Scribe, the Forward’s curated contributor network, is a place for showcasing personal experiences and perspective from across our Jewish communities. Here you will find a wide array of reflections on Jewish issues, life-cycle events, spirituality, culture and more.
Community
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You say matzah — and matzo and matzuh and matzee and more
Readers respond to our editor-in-chief’s column about a Passover copy-editing conundrum
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Going Our Own Way? JNF Is Here To Stay.
I have never had to justify the good works of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), but as a result of an article printed in these pages called ”Quietly Going Its Own Way, JNF Cuts Off Its Israeli Parent,” I feel compelled to do so. I am a part of a large national family of lay…
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It’s Time We Address The Jewish Opioid Crisis Head-On
I have just read Bethany Mandel’s two most recent Opinion pieces in the Forward, and she deserves unending gratitude for blowing the whistle on Jewish denial of addiction in our midst. The first piece, “It’s Time To Admit That The Opioid Crisis Is Also A Jewish One,” charts recent news coverage of opioid and heroin…
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Lilith Reviled, La Muerte Revered: Two Rebellious Heroines In My Interfaith Family
On a recent trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan I discovered a story I had never heard before about a woman named Lilith. I was taking a tour called “Badass Bitches at the Met” with Museum Hack, a company dedicated to offering a unique experience at museums across the country. As a…
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Meet the Miami Teen Empowering Hearing-Impaired Children
I was born deaf, but after receiving cochlear implants and undergoing 20 surgeries, I was able to recover my hearing. As I grew up, I realized other children with disabilities were not as fortunate as I am. In response, I launched Our Abilities, which has educated over 900 students at North Beach Elementary School about…
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My Band Twisted Sister’s Near Collision With The Son Of Sam
August 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the murder of Stacy Moskowitz — the final victim of David Berkowitz, also known as The Son Of Sam, who held all of NYC in the grips of fear. Over the period of 12 months July 1976 to July 1977, the city and it’s tabloid newspapers speculated almost…
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The Jewish Art Of Mastering Your Perspective
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. Our world has changed so drastically in the last 100 years — and the rabbinate, an institution better known for its constancy than its elasticity, has followed suit. The community rav, that learned individual principally appointed to answer the community’s questions about kosher…
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This Awesome Jewish Summer Camp Raises Its Own Chickens — And Uses The Eggs For Challah
A funny incident happened a few weeks back that has since become an integral part of my morning ritual. During Shacharit (the morning prayer service) of the staff training week at Ramah in the Rockies, while standing for the Amidah (silent prayer), I caught myself off guard and giggled: I realized I had been praying…
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A New Way Of Teaching The Holocaust in Holland? Stepping Inside.
Open Jewish Houses, a project of the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam and the brainchild of Denise Citroen, was founded as a pop-up project in Amsterdam neighborhoods in 2012. The goal: bring Dutch visitors into houses once inhabited by Jews before the Second World War, with an eye toward personalizing the stories and making them…
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What The American Media Got Wrong About The Temple Mount Killings
How Were the Temple Mount Killings Reported in America’s Media? Israel has been getting some bad press recently in the United States, much of it self-inflicted by the decision to halt the expansion of the pluralistic prayer area near Robinson’s Arch on the Western Wall. Fair enough, but much of the reporting on Israel and…
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What The Boy Scouts Can Teach Trump — And Israel — About Family
Right before I became an Eagle Scout, the Boy Scouts of America added a new required merit badge: The Family Life merit badge. This was the mid-1990s, right around the time when LGBT people began to receive more wide-spread acceptance in society. Indeed, the LGBT and allies coalition at my high school had strong support…
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Dear Spain: Want To Attract Jews? You’re Doing It Wrong.
Dear Spain, I couldn’t help but notice your overtures in recent years to appeal to Jewish tourists and immigrants. In an ostensible gesture of righting a historic wrong, Spain recently began offering citizenship to descendants of expelled Spanish Jews. A new museum dedicated to Jewish heritage is about to open in Málaga. There is a…
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