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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Fast Forward NYC has at most 5 Yiddish-speaking contact tracers despite COVID spike among the Orthodox
Read this article in Yiddish While New York City has hired thousands for its Test and Trace Corps in an attempt to contain the coronavirus pandemic in the city, there are no more than five Yiddish speakers on staff. The low number is especially striking as a second wave of the virus is breaking out…
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Community A sukkah kosher for coronavirus
We love exiting our homes and entering our sukkot (the plural of sukkah) because of the opportunity to commune with nature and the Divine. Such an opportunity is one of the reasons we are obligated to dwell in a sukkah during the festival. We are taught that, just as the Israelites were protected by ananei…
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Fast Forward Orthodox areas drive NYC’s COVID-19 rate to highest level since June, mayor says
New York City’s one-day positive COVID-19 test rate jumped to 3.25%, its highest rate since June, with much of the new cases attributable to zip codes with large Orthodox Jewish communities, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. The high test rate portends a shutdown of the city’s nascent public school reopening plan…
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News A Yom Kippur interview with NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins: ‘I count on God’
Just prior to Yom Kippur, Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins sat for a Zoom interview with Rabbi Naomi Levy about God and the pandemic. Dr. Collins, a devout Christian, leads the United States’ search for treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19. Rabbi Levy is the founder and spiritual leader of…
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Community For those who cannot fast, Yom Kippur should still be meaningful
Yom Kippur is almost upon us. According to Torah law, the Jewish people are mandated to fast the entire day. This can be difficult enough for most people, but particularly so for those with eating disorders. Fasting itself is not just the issue. For them, Yom Kippur can be a triggering holiday that creates and…
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Fast Forward More restrictive lockdown set for Israel as Coronavirus cases soar
(JTA) — Israelis are facing a much more restrictive general lockdown, including the closure of synagogues, to prevent the record spread of the coronavirus. The stricter measures approved early Thursday would go into effect hours before Yom Kippur, which starts on Sunday evening. The full Knesset was set to vote on the new restrictions later in…
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News More schools discouraging COVID-19 testing in New York, New Jersey despite spike
Some Haredi yeshiva day schools in Brooklyn and the New York and New Jersey suburbs are discouraging COVID-19 testing for both teachers and students to try to avoid school closures despite an uptick in cases in Haredi communities broadly. At Bais Yaakov of Borough Park, for example, administrators called teachers individually and asked them to…
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Community Who decides what authentic Jewish practice looks like?
Thousands of years ago the central practice of Yom Kippur involved two goats. These goats would be taken by the high priest who would draw lots to decide which one would be immediately sacrificed in the Jerusalem temple and which one would be led out into the desert only to be pushed off a cliff…
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News An Israeli restaurant chain said it closed due to boycotts. Protesters are celebrating.
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Opinion Jews are worried about Zohran Mamdani. Here’s why they shouldn’t be
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News Many U.S. synagogues display the Israeli flag on their bimahs. After the hostages were released, one NYC shul decided to move theirs.
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Film & TV What the new season of ‘Nobody Wants This’ gets right — and very wrong — about Judaism
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Neo-Nazis raise money for Georgia man wearing Nazi uniform who allegedly assaulted UGA student
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Yiddish ווי ייִדישע לשונות האָבן געהאָלפֿן איבערגעבן וויסן צו די ייִדישע מאַסןHow Judeo-languages helped transmit knowledge to the Jewish masses
נאָך דעם ווי מע האָט איבערגעזעצט די לשון־קודשדיקע משלים פֿון בן־סירא אויף ייִדיש איז דער ספֿר געוואָרן שטאַרק פּאָפּולער.
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Fast Forward US soldiers stationed in Kiryat Gat turn sleepy Israeli city into an unexpected hotspot
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Fast Forward British Airways breaks ties with Louis Theroux after interview with ‘Death to the IDF’ artist Bob Vylan
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