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 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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Community Does upholding the law require punishment? Rabbinic tradition says no
Can the law unite us, inspire us, and keep us safe? As American institutions become politicized – from the NFL to the CDC – so too the law: the politics around policing, cash bail, and both recent and impending Supreme Court nomination hearings (to name but a few instances) have diminished the law’s ability to…
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Fast Forward Israel hits daily record of nearly 7,000 new Coronavirus cases
(JTA) — As Israel racked up a record nearly 7,000 new coronavirus cases in one day, the government met to consider tightening restrictions, including banning synagogue prayer and public protests. The coronavirus cabinet met Tuesday for several hours but failed to make any decisions about further restrictions to stop the spread of the deadly virus….
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Fast Forward The Jewish Agency will carry your High Holiday prayer to the Western Wall
The Jewish Agency for Israel is gathering prayers from Jews across the globe to place amid the stones of the Western Wall during the High Holiday season. Though COVID-19 has led to travel restrictions and limited access to the holy site, the Agency is helping worshippers keep the centuries-old tradition alive from the safety of…
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Fast Forward ‘Significant concern’ about COVID-19 rise in largely Orthodox neighborhoods in NYC
(JTA) – Six heavily Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens are currently contributing 20% of all new COVID-19 cases in New York City, and rising cases there is cause for “significant concern,” city health officials announced Tuesday. The new data comes amid signs of growing alarm in New York City’s Orthodox communities about the possible…
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Community I do Yom Kippur at home every year; it’s still holy
Where is the House of the Lord? It depends on where you sit. Am I a bad Jew? Last year on Yom Kippur, I sat smoking a cigar, on my Mac with a Starbucks Venti within reach. Looks like three strikes to me. A friend asked me back then if I would be going to…
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Fast Forward Jared Kushner got rabbinic pass to work Shabbat due to pandemic. Did he make good use of it?
During the early days of the pandemic, Jared Kushner apparently received rabbinic dispensation to work late into Shabbat, Vanity Fair’s Katherine Eban reported — A meeting between White House officials and entrepreneurs, business executives and venture capitalists took place on Friday March 20, according to the report. “The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. Kushner is…
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Community What is our unifying story?
With every generation comes a story. For my grandparents, it was their refusal to stop practicing Judaism under a Communist regime. For my parents, it was returning to the Soviet Union as Israeli emissaries to continue the holy work of teaching Judaism. Surviving the Holocaust, championing and fighting for Israel, marching on Washington for Soviet…
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News Jews paused Indiana’s abortion ban — by turning a religious freedom law against the evangelical right
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Culture In 1989, Harold Pinter and Jerry Schatzberg made the perfect Holocaust movie for 2026
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Opinion An abominable new Israeli law is a death warrant for democracy
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Culture Inside the ancient Christian theology driving modern antisemitism
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Fast Forward Frankfurt cinema declines to participate in Jewish film festival, spurring backlash
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Fast Forward Israeli, Serbian leaders denounce antisemitic statements at Belgrade protest
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Fast Forward Palestinian-French lawmaker arrested after praising 1972 bomber of Ben Gurion Airport
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Fast Forward Michigan Democrats, Jewish leaders uneasy over Senate candidate’s alliance with Hasan Piker
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