Gabrielle Birkner
By Gabrielle Birkner
-
Life On the Senate Floor, It’s Lieberman vs. Franken
Watch the Jewish senator from Minnesota shut down the Jewish senator from Connecticut:
-
Israel News Nick Hornby’s Jewish ‘Education’
Discussing his gentile upbringing outside London during the 1960s, writer Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity,” “About a Boy,” “Fever Pitch”) recalls how the word “Jewish” was used interchangeably with “cheap” in the schoolyard, and how his grandmother would call him a “Wandering Jew” when he was restless. British attitudes toward the nation’s now 280,000 Jews have…
-
Life Senators Hatch and Reid: Mormons With Mezuzahs
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch isn’t the only Mormon legislator with a soft spot for Jewish traditions. Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s wife, Landra (née Gould), was raised Jewish, and the Reid family has a mezuzah on the doorpost of their Searchlight, Nev. home in honor of that heritage, a spokeswoman for Senator Reid confirmed. (Senator…
-
Life Rabbi Recounts Seminary Profs’ Sexist Remarks
On the heels of a Forward survey revealing that fewer than one in six Jewish communal organizations are run by women, and that those women who do occupy top jobs earn less than their male counterparts comes an essay by Rabbi Rebecca W. Sibru about her personal experience with sexism during rabbinical school and in…
-
Life Orthodox Rabbi to Michael Oren: Arrest of Woman in Tallit ‘Offensive and Dangerous’
Following the recent arrest at the Western Wall of a woman wearing a Jewish prayer shawl, or tallit, a prominent American Modern Orthodox rabbi has requested that Israel’s U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren meet with “a rabbinic delegation of American Orthodox rabbis who strongly support the right of women to wear a tallit and tzitzit.†In…
-
Life Keeping The K-Word Off of Our Site
In recent days, the Forward has been taken to task for disabling comments on a provocative post on our Sisterhood blog. The writer of the post looked at the question of why, two generations after the Holocaust, the most mundane sights, sounds and words — in this case, a German-accented reality television host announcing which…
-
Life Jewish Playmates, Jewish Gospel and a Jewish President
Big Brother Rabin: From her home on Kibbutz Manara in the Galilee, Yitzhak Rabin’s sister, Rachel, recalls in Haaretz the siblings’ Tel Aviv upbringing, the children of a “tempestuous revolutionary” mother, during the 1920s and 1930s. Ask the Experts: Nishmat, an organization that certifies female advisors on Jewish law, or yo’atzot halacha, recently lifted the…
-
Life Watch the Exchange Between Yoffie and Ben-Ami
In case you missed the exchange between J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami and Union for Reform Judaism president Eric Yoffie — moderated by Forward editor Jane Eisner — at the recently wrapped J Street conference, you can watch it in its entirety here: Other videos of conference sessions can be viewed here.
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward ‘Rabbi rebellion’: 33 Orthodox rabbis endorse Harris
- 2
Opinion I was a Bernie supporter. This year, I’m voting Trump. Here’s why liberal Jews like me made the switch
- 3
Opinion Here’s why Orthodox Jews are loyal to Trump — even if they don’t love him
- 4
FIRST PERSON As a rabbi, he helped others mourn. So why wouldn’t his daughter say kaddish for him?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Many Israelis are celebrating Trump’s win, seeing him as more likely to back their country
-
Fast Forward Eugene Vindman, whose Jewish immigrant story played a role in Trump’s impeachment, elected to Congress
-
Fast Forward Anxiety, concern and hope: How swing-state rabbis, and their communities, are reacting to Trump’s win
-
News For some Orthodox Jews, joy and a little schadenfreude as their candidate reclaims the White House
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
