Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.
Sam Kestenbaum
By Sam Kestenbaum
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Fast Forward How ‘Alt-Right’ Trolling Has Become the Cross-Burning of the Twitter Age
Last month, the Neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer called for a “troll storm” against Jews in Whitefish Montana, the hometown of “alt-right” white nationalist leader Richard Spencer. A grassroots campaign against Spencer’s brand of white nationalism had been simmering here for months and recently came to a head. Andrew Anglin, who runs the Daily Stormer…
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News WATCH: The Jewish Uber Driver Who Sailed Through 236 Green Lights in a Row
Uber driver Noah Forman sailed through more than 200 consecutive green lights during a late-night Manhattan cruise in early December, setting what could be a new record. He posted a video of the joyride online: Forman, 36, started driving a yellow cab in 2006 and switched to Uber this year. He said a friend inspired…
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Fast Forward Happy Hanukkah — Cut the Chit Chat With Cousin Gertrude!
It’s Hanukkah time, but don’t get carried away with the holiday spirit. Fliers posted in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of New York City warn: amidst your Hanukkah parties, dreidel spinning and menorah lighting — don’t let the men and women mix. There should be no engaging in “unnecessary chatting,” “frivolous laughter,” or “playing games together.” This even…
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News ‘Alt-Right’ Leader Slams Rabbis and Mocks ‘Righteous Gentiles’ as Neo-Nazis Plan Montana March
White nationalist leader Richard Spencer is speaking out against Jewish activists who have campaigned against his so-called “alt-right” movement in Whitefish, Montana, singling out rabbis and their non-Jewish political allies by using a reference to the Holocaust. “The chief leaders in this case against me were not only not only Jews, in many cases, but…
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News Can New Tzitzit Unite Hebrew Israelites?
In the biblical Book of Numbers, God instructs the Israelites, “Throughout the generations to come, you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.” In Deuteronomy, God reminds, “You shall make yourself twisted cords, on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.”…
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News Neo-Nazis Ramp Up Campaign Against Montana Jews — Vow Armed March
A neo-Nazi website has stepped up a campaign against the Jewish community of Whitefish, Montana, now announcing an armed march by white supremacists planned for January. “We are continuing our barrage against the criminal Jews of Whitefish,” wrote Andrew Anglin, a neo-Nazi who runs The Daily Stormer website, in the latest of a series of…
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News Not Everyone Thinks Dan Goldstein Was Wrong To Confront Ivanka Trump on JetBlue Flight
The Brooklyn lawyer who confronted soon-to-be first daughter Ivanka Trump has plenty of pro-Donald Trump enemies online now — but he also has defenders. “Ivanka is no innocent bystander,” Aaron Chandler, a member of a health care reform advocacy group, wrote on Facebook. “She’s now the leader—or co-leader—of the Trump businesses, and in that role,…
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News Pro-Trump Trolls Target ‘Infamous’ Dan Goldstein After JetBlue Face-Off With Ivanka
Just hours after a Brooklyn lawyer confronted Ivanka Trump on a JetBlue flight, online supporters rallied around the future first daughter — and vowed to make the man accused of harassing her “infamous.” “The 2 men who verbally assaulted Ivanka Trump both live in Brooklyn. Make them infamous!” a user with the name Yekaterina Edrich…
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Film & TV Bonhoeffer biopic tells of a pastor turned would-be Hitler assassin — but is the story true?
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Culture At 95, Shaindel Schreiber is still dispensing babka and advice on the Lower East Side
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Fast Forward Trump attorney general pick Pam Bondi: 5 things Jews should know
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News Israel reached a ceasefire in Lebanon. Why does Gaza seem so hard?
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Culture Barbra Streisand recorded here — and so did Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, John Lennon and, uh, The Village People
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Fast Forward Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to helm EPA, says he received bomb threat with ‘pro-Palestinian themed message’
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Opinion We can be thankful this year — and Jewish wisdom can help
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