Welcome to the Forward’s insightful posts and articles covering all things Jewish, from culture and traditions to history, faith and contemporary Jewish life.
Jewish
The Latest
-
Fast Forward Last Synagogue in Indonesia Is Destroyed on Island of Java
Indonesia’s last synagogue has been destroyed, a Dutch news site reported. Unidentified persons demolished the Beith Shalom synagogue in Surabaya on the island of Java to its foundations sometime earlier this year, according to a report on Indoweb.nl. The synagogue has seen a number of anti-Israel protests staged in front of it and was sealed…
-
Fast Forward Hobby Lobby’s ‘No Hanukkah’ Apology Accepted by Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League accepted an apology from the retailer Hobby Lobby for an employee’s alleged comment that the store “doesn’t cater to you people.” Hobby Lobby was mired in controversy after a blogger reported that the chain neglected to stock Hanukkah items. After calling a New Jersey Hobby Lobby store and inquiring about the Hannukah…
-
Fast Forward Ex-Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum Faces Wider Corruption Probe
Former Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum is now implicated in a decades-long “system of corruption,” that police now believe involved developers bribing public officials with “thousands of dollars” for zoning changes, the Montreal Gazette reported. When Applebaum, 50, was arrested in July of this year, he faced 14 charges of fraud, conspiracy, and corruption among others…
-
Opinion Give Us Our Gen-X Judaism
The new PEW survey on Jewish life paints a bleak picture of our future. Among the findings were the fact that 58% of Jews now marry non-Jews, two-thirds don’t belong to a synagogue and 32% of Jews born after 1980 say they have “no religion.” In response, Slate’s Jessica Grose wrote about her mixed feelings…
-
The Schmooze Polish President Honors Survivor Sigmund Rolat
“Not every Pole is an anti-Semite and not every Jew is anti-Polish, “ has long been the mantra of Czestochowa-born Holocaust survivor Sigmund Rolat, an orphan and survivor of a Nazi slave-labor camp in Czestochowa who in 1948 arrived in New York City as a penniless teenager. On September 23, he was honored at a…
-
Fast Forward Good Samaritan Prevents Stabbing of Jewish Teen on Paris Street
A passerby stopped a schoolboy from stabbing a Jewish classmate in Paris. The attempted stabbing on Sept. 24 in Paris’ 16th arrondissement ended without serious injury thanks to the intervention of the man who was riding his scooter when he noticed a fight, SPCJ, the security service of France’s Jewish community, reported Thursday. The attacker…
-
Fast Forward Jewish Cemetery in Small Dutch Town Gets New Lease on Life
Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers rededicated a 200-year-old Dutch Jewish cemetery after decades of neglect. The opening of the cemetery in Woerden in the center of the Netherlands on Wednesday was its first since 1973, de Week Krant reported. Jewish and Christian volunteers worked for six months to restore the headstones at the cemetery, according to…
-
Fast Forward Willie Rapfogel Scandal Prompts Few Signs of Change at Jewish Groups
The stunning array of charges against William Rapfogel, the disgraced former head of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, should prompt Jewish organizations to engage in soul-searching and make governance changes to avoid similar misfortunes, say experts in non-profit management and ethics. But that, they say, isn’t happening. Charming and savvy, Rapfogel was arrested September…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News That whites-only, no Jews allowed Arkansas community is legal, says state’s attorney general. How?
- 2
Opinion As an Israeli political scientist, I resisted thinking this war was a genocide. Here’s what changed my mind
- 3
Opinion I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel
- 4
News In a first, Orthodox rabbinical school ordains an out gay rabbi
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward What does the Star of David represent? A new ruling offers a legal answer
-
BINTEL BRIEF I prepare bodies as part of my synagogue’s burial society, but I’m an anti-Zionist. Is that OK?
-
Books Amid the terror of war in Ukraine, a stirring debut novel demonstrates the power of love and art
-
Opinion Hamas should release all the hostages. But it’s foolish to think that would end the war
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
