Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
COVID-19
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News Michael Che’s ham-fisted joke aside, what’s the deal with Israel, Palestinians and the vaccine?
Michael Che’s joke on Saturday Night Live about how Israel had only vaccinated the “Jewish half” of its population landed with a thud on stage, but it unleashed a firestorm of criticism in its wake. Israel’s critics called the joke much needed truth-telling about the nation’s vaccine success story, which has excluded the Palestinians. Defenders…
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Forverts in English WATCH: Learn some fun Yiddish words and proverbs about Purim
Ever wonder what Ashkenazi Jews baked for Purim, aside from homentashen? Learn about it in this special Purim edition of “Yiddish Word of the Day” by Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter. You’ll also hear how to pronounce the names of the characters in the megillah, the story of Purim, in Yiddish, as well as a couple…
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News NYC medical chief apologizes to the Orthodox community for mishandling outreach during the pandemic
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has learned from past mistakes and is seeking to improve outreach efforts to the Orthodox community in Brooklyn, two senior city officials said in a conference call with Jewish media representatives on Tuesday. The acknowledgment — as the city is looking to rebuild trust in the COVID-19 vaccination drive —…
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Opinion ‘Save a single life, save an entire world:’ Faith leaders must stop fighting COVID restrictions
After a year marked by loss — of loved ones, community, a sense of normalcy — it takes no stretch of the imagination to understand why people of faith across the country yearn to return to houses of worship. I am among them. A Zoom call can never replace the experience of being in the…
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News 90-year-old Jewish woman walked six miles in snow to get vaccine
Earlier this month, when 90-year-old Fran Goldman walked six miles through the snow to get her vaccine, she didn’t think much of it. “I’m not an attention grabber,” Goldman, a member of Seattle’s Temple Beth Am, said in an interview this weekend. “I did not think it was a big deal.” But her story was…
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News After a year of the pandemic, the dual meaning of masks this Purim
Purim has often been dubbed the “Jewish Halloween.” For Jeremy Sarnat, last year’s holiday was particularly scary. Friends in his Atlanta neighborhood were delivering the traditional festive food baskets and he was afraid to open them. It was in the very early days of the pandemic when epidemiologists were still honing in on how the…
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News Jewish college students volunteer to help local seniors register for vaccine
Jonathan Kempner, a 69-year-old Maryland resident, hasn’t seen his daughter in nearly a year. The day he became eligible for a vaccine — Jan. 25 — he sat at his computer, ready to click on all eight possible registration links the moment the clock struck 12:01 a.m. None worked. Early that morning (“I’m not a…
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News In Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, confusion abounds over a lack of vaccine priority
When New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio released a list of 33 neighborhoods that would be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccine appointments and sites, Brooklyn’s main Orthodox neighborhoods were not on it, prompting renewed accusations that he has treated those communities unfairly in regard to the pandemic. Borough Park, Williamsburg and Crown Heights – neighborhoods…
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Opinion A daring attack on Hezbollah may reveal Israel’s strengths — and its most terrifying weakness
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Fast Forward Who is Laura Loomer? Trump wing woman uses her Jewishness to attack
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Fast Forward Potential Trump visit to iconic Gottlieb’s deli has Hasidic world aflutter
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Culture In ‘The Brutalist,’ Adrien Brody wills an impossible dream
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Fast Forward Trump says Jews would deserve much of the blame if he loses
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Sports As Shohei Ohtani comes for his home run record, a Jewish Dodger legend is in awe with the rest of us
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Fast Forward California passes law to help Holocaust survivors and heirs recover Nazi-looted art
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