Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
COVID-19
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Community Community is essential, to Judaism and recovery
In the Passover seder we are asked by the haggadah to treat ourselves “as if” we came out of Egypt — not just to tell the story but also to to experience the journey from slavery to freedom ourselves. We think that the hard part is sitting through many hours of storytelling (with family!), but…
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Opinion Sanders lost the democratic primary. But he won the moral argument.
There’s something deeply symbolic about the fact that the most successful Jewish presidential candidate in U.S. history dropped out of the race on the eve of Passover, our people’s holiday of liberation. And that he’s dropping out at a time when recent news has proven him more correct about our politics than ever before. On…
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Community This is not our first seder in isolation
Jews are no strangers to seders in isolation. The first seder which ever took place was in the ancient land of Egypt (Mitzrayim), that narrow and constrained space. “None of you shall go outside the door of their house until morning.” These are not words from the health department’s recent report; they are words from…
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Opinion Editorial | Coronavirus claims another victim: Jewish journalism
There is so much to mourn the loss of these days: our inability to be around communal tables for Seder tonight, our freedom to gather for brises and bnei mitzvah, our confidence in the future — and, most of all, every individual taken by the terrible Covid-19. But save some grief for the Jewish Chronicle,…
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Culture Hal Willner, 64: The strangest, most beloved man in show business
Hal Willner might have been the most willfully strange person in show business. The music producer, who died on Monday at age 64 of complications of coronavirus, had a magic touch. He could get anyone to do anything: Tom Waits to sing an unrecognizable, railroad-rough version of “Heigh Ho” from Disney’s “Snow White”; R &…
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Fast Forward Coronavirus kills 15 at Amsterdam’s Jewish old-age home
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — At least 15 people have died at the main Jewish elderly home in Amsterdam and another 22 are infected with the disease. COVID-19 began infecting Beth Shalom residents in the middle of March, just before management imposed a lockdown, a spokesperson for the medical administration Cordaan, which runs the home, told Het…
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Fast Forward ‘We too have become a victim of Covid-19’: Biggest Jewish newspapers in Britain, Canada will close
The most prominent Jewish newspapers in Britain and Canada have both announced this week that they will soon close due to a lack of funds exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. The closures will leave the nations with the fourth- and fifth-biggest Jewish populations in the world without non-sectarian newspapers that cover the nationwide Jewish community….
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Opinion Don’t blame haredi Jews for the spread of coronavirus. Blame their media and leadership.
In New York and Israel, ultra-Orthodox communities have been among the hardest hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Some community members point to a lack of access to mainstream media outlets to explain how this epidemic came to ravage the haredi community. Community members didn’t know the extent of the virus or the way it…
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Culture Hitler is trending on TikTok again — and they’re trying to make him seem like a nice guy
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Fast Forward Trump says Jews would deserve much of the blame if he loses
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Culture You can buy Sukkot gift boxes that say ‘tuchus’ on Amazon
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Fast Forward Sitcom star encourages non-Jews like her to hang mezuzahs on their homes
In Case You Missed It
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Looking Forward An Israeli hip-hop artist remembers a day of hope in Gaza
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Sports The Jewish Sport Report: How the Chicago White Sox made a bad year even worse for Jewish fans
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Oct. 7: One Year Later A different closet: Queer Zionists navigate the post-Oct. 7 dating scene
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Looking Forward Why won’t Kamala Harris talk about her brisket?
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