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Fast Forward Yosef Kolko, Lakewood Yeshiva Camp Counselor, Seeks To Pull Abuse Guilty Plea
A former counselor at a summer camp run by a yeshiva in Lakewood, N.J., wants to withdraw his guilty plea on charges of sexually abusing a male camper. Yosef Kolko, 39, pleaded guilty in May, on the third day of his trial, to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment…
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Fast Forward French City of Metz Irks Some WIth Jewish Holiday Street Closing
The French city of Metz closed a street to vehicular traffic for the High Holidays season, provoking angry reactions from some Muslims. Rabbin Bloch Street was closed on the afternoon of Sept. 6, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, and will reopen at the close of Yom Kippur, the night of Sept. 14, according to…
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Opinion American (Hasidic) Apparel
We’re used to seeing adolescent-looking girls posing like wannabe porn stars in American Apparel ads. That probably makes Yoel Weisshaus the most unorthodox American Apparel model ever. His dark blond peyos long and bouncy, the Hasidic 32-year-old college student poses in what is surely the company’s most modest ad ever, wearing a white button down…
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Opinion Proud Jews Are Also Committed to Inclusiveness
Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…
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News How an Asian Convert to Judaism Became Unlikely Leader of Unusual Synagogue
What do a Japanese rabbi, a Korean church and a Chinese restaurant have in common? For Temple Isaiah of Great Neck, on Long Island, N.Y., the answer’s no punch line. The three components have all played a crucial role in the congregation’s colorful 46-year history. For 37 years, this Reform congregation held the majority of…
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Opinion For Israeli Military, Armor’s Out, Cyber Is In
Officers in the U.S. Army have long envied the “short drive” they claim the Israel Defense Forces has to reach its front lines, bemoaning the tyranny of distance when deploying to places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Having relatively short distances to go when meeting a threat means that the IDF is able to go in…
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Fast Forward AIPAC Details ‘Major’ Lobbying Push on Syria
The influential pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee will deploy hundreds of activists next week to win support in Congress for military action in Syria, amid an intense White House effort to convince wavering U.S. lawmakers to vote for limited strikes. “We plan a major lobbying effort with about 250 activists in Washington to meet…
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News Peddler Bound, Gagged and Robbed of $21 in Alphabet City
Forward Looking Back brings you the stories that were making news in the Forward’s Yiddish paper 100, 75 and 50 years ago. Check back each week for a new set of illuminating and edifying clippings from the Jewish past. 1913 •100 years ago Peddler Bound and Gagged Jacob Furman, an old clothes peddler who lives…
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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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Israel News Somaliland already operates as a de facto state. So why is Israel’s recognition of it so controversial?
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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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Fast Forward How Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani’s politics shaped New York City’s new mayor
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Fast Forward How Jewish politics are shaping the 2026 election map, from coast to coast
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News Mayor Zohran Mamdani reassures Jewish New Yorkers at inauguration: ‘I will protect you’
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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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