Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
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News He was a combat pilot. He’s married to a rabbi. James Mackler is breaking the Jewish political mold.
James Mackler has been thinking a lot about certain words from the Talmud during his long-shot run for U.S. Senate in Tennessee: “In a place where there are no worthy people, strive to be a worthy person.” They were especially prescient on Monday, after a weekend of nationwide protests against racism and police misconduct sparked…
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Books Is there any good time to publish a book during a pandemic?
“Timing is everything.” Larry Cohler-Esses wrote that line in 1995 in a Forward news story about my book contract with Simon and Schuster. I was the American Jewish Committee’s expert on antisemitism at the time. I had written a report on the militia movement ten days before the Oklahoma City bombing predicting attacks on government…
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Community This isn’t about the bagel, nor the seltzer man
For me, it was a bagel – my last taste of normalcy before the “new normal” arrived, eaten mere hours before NYC effectively cancelled the school year for my children. The inevitable was fast approaching — had arrived in fact — and I was just slow to accept it. (Weeks later, my dad would die….
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Culture Why Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Kaddish’ is the perfect poem for these times
In this spring of fear and torment, COVID Spring, a spring when we mourn our dead, Jews are saying Kaddish too many times. When I grew up in a casually Jewish household we lit yahrzeit candles, and nothing focused my thoughts on the passing of all things like the familiar melody of Kaddish, As I…
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News Nightfall brings curfews — and fear of going to the mikveh
Sunday night was mikveh night for C., an Orthodox Jewish woman in Manhattan — it was time for her monthly immersion in the ritual bath. The practice is a foundational part of the Orthodox Jewish family, allowing husbands and wives to resume sexual activity after a woman’s menstrual period. But C. — who asked that…
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Fast Forward These Jewish groups are planning events in solidarity with black communities
As protests against police violence escalate across America, some Jewish institutions are beginning to plan virtual events in solidarity with black communities. BASE Manhattan, an New York-based organization that hosts events for young Jews, will host an online rally on June 4 in conjunction with JCC Harlem, Jewish Theological Seminary, Jews for Racial and Economic…
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Community People say coronavirus is like prison. I can tell you: it’s not.
I live in New York City which is at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. I wear a face mask to walk my dog every day. People pass by and our dogs sniff each other while we chat from a social distance, and more than one dog owner has told me that they feel like…
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Community I graduated early to hike the Appalachian Trail. Now I’m stuck inside.
I should have been on the Appalachian Trail right now. I am a high school graduate and have been for the last six months — I finished high school a semester early in order to start the Appalachian Trail in April 2020, planning to then begin college after a gap year. Ditching my senior prom…
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Fast Forward ‘Modern-day Mein Kampf’: NYC Mayor Adams under fire for Hitler reference as calls for his resignation mount
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News Elon Musk’s Jewish problem
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Books Despite her multimillion dollar fortune and celebrity pals, Ina Garten is a true balabusta
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News ‘Devastating’: What Germany’s election results mean for Jews
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Fast Forward Hamas has made me hate. How can I pray for peace?
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News Cuomo and Adams hope Jewish voters will fuel comeback in NYC mayor’s race
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Fast Forward Why are Jewish influencers suddenly talking about Meir Kahane?
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Yiddish World Chaim Grade’s last Yiddish novel ‘Sons and Daughters’ finally available in English
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