This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish women and women’s issues.
Women
The Latest
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Fast Forward Sarah Silverman’s Sister Among 10 Women Arrested in Western Wall Protest
Israeli police detained 10 women at one of Judaism’s most sacred sites on Monday for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, a spokesman said. The incident at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City highlighted the divisions between the more liberal streams of Judaism and politically powerful Orthodox groups that…
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Life Romance Is Not Dead — Yet
Recently, a series of major articles have raised the alarms on the demise of dating and marriage. Alex Williams’ New York Times piece “The End of Courtship” lamented the death of traditional, chivalrous dating, and Amy Webb’s Wall Street Journal story encouraged women to stretch the truth in their online dating profiles lest all the…
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Culture The History of Yenta’s and its Dirty Roots
Read a follow-up post by Ezra Glinter on the true Yiddish history of the word “Yenta.” Pssst! Wanna know a juicy secret? Get this: The most well-known Yiddish word describing women doesn’t mean what we think it does. I’m no linguist, but after spending a little time on several authoritative Yiddish dictionaries, I’m convinced that…
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Life Reproductive Rights Go Both Ways
The news from Israel that Ethiopian Jewish women were given birth control shots without their consent has attracted quite a storm of argument, disillusionment and shock — as has the news of the huge number of extra-legal “black market” abortions, both addressed recently at the Sisterhood. I don’t pretend to be an expert on the…
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Life Mississippi’s Last Abortion Clinic
Several years ago I saw the documentary film “The Last Abortion Clinic,” about the Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO) in Jackson, Mississippi. As the title indicates, JWHO is the last clinic in the state that provides abortions; it serves women from all over Mississippi, many of whom are low-income and have trouble paying for their…
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Life Leave Sara Netanyahu Alone
The induction of the new Knesset this week raised some crucial issues for women in Israeli society, but you’d never know it from following the news. The blogosphere was abuzz this week, but not with stories about the significant strides made by women — for example, the record number of women Knesset members and party…
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Life Should Jews Host Gender Reveal Parties?
The first thing I thought when I learned that gender reveal parties exist was, “Oh, Jews do NOT do that.” My reaction was based on the fact that every pregnant Jewish woman I have ever known has delayed announcing her pregnancy until she’s past her first trimester (at the very least). In the Jewish community,…
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Life We’re Angry, Mayor Bloomberg!
We all know that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is straight to the point when it comes to politics, but many of us were caught off guard when he used this same bluntness to describe a woman’s backside in front of a journalist. As recounted in a recent New York magazine profile of New…
Most Popular
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Books In ‘Something We Said,’ Richard Pryor’s daughter finds words to discuss the unspeakable
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Opinion It’s time for Jews who love Israel to give up on Zionism
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Opinion Israeli and diaspora Jews live in different realities. The Israel Day parade proved it
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward This Israeli filmmaker harshly criticizes his country. Pro-Palestinian activists boycotted him anyway
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Fast Forward Trump is imagining an Israel after Netanyahu. So are many Israelis. Netanyahu isn’t biting.
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Fast Forward Spain reports 86% rise in antisemitic incidents, as interior minister takes aim at ‘xenophobia’
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Fast Forward Cara Trager, beloved Queens Jewish communal leader and lifetime journalist, dies at 71