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.
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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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Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s ‘Yom Kippur Controversy’
In 2003, Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, fell on October 6. That year, October 6 was also the first Monday in October. By federal law, the U.S. Supreme Court term commences on the first Monday in October of each year. And since 1975, the Court opened each term with oral argument…
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I do Yom Kippur at home every year; it’s still holy
Where is the House of the Lord? It depends on where you sit. Am I a bad Jew? Last year on Yom Kippur, I sat smoking a cigar, on my Mac with a Starbucks Venti within reach. Looks like three strikes to me. A friend asked me back then if I would be going to…
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When RBG came to see Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish
Many stars came to visit our shtetl, including Lin Manuel Miranda, Bette Midler, Hugh Jackman, Hillary Clinton, to name a few, but no night did the stars shine as bright as the night when Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg came to visit. Our National Yiddish Theater-Folksbiene production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Joel…
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Jewish legacy
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was shaped by her Jewish heritage. Although not religious, she was steeped in the tradition and found great wisdom in it. Indeed, she introduced me to a quote from parshah Shoftim that is a guiding light: “justice, justice shall you pursue.” To put this powerful quote into context, consider how Shoftim…
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Jewish educators need to embrace distance learning. That starts with mourning what’s lost.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that we must all learn how to manage transition. With COVID-19 precautions in place in schools across the nation, we are all experiencing unprecedented change. For many families, this is a difficult time; parents, teachers, and students alike are struggling to adapt to the new reality. But…
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As a gay American, a vote for Trump is a vote against my humanity
Like millions of other Americans, I woke up hoping it was all a bad dream: Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg dead at 87 due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer. It was no dream. This news is a devastating continuation of the larger mess we begrudgingly call 2020….
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Welcome to the lonely pew
This year will be different. The High Holidays are traditionally a moment for connection and community, but this year’s ongoing pandemic has moved our observance online. Travel home, meals with family and friends, heading to services (whether willingly or unwillingly) – all of this has been replaced with screen time. Sanctuaries have been turned into…
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Scribe | Ruth Bader Ginsburg showed us young Jews how to be unapologetically Jewish.
I’ve always known about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. How could I not, a woman so like myself? Jewish, deeply interested in education and culture, and a woman with an incredibly Jewish name to boot. My grandmother knew “RBG” and her husband. My grandmother even knew her heavily-guarded nickname — “Kiki.” I knew that her name was…
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May Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memory be ‘for a blessing.’ What, exactly, does that mean?
There are a few posts going around reminding folks that since Ruth Bader Ginsburg is Jewish, the proper thing to say about her passing is “May her memory be for a blessing.” That’s true, but I wanted to add a bit of perspective on what that means. Jewish tradition does not focus on the afterlife….
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High Holiday lessons from Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Our Torah reading for Rosh HaShanah relates the story of Sarah and Abraham sending Hagar and Ishmael out of their home. As you’ll remember, this first Jewish couple was initially unable to conceive. Hagar serves as a surrogate, giving birth to Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son. Years later, God fulfills the promise made long ago to…
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What is our unifying story?
With every generation comes a story. For my grandparents, it was their refusal to stop practicing Judaism under a Communist regime. For my parents, it was returning to the Soviet Union as Israeli emissaries to continue the holy work of teaching Judaism. Surviving the Holocaust, championing and fighting for Israel, marching on Washington for Soviet…
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Yiddish דאָס לעבן אויף דער איסט־סײַד, 1902 — באַשרײַבונגען פֿון אַ יענקיLife on the Lower East Side in 1902, from the eyes of a Yankee
דער ערשטער פֿון אַ סעריע אַרטיקלען אויף אַ גרינגן ייִדיש, וועגן דער מחברטעס אַנטדעקונגען ווי אַ ייִדיש־סטודענטקע און פֿאָרשערין.
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