Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
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The Latest
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Life Opting for high quality over homegrown when it comes to online services.
(JTA) – For the rabbis and cantor of Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois, the to-do list to prepare for the unprecedented online-only High Holidays season was long. In addition to transforming their usual services for over 3,000 people into an experience that congregants will find meaningful online, they needed to figure out how to…
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Culture This ultra-Orthodox man is running for president — or is he?
Bored by Biden? Turned off by Trump? Confused by Kanye? Meet Yoely, who is running for president on the Heimishe Party ticket. Heimeshe is Yiddish for wholesome, and a word many Hasidim use to describe themselves and their culture. Yoely – no last name, like Adele and Beyoncé — explains in an Instagram video: “High-mish…
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News Ultra-Orthodox Jews already shy away from the census. Is the pandemic making it worse?
One Haredi man in Borough Park heard a rumor that the census will be used to round up Jews if there’s another world war. A Yiddish web forum participant said Jews who fill out the census will cause plagues like swine flu and coronavirus. Another pointed out that the paper census form only has spaces…
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Fast Forward One of the only Jewish camps open this summer has 100% negative COVID rate
(JTA) — Camp Modin, a Jewish overnight camp in New England that opened even as scores of others closed this year, got some good news last week: All of its campers have tested negative for COVID-19. “We informed the campers and staff this evening that our collective efforts have delivered the successful results we have…
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Community Joe Biden names his sh’liach to the Yidden – my partner
I lost my business partner last week, but for a good cause. Aaron Keyak is now Jewish Engagement Director for Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. His sh’liach to the Yidden, if you will. The campaign could not have picked a better person. Aaron and Bluelight Strategies, the Washington public-affairs firm we co-founded in 2014,…
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Community Will we be excited to return to shul?
This may be one of the oldest Jewish jokes out there. A Jewish man is shipwrecked on a desert island. Working with available supplies he makes a whole community, including a shul. Eventually he is rescued by a passing ship. Before they leave, one of the sailors says, “Hey! Why’d you build two synagogues?” The…
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Community Spiritual hunger persists even in the face of physical hunger
Amos dedicated the bulk of his prophecy to railing against the well-heeled, calling them “cows of Bashan”: “They drink [straight] from the wine bowls, And anoint themselves with the choicest oils— But they are not concerned about the food/ruin (shever) of Joseph” (Amos 6:6). And yet, in Amos’s climactic prophecy, he shifts his focus to…
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Community Not all the statues need to come down
Three monuments—the statue of Saint Louis in Missouri, the Judah P. Benjamin monument in North Carolina, and buildings named for Woodrow Wilson at Princeton—allow us to understand how Jews should think about their place within the American racial order and how antiracists should think about Jews within the struggle to disrupt the legacies of racism….
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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News Why Zohran Mamdani believes he’ll win over Jewish voters, as Israel critic surges to second behind Cuomo in NYC mayoral race
In Case You Missed It
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Books How Jews shaped the Western – and how the Western shaped Jews
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Culture Cardinals are Catholic not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
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Fast Forward Halal restaurant opening in Congress is like ‘Muslim conquest of Jerusalem,’ says GOP congressman
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Fast Forward Germany formally classifies far-right AfD party as extremist, in blow to Nazi-linked populist movement
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