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 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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News Dr. Rochelle Walensky, new head of CDC, got her start at Jewish summer camp
Dr. Kenneth Freedberg was standing at his wife’s bedside in a Boston hospital’s intensive care unit when an unexpected visitor entered: Dr. Rochelle Walensky. “We were there for no more than 45 minutes when Rochelle walks in,” said Freedberg, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “She didn’t work there,” he said, recalling his…
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Culture They remember their last big vaccine — for polio
My father isn’t one to proffer childhood anecdotes, but there is one story he likes to tell: it’s about his polio vaccine. He was in elementary school when the Sabin vaccine (named for Alfred Sabin, the Jewish scientist who developed it) became available for general use. He lived in a small Connecticut town where crowds…
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Opinion Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point
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News They texted about Torah and mitzvahs. Feds say they were insider trading
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Culture At Eurovision, Israel’s near triumph shows the limits of tolerance
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Opinion I run The Jewish Theological Seminary. Here’s the real story about President Isaac Herzog speaking at our commencement
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish ייִדן פֿלעגן באַשווערן רוחות און שלאַנגען אויף ווײַסרוסישJews used to conjure spirits and snakes in Belarusian
בײַ ייִדן איז פֿאַראַן אַן אַלטע טראַדיציע צו שרײַבן רײַסישע סגולות מיט ייִדישע אותיות.
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Fast Forward Anti-Israel Republican Thomas Massie ousted from Congress as Trump endorsee wins primary
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Fast Forward Jewish groups rally behind bipartisan Senate antisemitism bill with $1B security allocation
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Fast Forward With AOC backing and anti-Israel message, Chris Rabb vies for open House seat in Philadelphia