This is the Forward’s coverage of synagogues, Jewish houses of worship.
Synagogues
The Latest
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News Two marquee Reform synagogues are in merger talks – and they won’t be the last
Two historic Reform synagogues in New York announced Thursday that they are entering merger talks. One is embroiled in a financial crisis made more pressing by the pandemic; the other is growing, but faces a $2 million shortfall due to the economic impact of the coronavirus. In email messages sent to their congregations Thursday afternoon,…
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Fast Forward Maryland county’s corona guidelines put the kibosh on communion — and kiddush
A Maryland county issued an executive order that permits synagogues to reopen but effectively prohibits kiddush receptions. As of May 29, houses of worship in Howard County may hold services with up to 10 people inside and 250 people outside. However, most forms of physical contact, from shaking hands to sharing food, are prohibited. “No…
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Community Safe-guarding your post-pandemic synagogue requires fundraising — respectfully
Even while the world is experiencing chaos and confusion, it is inspiring to see organizations, particularly community based and religious institutions such as synagogues, engage with and draw in their communities in meaningful ways. The unknown is most definitely challenging, and over the past two months, people have turned to their local communities for support,…
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News Rabbis: Synagogues should be among last places to reopen. What does that mean for High Holidays?
The United States is starting to reopen, but a broad range of Jewish leaders are citing religious values to say that synagogues should be among the last places to do so. And compounds the uncertainty around the High Holidays, which happen in the fall and are the peak season of the Jewish year. Will American…
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News The pandemic is forcing synagogues to reinvent themselves
The Forward is taking an ongoing look at the future of synagogues in America in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have information or insights, please contact [email protected] The start of May means different things to different people, but for most synagogues, it means it’s time to start planning for the high holidays. And…
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News Synagogue for sale: What does coronavirus mean for this historic building?
For the last year, one of Dr. Michael Bukstein’s duties as synagogue president for B’nai Sholom Temple, the oldest synagogue in the state of Illinois, has been trying to sell its beautiful and unique building. Located in the small city of Quincy, the building is in a neo-Byzantine style of architecture, with detailed brickwork and…
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Fast Forward With services online, many synagogues are seeing greater attendance
(JTA) — Mike Finesilver started attending daily services for the first time since his bar mitzvah shortly after joining Congregation Beth El in 2012. Praying every day with the same small group of people was “a wonderful experience” for the 62-year-old paralegal, and he enjoyed being deeply involved with the Conservative synagogue in South Orange,…
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News One of our reporters got an email from a rabbi asking for gift cards. Here’s what happened next.
Here at the Forward, we get emails from rabbis all the time. I counted at least a dozen just last week in my inbox. So when Aiden Pink, our deputy news editor, received a vague email seemingly from Rabbi Sheldon Kleinman of Cong. House of Israel in Hot Springs, Ark. over the weekend, he didn’t…
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Opinion New York’s Israel Day parade was a shanda — but not because of Mamdani
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News Nearly half of young U.S. Jews want to replace Israel with binational state, poll finds
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Opinion Mamdani has made ample efforts for Jews. How come no one is telling that story?
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News Floyd Mayweather showered cash on Jewish causes — and now he’s suing their ‘Robin Hood’ alleging $175 million got diverted
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward NYU student draws hate crime charges for flying flag with swastikas, Star of David over campus building
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Yiddish פֿאָרשונגען פֿון וויכטיקע היסטאָריקער אויף ייִדיש — איצט אַרויס אויף ענגלישResearch studies in Yiddish by noted historians, now in English
דער באַגריף, ייִדישע אױטאָנאָמיע אין גלות — הײַנט פּאָפּולער בײַ קריטיקער פֿון ציוניזם — איז היסטאָריש ניט געװען קײן דערפֿאָלג.
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Culture In the course of his 104 years, he resisted the Nazis, fought against blood libel and became a towering Jewish intellectual
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Culture That time Allen Ginsberg wrote a Socialist poem — about Bernie Sanders