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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News Women Who Write Torah
Nearly a decade ago, when the Kadima Reconstructionist Community, in Seattle, was looking for a Torah to purchase for its congregation, it decided to have one written by a woman. This seemed like a reasonable request to the members of the small congregation, who knew female rabbis, female cantors, even female mohels. Women around them…
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Life On HuffPost, D-I-V-O-R-C-E Gets Some R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Divorce is almost always presented as a prickly topic, one that imbues it survivors with bitterness and regrets. And so when I first heard about The Huffington Post’s new section devoted to divorce, I expected ranting. But most of the contributors on the site appear to be reasonable and sincere grown-ups — a mixture of…
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Life Rethinking That Infamous ‘Glee’ Photo Shoot
I, too, thought “uh-oh” when I saw the now infamous “Glee” photo shoot in GQ — see our earlier, related post here — nodding my head in agreement to the chorus of critiques deeming it sexist and even pornographic. But then I remembered what I used to dress like in my early 20s and realized that…
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Life Our Rack: Yeshiva Girl YA; Bios of Bernhardt, Alcott
NON-FICTION In “Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt Robert Gottlieb,” Robert Gottlieb trims away the fat from the storied life of the legendary actress, who was born Jewish and who was later baptized a Roman Catholic. Gottlieb presents a peppy and concise biography rooted in facts and recorded accounts. The book, the debut title in…
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The Schmooze New Jersey Russian Jews Renew Vows in Special Ceremony
For most couples, renewing their vows is a way to express their unwavering love and dedication. But for 11 couples in New Jersey, their second marriage ceremony was an opportunity to commit to something else: Judaism. On Sunday, October 31, these couples, who range in age from 30 to 60 and come from the Russian…
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Life $#*! Our Moms Say
Dumped by his girlfriend, 28-year-old struggling comedy writer Justin Halpern packed up his life in Los Angeles and returned back to San Diego to live with his parents. And it was there at home that he discovered comedy gold: his Jewish septuagenarian father. Justin began transcribing the daily musings of his father, Sam, whose sayings…
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Life My Gossip Diet
For the past two weeks, during the Days of Awe, I have gone completely without celebrity gossip — no TMZ, no US Weekly, nothing. I know, it sounds like a sacrifice Cher from the movie “Clueless” would make, a tiny act of self-denial in an otherwise frivolous life. But the abstention actually proved quite revelatory,…
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Culture A Room of Their Own
Are women-only spaces sexist, or are they progressive? In the cultural and political world, even in schools and religious institutions, the debate has grown over the past few years. Do venues such as art shows, magazines and blogs provide a much needed opportunity for women to communally examine their roles and identities in larger society?…
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