(Haaretz) — Open Haaretz on any given day. Half or three quarters of its news items will invariably revolve around the same two topics: people struggling to protect the good name of Israel, and people struggling against its violence and injustices. An almost random example: On December 17, 2013, one could read, on a single…
At first glance, it seems that Ani DiFranco has become the latest example of how a mix of star-fueled insulation from the real world and white privilege can lead to bad public relations. After an Internet-inspired backlash, the feminist singer-songwriter has canceled a musical retreat at a former slave plantation in Louisiana, now a resort…
(JTA) — On a busy street near the Dutch Parliament, three white musicians in blackface regale passersby with holiday tunes about the Dutch Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, and his slave, Black Pete. Many native Dutchmen view dressing up as Black Pete in December as a venerable tradition, but others consider it a racist affront to victims…
“A person is obligated to see himself as if he were leaving Egypt.” This instruction from the Talmud may not seem timely at the moment, as American Jews prepare to celebrate the conjoined holidays of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving rather than Passover. But thanks to the visceral, devastating film “12 Years a Slave,” we have a…
Fellow Forward contributor Menachem Wecker writes to ask: “I monitor certain search items related to Judaism on social media, and recently I came across the expression ‘worked like a Hebrew slave’ for the first time. It looks like it might be more frequently used in the African-American community. I wonder what are your thoughts on…
On the eve of Jon Stewart’s return from his long film-making absence, “The Daily Show” compiles a few minutes’ worth of what they apparently consider his best Jewish routines. (Hat tip to Chemi Shalev for finding and tweeting this.) For my money, though, they left out at least two of his most memorable Jewish bits,…
The website XOJane.com published a post by one of its regular contributors, India-Jewel Jackson, entitled “Let’s Talk Paula Deen and Apology Culture – Should Celebrities Be Forced to Apologize In Spite of Their Beliefs?” However, it wasn’t Jackson’s post on June 24 that caused controversy among the blog’s devoted followers – it was one of…
Three years before he would go on to become the founding editor of the Yiddish Forward, Abraham Cahan was already deeply worried about the prostitution and, indeed, enslavement of Jewish immigrant women on New York City’s Lower East Side and the police corruption that enabled it to flourish. “The most disgusting area of the city…
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