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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News Rabbis: Synagogues should be among last places to reopen. What does that mean for High Holidays?
The United States is starting to reopen, but a broad range of Jewish leaders are citing religious values to say that synagogues should be among the last places to do so. And compounds the uncertainty around the High Holidays, which happen in the fall and are the peak season of the Jewish year. Will American…
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Fast Forward Pence aide who is also wife of Stephen Miller tests positive for coronavirus
A member of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff has tested positive for coronavirus, President Trump said on Friday. He referred to the infected person as a “press person” named Katie; Pence’s press secretary is Katie Miller. Two people with knowledge of Miller’s diagnosis also confirmed to Politico that it is coronavirus. Miller, who is Jewish,…
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Fast Forward New York Times gets slammed for highlighting fact that Israel Defense Forces kills people
A New York Times article published Thursday about the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli military contractors’ efforts to devise a cure for the novel coronavirus attracted criticism on social media for pointing out that many of their prior developments had deadly capabilities. “The Israeli Defense Ministry’s research-and-development arm is best known for pioneering cutting-edge ways…
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News UJA funds COVID tests in a school and on a playground
UJA-Federation of New York and Brightpoint Health, a community health center, are offering COVID-19 testing in schools and a playground in Brooklyn and the Bronx starting Friday. The testing is by appointment only, and patients must be showing symptoms and have a temperature above 100.5 degrees, or must be essential workers. “Testing is a critical…
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Fast Forward At least 1,300 French Jews have died of COVID-19
(JTA) — At least 1,300 members of France’s Jewish community have died of COVID-19, the country’s Jewish burial service said. The French chevra kadisha, the Jewish term for those who provide Jewish burial services, reported the figure this week after declining to disclose any numbers since the outbreak of the pandemic in France in March,…
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Opinion Coronavirus lockdown meant a break from shidduch pressure — until it didn’t
I’m expecting my cap and gown in the mail any day now, and that is not a sentence I ever thought I’d write. In fact, a lot of unexpected things have been happening lately. Unprecedented things. Which is why I was startled to receive an email from my university the other day regarding an upcoming…
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Fast Forward For those in the process of becoming Jewish, the pandemic means delayed, altered conversions
(JTA) — Renee Godinez had completed nearly all the steps to becoming Jewish before the coronavirus pandemic descended earlier this spring. She had studied extensively with Rabbi Rick Winer of Temple Beth Israel in Fresno, California, and adopted Jewish practices in her life. All that was missing was a ceremony to mark the end of…
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News Besieged de Blasio accused of double standards over social distancing enforcement
First he was accused of anti-Semitism for his crackdown on a Hasidic funeral last week in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Days later he navigated claims of racism after the New York Police Department made violent arrests of young men of color for not following social distancing regulations. On Thursday night, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office released data…
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Opinion Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point
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News They texted about Torah and mitzvahs. Feds say they were insider trading
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Culture At Eurovision, Israel’s near triumph shows the limits of tolerance
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Opinion I run The Jewish Theological Seminary. Here’s the real story about President Isaac Herzog speaking at our commencement
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Jewish groups denounce fatal shooting at San Diego mosque, say it proves need for security funding
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News Mamdani’s first Jewish Heritage event reveals a narrowed circle
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Culture The Israeli song that almost won Eurovision was about far more than the breakup of a love affair
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Yiddish אַ ייִדישער כאָר אין סאַאָ־פּאַולאָ, בראַזיל געפֿינט זײַן קול פֿון דאָס נײַA Yiddish chorus in Sao Paulo, Brazil finds its voice again
דער נײַער אַלבאָם „שמשׂ“ פֿאַרבינדט די ייִדישע מוזיק מיט אַנדערע דיאַספּאָרישע טראַדיציעס.