Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
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Fast Forward Some Orthodox rabbis in Israel approve use of video conference for seder
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Some Orthodox rabbis in Israel have approved the use of a video conference program such as Zoom to bring families together for a Passover seder. The letter in Hebrew issued on Wednesday was signed by 14 rabbis, all Sephardic. According to the rabbis, the video conference must be operating before the start…
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Culture Daily distraction: Get lost in a fantasy world, meditate and see Louise Bourgeois drawings
Welcome to your daily distraction, our recommendations for ways to stay engaged and entertained while we socially distance ourselves to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. You can find our past recommendations here; many of the opportunities we’ve highlighted are ongoing. Spring is beginning in Denver, where I’m isolating with my family. The apricot tree outside…
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News From the Forverts archives, Influenza 1918: Scenes from a Jewish drug store
Healthcare was similarly overloaded during the 1918 influenza as it is today during the coronavirus epidemic, as seen in this article originally published in the Forverts 11/6/1918. Yente Serdatsky, a staff writer at the Forverts, was a contentious figure known for her stories, novellas, and dramatic sketches. Here, she uses her descriptive talents to paint…
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Fast Forward ‘If not now, when?’ Pleading for ventilators, Cuomo quotes Hillel the Elder
As President Donald Trump faces mounting pressure to use the Defense Production Act to make private industry manufacture supplies like masks for healthcare workers and ventilators for patients, one voice has risen above the rest in a call for action against coronavirus: Hillel the Elder. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo took to Twitter Tuesday to…
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News This doctor was already treating patients with Trump’s ‘gift from God’ drug – before FDA approval
On Tuesday morning, the controversial and experimental coronavirus treatment program being run by a Hasidic doctor who claimed he had kept more than 500 symptomatic patients out of the hospital was shut down. By afternoon, after intervention from the White House, it was up and running again. The doctor, Vladimir Zelenko, has been in isolation…
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Life Diary of a Day-School Mom: screen-shy, yet finding spirituality on a device?
Week Two, and online prayer is still a hard sell for all of us. It’s disappointing, because when my daughter and I dipped into it as part of the day-school distance-learning schedule, and it was such a blessing — for both her and me. Such a powerful experience was a surprise. A capsule history of…
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News Our Passover is not canceled. But it will be different from all other Passovers.
I just invited more than 30 family members to a Passover Seder. The responses are trickling in slowly but surely. The youngest will be about two months old and the oldest 99. No, we won’t be opening our actual door for anyone other than Elijah. This, dear reader, is our first Virtual Seder. This year’s…
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Fast Forward Two New York City rabbis die, both diagnosed with coronavirus
Two New York City rabbis have died, both diagnosed with coronavirus. Rabbi Romi Cohn of Staten Island, a 92-year-old and Holocaust survivor who had fought as a partisan in World War II, succumbed to the disease, the website The Yeshiva World reported. Cohn was also a mohel who performed thousands of circumcisions free of charge…
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Culture Hitler is trending on TikTok again — and they’re trying to make him seem like a nice guy
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Culture You can buy Sukkot gift boxes that say ‘tuchus’ on Amazon
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Fast Forward Sitcom star encourages non-Jews like her to hang mezuzahs on their homes
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Opinion A maelstrom around Rashida Tlaib shows how broken discourse about the war has become
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Israel kills Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah
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Culture On Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, assessing the 39th president’s record on the Jews
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Opinion With killing of Hezbollah’s chief, Israel occupies the inarguable moral high ground
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Looking Forward An Israeli hip-hop artist remembers a day of hope in Gaza
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