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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The silence from my Christian colleagues is deafening
In a famous Hasidic story, a rabbi asks his disciple: “Do you love me?” To which the disciple replies: “Of course I love you!” The rabbi continues. “Do you know what causes me pain?” he asks. “Rabbi, how can I know what causes you pain?” To which the rabbi responds: “If you do not know…
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The next cease-fire we need? An end to one-sided PR campaigns.
“The problem is that everyone in this conflict is right and everyone is wrong.” Nearly twenty five years ago, I was part of a group of American law students living for the summer in the West Bank and we had the chance to meet Yossi Beilin, then a leading politician on the Israeli left. During…
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Cosgrove: I skipped Sunday’s pro-Israel rally and got on a plane to Israel instead
When I received a call from a colleague asking me to attend, address, and mobilize my community for a pro-Israel rally on Sunday, I paused a beat before answering. I love Israel, and, as Woody Allen once said, most of life is just showing up. Israel needs friends, always, and especially now. So why did…
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What my peers on social media don’t get about Israel and Palestine
This week, my social media feeds were inundated with countless posts from my millennial, liberal-minded peers: infographics of colorful illustrations blatantly degrading the Jewish people. Shock-value footage of bloody bomb blasts, only showing the destruction for which Israel is responsible. As I scrolled, I hoped that at least one post would be nuanced and empathetic…
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How should white Jews approach racial justice work?
We will soon mark the first anniversary of George Floyd’s murder — by no means the first time a Black man has been killed by police, but a moment when many of us protested in the streets and pledged to hold ourselves and our leaders accountable. Now that a year has passed, those of us…
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How my Arab boyfriend changed the way I thought about politics
Eighteen years ago, when I lived in southern Israel, my boyfriend at the time, Muhammed, was a Bedouin Muslim. Prior to my relationship with him, I was a very political person, working to organize and build awareness of Jewish multiculturalism. I rooted my Israel advocacy in progressive language, emphasizing the fact that Jews were indigenous…
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The letter some of my rabbinical students wrote shows a lack of empathy—with Jews
This is an open letter from the dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Rabbi Bradley S. Artson. It comes in response to a letter signed by scores of rabbinic and cantorial students at Ziegler and other schools, which the Forward published on May 13. Dear Hevrei,…
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16 Over 61: Meet Matthew Baigell
This profile appears as part of “16 Over 61,” a collaboration between the Forward and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan’s Wechsler Center for Modern Aging. Matthew Baigell, 88, is professor emeritus of art history at Rutgers University. As a scholar and writer, his interests always spanned a huge range of topics. But Judaism, and how…
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16 Over 61: Meet Gerald Cohen
This profile appears as part of “16 Over 61,” a collaboration between the Forward and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan’s Wechsler Center for Modern Aging. Gerald “Jerry” Cohen, 69, has long been a quiet leader both in his Jewish community in Portland, Ore., and in the broad world of aging advocacy. The director of AARP’s…
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16 Over 61: Meet Barbara Finch
This profile appears as part of “16 Over 61,” a collaboration between the Forward and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan’s Wechsler Center for Modern Aging. Barbara Finch, 83, found a passion for social justice in 2005, and decided to spread it to others — within her St. Louis, Mo., community and beyond. So she founded…
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16 Over 61: Meet Sonia Pressman Fuentes
This profile appears as part of “16 Over 61,” a collaboration between the Forward and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan’s Wechsler Center for Modern Aging. Sonia Pressman Fuentes, 92, is the kind of feminist hero people make movies about. She became a leader of the second-wave feminist movement after coming to the U.S. as a…
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