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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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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Community Behind the scenes of filming a socially distant Yom Kippur — in July
The High Holidays always arrive either early or late. Never once are they on time. But this year, when Yom Kippur arrived in mid-July, and Rosh Hashanah was on the 13th of the Hebrew month of Elul instead of the first of Tishrei, “early” took on a new meaning for me. Congregation Shomrei Emunah, my…
Most Popular
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Fast Forward DNC finding: Biden’s Israel backing cost Harris votes for president
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News What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein’s Childhood
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News An audiobook narrator told Zionists to kill themselves. A popular romance novelist hired him anyway.
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Opinion The dark message behind Tucker Carlson’s attempt to drum up drama in Israel
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion Trump has no vision for what comes next in the Middle East
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Yiddish זכרונות פֿון אַן אונטערבאַן־פּאַסאַזשירMemories of a subway passenger
אויף דער אונטערבאַן האָב איך זיך אויסגעלערנט מײַנע ערשטע זאַצן אויף שפּאַניש.
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Fast Forward Trump administration files lawsuit against UCLA, saying it failed to protect Jewish and Israeli employees
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Sports Israeli bobsled captain on Olympics exit: ‘Holy endeavor’ slammed into rigid rule
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