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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Fast Forward Burial society running out of prayer shawls to use as shrouds, seeks donations
A chevra kadisha society serving Queens and Long Island is facing a critical shortage of tallit and soliciting donations from the community. The society was short on essential supplies “due to the pandemic and the increased number of Jewish people who have passed away in recent weeks,” wrote a volunteer on Facebook. Chevra kadisha societies…
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News For Millenials, virtual Shabbat motivates neighborhood connections
At 5 pm on Fridays, Julia Logan pushes back her desk, moves her work screen aside and dims the lighting. In her small apartment dining room, amidst twinkling lights in mason jars, she sets a Shabbat table for one and joins a Zoom call of seven other young adults in Chicago, and across the country….
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Life If you’re a young reader, we want to hear from you. What are your favorite things right now?
Since shelter-in-place orders took effect across America, we’ve published plenty of personal essays, opinion pieces and news about how adults in society are handling life inside. We’ve written about those who wear pants every day and those eschewing them completely. We’ve heard about the challenges you’ve set yourselves, like reading all of Proust — or…
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News Adam Schiff, post-impeachment, mid-corona
Through much of the late fall and early winter, Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, was a daily presence in the national conscience. Beloved by Democrats, cursed by Republicans, he was must-see-TV, leading the House impeachment hearings of President Trump, then arguing for his removal as lead prosecutor in the Senate trial. Not long after…
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News De Blasio’s Tweet about a funeral soured his relationship with the Orthodox — for now
Four months ago, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s relationship with Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish communities was solid as it ever was. Amid a 20% uptick in anti-Semitic violence in the city, the mayor announced in December that his police department would beef up patrols in Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg. That same month,…
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Opinion De Blasio is the wrong messenger, but has a point: All Jews are responsible for each other.
Never tweet angry. It’s a trite commandment, but like many clichés, it sounds a universal truth. Mayor Bill de Blasio violated it last night, when he infamously proclaimed, “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed.” My message to the Jewish community, and all communities,…
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Community ‘Is there a more dread-filled psalm than Psalm 88?’ Finding meaning in the trauma of this moment
Is there a more dread-filled psalm than Psalm 88? In this relatively little-known work, the Bible manages to capture perfectly the isolation and misery of those whose lives are upended by illness. In our current coronavirus crisis the ancient words take on new resonance. If you’ve been suffering with COVID-19 or are terrified for a…
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Community Judaism is familiar with Great Pauses — but this one is different
There is nothing good about the coronavirus Great Pause. Full stop. But there may be an opportunity to do some good while we are trapped within it. On top of the health and economic toll it is taking, I am seeing firsthand the deep spiritual price being exacted from my children. For one daughter, this…
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Film & TV Bonhoeffer biopic tells of a pastor turned would-be Hitler assassin — but is the story true?
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News What Mike Huckabee’s ‘Kids Guide to Israel’ says about his views
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Culture At 95, Shaindel Schreiber is still dispensing babka and advice on the Lower East Side
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Fast Forward Trump attorney general pick Pam Bondi: 5 things Jews should know
In Case You Missed It
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News Israel reached a ceasefire in Lebanon. Why does Gaza seem so hard?
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Culture Barbra Streisand recorded here — and so did Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, John Lennon and, uh, The Village People
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Fast Forward Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to helm EPA, says he received bomb threat with ‘pro-Palestinian themed message’
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Opinion We can be thankful this year — and Jewish wisdom can help
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