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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News ‘Historically ludicrous’: Jewish leaders speak out against comparing vaccine passports to Holocaust
Conservative politicians, including former Trump cabinet member Richard Grenell and the freshman congressman from North Carolina, Madison Cawthorn, drew fire on Tuesday from prominent Jewish leaders for comparing a potential vaccine passport system to the Holocaust. In Israel, a country that has implemented a system of “vaccine passports,” documentation allows vaccinated individuals entrance to public…
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Opinion Entering Passover under the plague of vaccine guilt
As I unpack my Passover dishes and prepare to host a Seder that includes my aging parents — an enormous luxury compared to last year’s Zoom-only reality at the start of the pandemic — I find myself facing waves of an unfamiliar feeling. Vaccine guilt: That’s the guilt you get when you’re vaccinated and other…
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News For many synagogues, live-streamed services are here to stay after the pandemic
When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered synagogues across the nation a year ago, many congregations that previously avoided technology use on Shabbat embraced live-stream and video conferencing as the only viable and safe solution to maintaining community. Now, for many, the needle has moved, and post-pandemic, synagogues intend to keep those options available indefinitely. “I have…
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Community What I hope we learn from two Passovers in social distancing exile
Last year, as we prepared for our first physically distanced Seder, I wrote a poem, my first ever, about the ritualistic importance of U’rchatz: handwashing, in times of a pandemic. It ends with: To remember all those who have lost or have been lost. Tonight, we wash our hands for ourselves, and for others, We…
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Opinion Biden’s COVID relief plan is a balm for Orthodox Jews
It’s highly unlikely that members of Congress had Jewish education, advanced Torah study or even Orthodox Jews in their minds when forging the ambitious American Rescue Plan that, after being signed into law by President Biden last week, will infuse nearly $2 trillion into the economy to counter the effects of the past year’s COVID…
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Opinion Isolating our grandparents – medically necessary, but devastating for Jewish continuity
Read this article in Yiddish It’s been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed us all. During this time, more than half a million people in the United States have died of the virus. You’d think that a devastation of this kind would have thrown our society into shock. Last spring and summer,…
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News They moved home for just a few weeks, fleeing the coronavirus. They’re still there.
When the pandemic began last March, with New York quickly becoming the epicenter, there was an immediate exodus to the suburbs. As offices went remote within the span of a week — including the Forward, my third day on the job — 2.6 million young adults fled apartments for their parents’ homes, where they could…
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Community As we approach the second pandemic Passover, thoughts on a year of plagues
When a particularly distressing topic would arise, the great Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem used to say: “Let’s talk about something more pleasant, like the plague in Minsk.” Well, now we have our own plague, and it is almost all that anybody talks about. Some feel the need to understand why we are suffering; answers range…
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Fast Forward DNC finding: Biden’s Israel backing cost Harris votes for president
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News What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein’s Childhood
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News An audiobook narrator told Zionists to kill themselves. A popular romance novelist hired him anyway.
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Opinion The dark message behind Tucker Carlson’s attempt to drum up drama in Israel
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Vanderbilt launches inquiry into instructor after math question about Israeli occupation draws criticism
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Fast Forward Hugh Laurie rejects ‘Zionist’ label after his tribute to Israeli ‘Tehran’ producer sparks social media firestorm
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Fast Forward German anti-Zionist group’s plan to protest at Buchenwald memorial over kaffiyeh ban sparks outrage
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Fast Forward At US Commission on Civil Rights hearing, Jewish students warn against politicizing campus antisemitism
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