental sauce. It’s never anything particularly gourmet, yet it’s one of the little luxuries of working from home that I am loath to relinquish. Of course, it hasn’t…
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	Culture A reply to Van Morrison’s totally sane song about media control
New antisemitic Van Morrison track dropped! At least it sure sounds like it. The Irish songster, after months of COVID denial and “Braveheart” talking points about the UK “taking our freedom” for wanting to curb the spread of a deadly virus, released the song “They Own the Media” on streaming platforms Thursday. And boy is…
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	News Why Borough Park has NYC’s lowest vaccination rates
Borough Park, the Orthodox enclave in Brooklyn that was an early hotspot for COVID-19 cases and deaths last year, now has the lowest portion of fully vaccinated people of any New York City neighborhood, according to newly released public-health data. Less than 11% of the neighborhood’s population is fully vaccinated, per the city’s health department…
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	News A synagogue in your home? Zoom camera lighting? Pandemic offered rabbis some unusual tax deductions
A suggestion to rabbis: don’t do your own tax return this year. The pandemic forced most people to move their office to their home and rabbis were no exception. Rabbis found themselves setting up a room in their house from which to work, buying office supplies and camera lighting to Zoom with congregants and participate…
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	Community What makes this night different? The story of a hospital room Seder
That the doctor and I washed our hands shortly after arriving in the room wouldn’t seem unusual to the casual observer. Scrupulous hand-washing is common in hospitals. What might have piqued an outsider’s interest was the patient washing his hands. I held a basin over the bed as he carefully poured water from a cup…
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	News For evangelical tourists, pro-Israel and anti-vaccine sentiments might collide
Pastor Tim Thompson, who leads a 1000-member evangelical church in southern California, is already planning a trip to Israel with members of his church in November 2021. But he and other churchgoers are not convinced they’ll actually make the trip, even if Israel opens up to tourists by that time. They are awaiting word on…
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	News In this Florida synagogue, 5 people committed suicide in 4 months. Here’s how the rabbi is coping.
Rabbi David Steinhardt of Boca Raton, Fla., confessed that he had never dealt with anything remotely comparable: in the last four months, five congregants or their close relatives have died by suicide. All were single men aged 20 to 60. In contrast, during his nearly 38 years in the rabbinate, Steinhardt – spiritual leader of…
 
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	Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
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	Sports It’s so cool that Sandy Koufax was there for that
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	Opinion I’m an Israeli who lives in New York. Here’s why I’m voting for Mamdani
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	News Mamdani opposes Zionism, but wants New York public schools to teach about it
 
In Case You Missed It
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	Fast Forward Yad Vashem says it has identified 5 million Holocaust victims with help of AI
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	Fast Forward 2 of NYC’s 5 public pension funds are vulnerable to a mayor-backed Israel divestment push
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	Fast Forward What to know about ‘Not On Our Dime,’ Zohran Mamdani’s bill targeting donations to Israeli settlements
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	BINTEL BRIEF She just wants to be a good person. But she’s overwhelmed by the state of the world
 
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