This is the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
COVID-19
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Community Coronavirus has trapped children with their abusers; let’s get them out
Wendi Sklaver and her husband, Sam, considered becoming foster parents for more than 10 years. But with four biological children and busy lives, it seemed impossible. Until Sklaver discovered last year that her synagogue, Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, was forming a cohort of foster families. That community effort, Sklaver said, made the daunting…
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Fast Forward Ezekiel Emanuel, tapped for Biden’s coronavirus task force, has controversial views on aging
Joe Biden’s consideration of former White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel for a cabinet position has triggered complaints, and so has the appointment of Rahm’s brother Ezekiel as a member of the coronavirus advisory board. An renowned oncologist and bioethicist, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel chairs the medical ethics department at the University…
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News In Brooklyn virus ‘red zone,’ why do some posters only tell healthy people to get tested?
When Borough Park, the hub of Orthodox Jewish life in South Brooklyn, was included in a designated coronavirus “red zone” in South Brooklyn earlier this month, its rate of positive tests for coronavirus was 10.6% — more than five times New York City’s overall rate. For the past three weeks, Borough Park’s leaders — rabbis,…
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News Nursing homes cut staff and programs as elderly, terrified of COVID-19, stay away
Founded in 1951, the William Breman Jewish Home in Atlanta can serve seniors with a range of needs, from those who have lost their memory to those who just require a little help to live on their own. In normal times, about 130 people live there — and there’s a waiting list. Today, 15% of…
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Fast Forward Cuomo eases COVID-19 restrictions in upstate Hasidic hub despite concerns that some refuse to test
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo eased restrictions Wednesday on the coronavirus “red zone” centered on the Hasidic hub of Kiryas Joel, N.Y., while leaving other red zones in Brooklyn and Rockland County — also surrounding large Orthodox Jewish areas — intact. Kiryas Joel’s red zone, in Orange County, which limited religious gatherings of any kind…
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Fast Forward Muslim Public Affairs Council: Cuomo’s COVID-19 ‘red zones’ are ‘scapegoating’ Jews
The Muslim Public Affairs Council filed an amicus brief Tuesday morning in support of Agudath Israel of America’s lawsuit challenging policies of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo which have imposed harsh restrictions on several predominantly Orthodox neighborhoods in response to spiking coronavirus cases. On Friday, Agudath Israel of America, brought a case to the U.S….
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News A Hasidic village’s coronavirus tests went from 34% positive to 4% in a month. The county health commissioner is asking how.
In the course of about a month, the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel, N.Y., managed to drop its rate of positive tests for coronavirus infection by a dramatic 30 points — from 34.2% in the last week of September, to 4.2% this week, according to state data released Wednesday. Town leaders and New York Gov….
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Community I’m a doctor, but I’m not mad at the Orthodox
In stark contrast to the impression left by legions of news reports about Haredi Jews in Brooklyn defying public health rules around the coronavirus, I have found over years of working with ultra-Orthodox communities in New York and Jerusalem that members of these communities care deeply about health. Haredi communities have their own system of…
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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 World Interviews with Holocaust survivors reveal the richness of Yiddish
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Opinion The San Diego imam defended Oct. 7. His mosque still deserves our help
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Sports An op-ed compared an NBA team to Israel as underdog success stories. Then the threats poured in.
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Theater In ‘Waiting for Godot,’ the tragedy and comedy of the Jewish experience