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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Life ‘Dirty Dancing’ Remake: Keep Baby Jewish
A “Dirty Dancing” remake is officially in the works, with Kenny Ortega, who choreographed the original, set to direct. The announcement of the new project quickly incited a chorus of complaints from those who think the idea is sacrilegious, as well as a flurry of speculation on who would play Baby and Johnny. I, for…
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Life Prime Ribs: GQ Says No Cool Women Athletes
It is a new age for Jewish actresses in Hollywood who no longer follow the frizzy-haired nasal-voiced stereotypes, writes Danielle Berrin at the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles. Over at the Family Inequality blog, Phillip N. Cohen looks at the sexism in the recent Smurf revival, and why he is happy his daughter’s didn’t get…
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Life The Moral Dilemma of Pregnancy ‘Reduction’
Reproductive rights have never come easy. This has been the case for every single advancement in a woman’s ability to control reproduction, all of which were initially painted as immoral and unnatural. And this is the case now, with the debate surrounding the abortion of one twin, often referred to as pregnancy reduction. As explained…
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Life A Feminist Mohel Speaks Out
The recent ballot initiative to ban circumcision in San Francisco, which was recently dropped, ignited a hair-raising and soul-searching debate on the topic between Jews and non-Jews, and Jews and Jews alike. For some of us at the Sisterhood, one of the more confounding elements of brit milah conversation was whether we should endorse a…
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Life Larry David, Feminist Hero?
Larry David is a feminist. There I said it. I know, I know, that jerk? Allow me to explain. Yes he is arrogant and frequently offensive, but somewhere amid the solipsism and general buffoonery there is a man who treats women’s bodies and issues with a level of maturity, respect and a rather refreshing matter-of-factness…
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Life Prime Ribs: Rapper Shyne on Jewish Modesty; Pregnant on Facebook
In music news, a posthumous Amy Winehouse album will be released reports the Daily Mail. Brooklyn rapper and Hasidic convert Shyne tells the Jewish Chronicle that he will no longer feature profanity or scantily clad women in his videos out of respect for Jewish modesty laws. 614 devotes its latest issue to Jewish women who…
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Life Low Hopes for ‘Jewtopia’: The Movie
We have long bemoaned the fact that female Jewish characters on screens big and small get the short shrift, and that our high points were still decades ago when Barbra took on Fanny Brice and Yentl. Well, the upcoming film version of the long-running off-Broadway comedy “Jewtopia” will not likely makes things any better. As…
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Life Prime Ribs: Zumba to ‘Hava Nagila’; Facebook as Lifesaver
On Slate, Deborah Copaken Kogan tells a moving Jewish mother story for the digital age, about how sharing her son’s strange symptoms on Facebook saved his life. Among those in favor of beatifying WWII-era Pope Pius XII is a nun now making the case that the pontiff ordered her convent to shelter 114 Jewish women…
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