This is the Forward’s coverage of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.
Shabbat
The Latest
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Life Why Is This New Year’s Eve Different?
It started about two weeks ago — the instant messages while I was at work, asking me about my New Year’s Eve plans and the incessant text messages, sending my phone into a vibrating jig while I made the rounds at holiday parties. I was shocked at the extent to which the simple question, “What…
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The Schmooze The Question of E-Reading on Shabbat
The idea that household appliances and electronic gadgetry should be adapted to fit the increasingly techno-centric lifestyles of Sabbath-observant Jews has always seemed a tad counter-intuitive. Shabbat, of course, means abstinence from light switching, button pressing, knob turning and any other action that initiates electricity from sundown Friday until Saturday night. But we live in…
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The Schmooze Nurse Wins $40,000 in Sabbath Discrimination Case
Everything seemed great in 2007, when registered nurse Alisa Dolinsky got offered a job by the Color-Goldwater Specialty Hospital & Nursing Facility on Roosevelt Island, part of New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation. But when the observant Jew informed her prospective employer she couldn’t work on the Sabbath, they withdrew the offer. Now, that…
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The Schmooze Prayer at the Western Wall: A Weekday-Only Activity?
The Western Wall was abnormally busy this afternoon. More people than on a usual Friday left their Sabbath preparations and braved the cool Jerusalem weather to head for the Wall. Why? One reason is that today is a fast day, the Fast of Tevet, and people wanted to pray at the special afternoon service. But…
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The Schmooze In Israel, Kindness Amid Devastation
Amid all the heartbreak and devastation as a result of the fire in Northern Israel, there have been some remarkable stories of human kindness. Today, many of the members of the moshav Nir Etzion will be starting the Sabbath in their own homes. But this time last week, they were under police instructions to evacuate….
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The Schmooze GE Adds ‘Sabbath Mode’ to Hundreds of Appliances
It’s not often a press release from a mega-corporation like GE touts gefilte fish, challah, brisket, noodle kugel and latkes. But just in time for Hanukkah, the company decided to trumpet the “Sabbath Mode” feature it now offers on over 264 “GE wall ovens, smooth-top electric slide-in and smooth-top electric drop-in ranges, as well as…
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The Schmooze Puff Daddy Protégé Prays at the Western Wall
Moses Levi wasn’t always an Orthodox Jew living in Jerusalem. Just last year, the 32-year-old Belize born rapper finished serving a nearly 10-year prison sentence for a 1999 shooting incident that took place in a New York City bar and involved Sean Combs, then known as Puff Daddy — his former mentor — and Jennifer…
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The Schmooze Modern Orthodox Top Model Gets Cut
So much for an Orthodox “America’s Next Top Model” winner. This week, Esther Petrack, an Israeli-born Boston native, was eliminated from the competition. In the opening episodes of the show, the 18-year-old caused a ruckus by suggesting that she would break Shabbat if she needed to for modeling jobs. Bloggers criticized Petrack for her lack…
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