This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish women and women’s issues.
Women
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Life Breaking The Glass Ceiling For Female Cantors
Rebecca Garfein was fifteen years old when the man seated in front of her turned around, at the sound of her pleasant singing voice, and offered her an opportunity that would lead her on the path to become a cantor. At the time, Garfein didn’t even know what a cantor was. Throughout her childhood, Garfein…
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Life 4 Questions Every Feminist Should Ask Herself At The Passover Seder
Passover is a time for learning, storytelling, and appreciating our freedom in relation to years’ past. Yet, for the most part, the texts we read in the traditional Haggadah are dominated by men — we discuss the leadership of Moses, we compare the four sons, and retell the conversations between ancient Talmudic male rabbis. So…
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Life Conversations With The Ultra-Orthodox Women Fighting For Their Rights
Knesset member Aliza Lavie is blond, poised — and whip smart. I caught her on her way out of the Knesset after yet another dead-end meeting with its ultra-Orthodox members, discussing women’s rights. “Ultra-Orthodox parties are taking women backwards. Everything I try to do, they block,” she said, her voice rising with frustration. “Everything I’ve…
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Opinion 6 Things Orthodox Girls Schools Should Do In The #MeToo Era
March first marks the start of Women’s History Month. That date also marks the yartzeit of Sarah Schenirer, pioneer of Bais Yaakov, the ultra-Orthodox girls’ school. In the words of former Bais Yaakov student, Alanis Morissette (kidding), isn’t it ironic? Schenirer is the OG Orthodox feminist. She was a blazing renegade who could stand with…
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Life Does Chabad Have An Answer To ‘The Rebbetzin Question’?
Every year, in a massive hall at a New York hotel, 3,000 women from 100 countries around the world gather for the annual conference for Chabad-Lubavitch’s female emissaries the Chabad Kinus Hashluchos banquet dinner. I’ve been to the banquet several times. Every year, I am struck by the energy in the room. The hall is…
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Opinion Mike Pence’s Israel Trip Was An Affront To Women
Women were segregated at the Western Wall this week. During Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the Kotel, female journalists were relegated to the back. The segregation came not during a religious event but rather during a diplomatic visit. And the women who were sent to the back of the pack were not praying women…
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The Schmooze Israeli Bar Offers Discount To Women On Their Periods
Women spend roughly 25% of their time menstruating, a fact which alone should be enough to grant them monthly financial reparations from their governments. Never mind the fact that women are encouraged to pretend their periods don’t exist (the equivalent of pretending you don’t have a heavy, week-long bloody nose, if your nose could gestate…
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Life Why The Women’s Confessional Essay Is Here To Stay
Recently, there’s been a lot of debate about the value of the personal essay – especially the women’s personal essay – a genre which has taken over online media publications with vigor in the last decade. Jia Tolentino, in her New Yorker essay in May, “The Personal Essay Boom Is Over”, wrote about the increasing…
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Opinion New York’s Israel Day parade was a shanda — but not because of Mamdani
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Opinion Israeli and diaspora Jews live in different realities. The Israel Day parade proved it
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Opinion Trump’s humiliation of Netanyahu marks a sea change in the US-Israel relationship
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News National Council of Jewish Women ejects LA chapter, other affiliates cut ties amid historic reboot
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