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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16 Over 61: Meet Bill Wurtzel
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. Bill Wurtzel, 83, had a long and distinguished career as an advertising creative director. And in the skills he honed in that role, he found a unique gateway to making…
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Why can’t my progressive friends understand what Israelis are going through?
I am grieving. I am grieving the small seeds of hope for change I have witnessed over my time living in Israel. I am grieving as I sit with my Palestinian housemates, both of us afraid to leave the house for fear of rockets and rioting blazing through our community. I have enmeshed myself in…
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A pandemic journey to Torah
Thirty years into her marriage, Ann DuBois converted to Judaism. A week after dunking in the mikvah, the architect and mother of two adults will read Torah as a bat mitzvah. Why? “I have lived a Jewish life with my husband and children for 30 years. In some ways it felt like their religion. I…
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A prayer for peace in Israel
God, Our hearts are breaking. Our brothers and sisters in Israel crouch in fear as sirens pierce the air and rockets from Gaza rain down from the sky. We pray that all Israelis, Jews and Arabs, will live in peace We pray for the day the riots in the streets of Israel will give way…
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My American-Israeli-Palestinian family demands human rights for all
I am an American-Israeli Jew and wife of a Palestinian Israeli citizen. Growing up, I spent every summer visiting my Israeli grandparents and cousins, and having fun eating ice cream at the beach. But my family trips to Israel also exposed me to Palestinians; from a young age, my parents taught me about the occupation…
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‘Wanting to scream’: to be a Jewish Israeli mother
To be a Jewish mother in Israel is to marvel as your children play in the arenas of our ancient joys and tragedies. You watch them run through splashing pads where once the Romans marched against us, you watch them roam the valley where a young David felled a giant with a stone. You watch…
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‘Gates of Tears’: rabbinical and cantorial students stand for solidarity with Palestinians
‘So many of us ignore the day-to-day indignity that the Israeli military and police forces enact on Palestinians.’
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Luke Holland’s ‘Final Account’ is unsettling. That’s why you need to watch it
Luke Holland and I had a regular spot at St. Pancras railway station in London. We would sit under the vaulted 30-foot Victorian ceilings, sipping afternoon tea and discussing the latest Nazis he had interviewed. Holland, who was born in England in 1948 and died of cancer last spring, was raised in Paraguay, where his…
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What’s with the obsession with Israel, World? Here’s Noa Tishby’s answer
This essay is excerpted and adapted from Noa Tishby’s book, “ISRAEL: A Simple Guide to The Most Misunderstood Country on Earth.” Hear Noa Tishby in conversation with Forward National Editor Rob Eshman on May 13 at 4 p.m. ET/ 1 p.m. PT, click here for details. Israel is a touchy subject. But why? Why does…
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Moms may be aces, but when it comes to parenting, any deck is a full one
Happy Day After Mother’s Day. This morning, a couple of friendly acquaintances on a Zoom asked me how my “Mom-Pop” Day went yesterday. _Did we do something fun with our son? Did he make us a card at school? Is this sort of like a Father’s Day, Part 1, for us? _ It was a…
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The Jewish case for Mother’s Day
When we were rebellious teens, my brother and I decided to cancel Mother’s Day. Incorrectly we believed that the holiday was invented by Hallmark to drive sales. As vociferous individualists against commercialism, we took a personal stand. Our plan was not well received. My father was furious, and my mother was destroyed. To this day,…
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