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
-
Opinion I Was Almost Aborted Before the Holocaust
I am a 74-year old man, and I can look back at a life that someone sometime in the future will call a life well lived. But were it not for a mother who, against the urgings of her doctor, had refused an abortion, I might not have lived. By rights, I should be a…
-
News Orlando Jews Call for Unity With Muslims as Nation Reels From Massacre
ORLANDO — Central Florida’s Jewish community started laying the groundwork for interfaith cooperation with Muslims Monday as the nation reeled in grief and anger after an anti-gay gunman killed 50 people in the worst-ever mass killing in recent U.S. history. Rabbi Steven Engel of the Congregation for Reform Judaism, the largest synagogue in Orlando, and…
-
Community Was Smoke on the Shavuot Mountain a Sign Ancient Jews Used Marijuana?
The upcoming festival of Shavuot, which means “weeks,” marks the end of a seven-week period that begins during Passover, and the receiving of the Torah under a cloud of smoke at Mount Sinai. “And all the people saw the thunder and lightning, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain in smoke; when the…
-
Fast Forward Jewish-Muslim CA Cafe Owners Deny Discriminating Against Hijab-Wearing Patrons
A California cafe founded and owned by a Jewish and Muslim husband and wife plans to countersue after being accused of discriminating against Muslim patrons. Urth Caffe, an artisanal coffee shop and restaurant with six Southern California locations, was accused in a suit filed May 2 of forcing seven women to leave its Laguna Beach…
-
Fast Forward Jewish Groups Join Fight Against Anti-Muslim Discrimination
WASHINGTON (JTA) — From a bid to overcome resistance to building a mosque in New Jersey to defending a Muslim student at a military academy who wants to wear a hijab, Jewish groups this week joined efforts to stop anti-Muslim discrimination. Nearly a dozen Jewish groups are also backing legislation against banning entry to Muslims,…
-
Israel News How Do Mixed Jewish-Arab Schools Mark Memorial and Independence Days?
At most Israeli schools, Memorial Day is one of the most emotional days of the year, as students recall the soldiers who died for their nation in patriotic ceremonies that mark the birth of Israel, the Jewish state. But at Israel’s alternative Jewish-Arab schools, Memorial Day is difficult for another reason: While half the students…
-
News How A Top Jewish Cop in Chicago Wound Up Managing Its Explosive Police Scandal
Commander Marc Buslik was greeted with blank stares as he stood before a group of rank-and-file Chicago police officers, hoping to explain why the federal government was investigating them for unconstitutional policing. “In October of 2014,” he noted bluntly, “Officer Van Dyke decided to pump 16 bullets into Lacquan McDonald.” His shoulders slumped and his…
-
The Schmooze WATCH: Reimagining the Maccabee Revolt — as a Superhero Flick
The more Ilan Rosenberg pondered the Chanukkah story, the more the Hollywood stunt performer came up with one explanation for how a group of Jewish guerilla fighters beat the much larger Greek army. Maybe the Maccabees had possessed superhuman powers. Drawing on his stunt experience for movies such as “300” and “Pompeii,” and his Krav…
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
- 2
Fast Forward First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
- 3
Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
- 4
Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Holocaust survivor event features a Rob Reiner video address — recorded just weeks before his death
-
Fast Forward In Reykjavik, Hanukkah offers a chance for Iceland’s tiny, isolated Jewish community to come together
-
Opinion When my children decorate for Hanukkah, I don’t just see pride. I see pluralism in action.
-
Fast Forward ‘The most Australian name’: Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach attack, embodies a nation’s grief
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism