A powerfully reported story published in last week’s edition of the Forward by our Josh Nathan-Kazis detailed how ultra-Orthodox groups in New York City were exploiting a federal program meant to help poor schools and libraries. The article has prompted two glaring questions. Why is a program that dispenses $2.5 billion a year of our…
If you ask me (and, if I had to guess, many of my peers), there is nothing worse than Hebrew school. In the world of fun Jewish activities, with Yom Kippur fasting being a one and hooking up with Israeli soldiers on Birthright a 10, attending Hebrew school is a lowly three. On Sundays, when…
The Forward’s new Yiddish site has certainly taken off with a bang. In the days since the launch of the yiddish.forward.com site was announced, several major media outlets have run stories on it, and what it means for the future of the Yiddish language. We hoped the new site might get a lot of attention…
What mazel! Last week, Yiddishists round the world woke up to find an article by Joseph Berger about the Forverts — in the New York Times, no less — entitled: “For Yiddish A Fresh Presence Online”. The next day, a Hebrew translation of the article appeared in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, with a slightly different…
A yeshiva teacher and summer camp counselor has pleaded guilty to child exploitation and pornography charges. Evan Zauder, 27, a former sixth grade teacher at a New Jersey school, pled guilty on January 22 to charges that he used the internet to entice a boy to engage in sexual activity and to possessing and distributing…
In an effort to drive home the point that everyone, regardless of their economic standing, is required to study Torah, the Talmud cites a story of Rabbi Hillel the Elder. Every day, Hillel worked and earned about half a dinar. He spent half of that to feed and clothe his family, and the other half…
The prosecutor who pursued criminal charges against Aaron Swartz, the 26-year-old Internet activist and computer prodigy who killed himself last week, has defended her actions after facing several days of harsh criticism. “There is little I can say to abate the anger felt by those who believe that this office’s prosecution of Mr. Swartz was…
The heartbroken father of internet activist Aaron Swartz blamed the government for his son’s suicide in an emotional eulogy at his funeral in suburban Chicago. “Aaron did not commit suicide — he was killed by the government,” Robert Swartz said to 200 mourners packing Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Ill., the New York Post…
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