Elissa Strauss has written for the Forward over a number of years. She is a regular contributor to CNN, whose work has been published in a number of publications including The New York Times, Glamour, ELLE, and Longreads.
Elissa Strauss
By Elissa Strauss
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Opinion Who’s Making the Matzo Balls?
**** is a new multi-media project that will look at who does what to make Jewish holidays at home happen. On one hand, households are more egalitarian than ever. On the other hand, women still do more housework than men. By some measures, it’s double. Over the course of the year we will be running…
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Opinion The Value of Shutting Up and Listening
In my previous column, I wrote about how a revival in Jewish education, one with a low bar for entry, is essential to maintaining our tradition in a world where the superficial trappings of religion — all dream catchers and menorahs — are replacing deeper meaning and understanding. Creating the infrastructure for this requires an…
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Opinion What’s So Wrong About Cameron Diaz’s Jewish Wedding?
When word got out in January about non-Jewish actress Cameron Diaz and non-Jewish musician Benji Madden’s Jewish-inspired wedding, some of us found it cause for celebration; others saw it as an insult. The pair wed under a chuppah, had an officiant recite the seven blessings, smashed the glass and took a yichud. US Weekly reports…
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Opinion Looking for My Gloria Steinem or Bella Abzug
There’s possibly no better evidence of the lack of female role models I had growing up than the fact that I wasn’t even aware of their absence. It took me until my late 20s to realize that all the people I admired, the ones after whom I was somewhat foolishly modeling my life were all…
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Opinion Introducing: Who Sets the Table?
For the past six years, the Forward has published a salary survey, a look into who earns what at America’s biggest Jewish not-for-profit organizations. What we’ve discovered is not, unfortunately, surprising. Women routinely earn less than men and occupy far few leadership positions. The point of the salary survey is to focus attention on the…
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Opinion Not Afraid To Be a Girlie Girl
A few weeks ago I saw Amy Schumer, stand-up comedian and star of the sketch show “Inside Amy Schumer,” at Carnegie Hall. She was as hilarious as I had hoped, but the truth is, I didn’t really go to see her for the jokes. I went to feel part of a moment. I wanted to…
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Opinion Should You Give Jewishly?
As the end of the year approaches, our inboxes and mailboxes fill with solicitations for giving, as organizations seek to capitalize on our holiday season generosity and desire to boost our tax write-offs. So who to give to? It is hard to give well. It takes time to figure out one’s priorities and then determine…
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Opinion Clothes Help Make Us — From the Fig Leaf to Ralph Lauren
Of all the methods of self-expression, the act of dressing oneself probably gets the least respect. Our culture sees an interest in clothes as a sign of vanity and materialism, the fixation of brainwashed lemmings who rely on the capitalist-driven edicts of glossy magazines to tell them who they are. This is a rather shallow…
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