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 Fair Trade Festival of Lights
As shopping and morality become further entwined — organic, locally made, recycled — choices in Judaica have not been left behind. In time for Hanukkah, Global Exchange has recently released a Fair Trade menorah, the only one of its kind on the market. Constructed of pine from a Chilean reforestation project and painted by members…
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Israel News Paltrow’s Character Flaw
There has been no shortage of lovable Jewish male movie characters in the recent past. The clumsy and uncouth Stiller, Sandler and Rogen types do almost everything wrong until their not-that-badness unfolds, usually in a midstory montage, exposing a tenderness that leads them to whatever home base they desire. (The end of the run is…
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News Suze Orman’s Spiritual Side
Every morning in the shower, financial guru and best-selling author Suze Orman says a prayer — “I ask for forgiveness and relief for all whom I did harm, and forgiveness and relief for all who harmed me” — and she has been doing so for as long as she can remember. But it wasn’t until…
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Culture Louise Nevelson: Constructing a Legend
At a lecture that sculptor Louise Nevelson once gave at Queens College, a meticulous student raised her hand and offered her summary of Nevelson’s work. “Your work is black and it is wood and it is sculpture.” “If that’s what it appears like to you, then you’ve missed the whole thing,” Nevelson replied. The Jewish…
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Culture Boy, Interrupted
In the hands of the wrong filmmakers, child protagonists can easily pull the audience into a world too nostalgic, too sweet. They move through magic worlds, purportedly enchanting us along the way. Thankfully, in “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation,” Mauro, the 12-year-old protagonist, does no such thing. In fact, it is this child’s…
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Israel News Hest Hits the Road
Last month, Columbia Records released “The Break-In,” Ari Hest’s most anticipated album yet. The record showcases a collection of new folk-pop tunes, and most of them were developed while Hest was playing in the cozy musical venues of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Hest, a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, has cited a group of more obvious musical heroes…
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Culture ‘West Bank’ Musical Comedy Wins Oscar
“West Bank Story,” a musical comedy about the eruption of love between an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian falafel-stand worker, won this year’s Academy Award for best live short. “To be able to get this award just goes to show that there are so many people out there that support that notion that when it…
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Israel News A Familiar Story Could Snag Oscar
This year’s list of Oscar nominees is rife with films that make political statements — “Blood Diamond,” “Babel,” “The Queen,” “The Last King of Scotland.” Add to this “West Bank Story,” a film nominated in the “live action short” category. Set in the West Bank, the film is about the eruption of love between an…
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