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Opinion What Makes a Jew? It’s What You Do.
There’s a classic story in my family about the time many years ago when we sat around the table at Aunt Sarah’s house loudly debating what it meant to be a Jew in America. Bubbe Esther, my husband’s grandmother, sat quietly in the corner until someone thought to ask her. How do you define being…
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Fast Forward Egyptian Doctor Is First Arab Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations
JERUSALEM — An Egyptian doctor was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for helping to save a Jewish family during the Holocaust — the first Arab to be so recognized. Dr. Mohamed Helmy was recognized by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, the institution announced Monday. The memorial also cited Frieda Szturmann, a German woman,…
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Fast Forward Joe Biden Tells J Street Peace Talks Are Best Chance for Stability
WASHINGTON — Instability in the Middle East presents an incentive to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace, Vice President Joe Biden told J Street’s annual conference. After reviewing an array of countries seized by unrest, including Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain, as well as the threat posed by Iran’s suspected nuclear program, Biden said Monday that he…
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Fast Forward Council of Europe To Vote on Defining Circumcision as ‘Human Rights Violation’
Amid calls to ban the ritual circumcision of boys in Scandinavia, the Council of Europe is slated to vote on whether to define the practice as a “clear human rights violation.” The definition is included in a report on circumcision and female genital mutilation that was submitted recently to a vote by the Parliamentary Assembly…
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Opinion Halacha at the Crosswalk
The recent incident this past Yom Kippur involving a woman in Jacksonville, Florida who was killed while crossing an intersection with dangerously fast cars was very tragic indeed. It not only left the sixteen year old daughter who was with her with life-threatening injuries, it left her orphaned r”l. This young lady had lost her…
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Fast Forward Netanyahu Urges Obama to Maintain Iran Sanctions During White House Meeting
WASHINGTON – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday to keep sanctions in place against Iran and to even tighten them if Tehran continues its nuclear advances during a coming round of negotiations with the West. Seeking to ease Israeli concerns about U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran, Obama said Tehran…
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Opinion News Quiz: What To Call Hanukkah/Thanksgiving?
We’ve got Anne ‘n’ Andy in this week’s quiz — Anne Frank and Andy Samberg, that is, both busy, as well as a peek at what may or may not be a real show: “Downton Rebbe.” And somehow Mariano Rivera made it in, too!
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Opinion Jerusalem’s Temple Mount Is for Jews, Too
A group of people partakes in violence to prevent a rival group from praying in a site that is deemed holy to both. The authorities in charge of the area restrict access to this revered spot and forbid the second group to enter because of fears of upcoming violent disturbances. At first glance, one would…
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Fast Forward A whites-only, no-Jews community says it’s found a legal loophole. A Jewish lawmaker in Pennsylvania wants to close it.
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Film & TV So, what’s the deal with the honey scene in ‘Marty Supreme?’
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Culture Why do Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas?
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Opinion What if Donald Trump puts his name on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum?
In Case You Missed It
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Israel News Somaliland already operates as a de facto state. So why is Israel’s recognition of it so controversial?
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Fast Forward Julius Berman, Orthodox rabbi whose influence spanned secular and observant Jewish institutions, dies at 90
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Opinion The case for Jewish optimism in 2026
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Antisemitism Decoded Things are only going to get worse for Jews from here
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