Marissa Brostoff
By Marissa Brostoff
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Israel News Prime Time Hero
If the Nobel committee were composed of the people who choose the winner of The CW’s “America’s Next Top Model,” the result might be something like the new TV show “CNN Heroes.” Last week, a celebrity panel that included actress Bo Derek, guru Deepak Chopra and singer Jewel considered Rick Hodes, who runs the American…
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News Indian Jews Look To Invite Attention on Hanukkah
Next week, at New York’s Indian consulate, a group of Indian Jews will attempt to bridge the gap between their culture and that of most American Jews — by throwing a Hanukkah party. The decision may seem obvious, but Hanukkah is actually a relatively new addition to the Indian Jewish tradition, which developed separately from…
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News Victor Erlich, 93, Scholar of Russian Literature
Victor Erlich, a path-breaking scholar of Russian literature, died November 29. He was 93. Erlich was born in Petrograd, Russia, in 1914, the scion of a scholarly Jewish family. His maternal grandfather was renowned Jewish historian Simon Dubnov and his father was Henryk Erlich, a leader of the Jewish labor union known as the Bund….
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News Conservative Bigs Tackle New Realities
This weekend’s gathering of Conservative movement leaders will be the first to take place since the movement accepted gay rabbis and same-sex unions, and the last before the departure of two of the movement’s top leaders. The Conservative movement has struggled in recent years to maintain a sense of identity without abandoning its “big tent”…
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News Major Union Protests Kosher Slaughterhouse
One of the nation’s largest unions is escalating its public fight with the country’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, AgriProcessors. Activists with United Food and Commercial Workers stood outside kosher supermarkets and Trader Joe’s stores around the country last Wednesday, distributing fliers that purported to be a “Kosher Food Safety Alert.” The fliers cited controversial reports —…
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News Apparent Decision in Satmar Succession Feud
New York’s highest court has handed an apparent victory to the younger of two warring brothers in the long-running dynastic dispute over control of the Satmar Hasidic sect. Aaron Teitelbaum, son of the late Satmar grand rebbe Moses Teitelbaum, has battled his younger — and, some say, favored — brother, Zalmen, through three levels of…
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News Diamond Billionaire Takes New York
Lev Leviev, the Israeli diamond billionaire, had a busy schedule during his visit to New York this week. On Sunday, he flew to New York to appear in front of 4,300 black-hatted Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis. The Uzbekistan-born Leviev, who made his fortune cracking the De Beers diamond cartel, is the most powerful lay leader of the…
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Culture After Bar Mitzvahs, Teens Keep Giving
Rebecca Schwartz was featured in the Forward’s Giving section three years ago, around the time of her bat mitzvah. Back then, she was one of the first to participate in Give a Mitzvah — Do a Mitzvah, a program that helps teenagers use their coming-of-age ceremony to help others. The program is still going strong:…
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