Welcome to 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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Life ‘If not now, when?’ Thousands of American Jews apply to move to Israel in pandemic
More American Jews applied to immigrate to Israel or inquired about it in May than in any single month over the last two decades, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh, a nonprofit organization that promotes Jewish immigration to Israel. Despite aliyah being stalled by the office closures, canceled flights and quarantine requirements because of the coronavirus pandemic,…
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News New fund offers financial grants to Jews of color in dire need due to pandemic
An organization dedicated to supporting and advocating for Jews of color has opened a COVID-19 emergency relief fund, citing the ways in which racism amplifies the impact of the coronavirus on people of color. A project of the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative, the fund will provide grants of between $250 and $2,500 to…
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Community Yearning to breathe free
At first, the world seems little changed—the virus is still present, the future still unclear. In fact, the coronavirus is a consistent reminder of how much we do not know. When will there be a second wave? Do antibodies provide immunity? When will there be a vaccine? Feeling equal measures of fear and constriction, we…
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Opinion Every Jew must decide which side they’re on
On the first day, a white woman made a panicked call to 911, because a black man bird-watching nearby in Central Park politely asked her to leash her dog. On the second day, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was arrested and lynched by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, who pressed his knee into…
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News Coronavirus aid for Jewish day schools caught up in DeVos debate
Millions of dollars that could help Jewish private schools pay for transportation and tutoring are in limbo because of a political fight between Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives over whether the money should support all students or just those who are poor. The dispute concerns $13.5 billion in federal dollars…
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Fast Forward AIPAC cancels next year’s policy conference due to COVID
(JTA) — AIPAC has canceled its 2021 policy conference, citing the “continued uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Betsy Korn, the president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, made the announcement in a letter sent to the organization’s membership on Sunday. The annual conference had been scheduled for March 7-9 in Washington, D.C. One…
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Culture Escape from New York — a third-generation migration tale
On March 7, I took a picture of a “child pile” in my Brooklyn apartment. Ten of my daughter’s friends had spent the night, celebrating the closing of a school play they’d worked on. The floor was a mess of sleeping bags, pillows, backpacks, soda bottles and empty bags of Doritos. A Happy Birthday banner…
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Community ‘Zoom shiva is shiva distilled to its essence’
I am one of those people with one of those stories. My mom, 83, went into the hospital in early April with something relatively routine. A few weeks and complications later, she went to a rehab to regain her strength. My dad delivered her reading glasses and an everything bagel to the door, knowing, of…
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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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