Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the robust lives of American Jews. Here there’s a little of everything about the multifaceted world of Jewish life. There are light-hearted Jewish celebrity stories and shocking Jewish celebrity news. Food is also plentiful,…
Life
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Cantors are re-imagining communal life during the pandemic. Here’s how.
“We need to mute you now so that we can sing together.” “As a cantor who has dedicated my life to communal singing, pressing the mute button is so unnatural,” said Cantor Rayna Green. “I miss the sound of our congregational voice, growing in strength and grandeur as our sacred melodies transport us to new…
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Seven ways to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month in quarantine
Here at the Forward, pretty much every month is Jewish American Heritage Month. We don’t need a (basically unfunded) government initiative to bring you a redux of Jewish coughing etiquette from 1918, erotic Yiddish poetry, and hot takes on which celebrities may or may not be converting to Judaism. But maybe your daily routine doesn’t…
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We asked an expert: conflict management for a summer without camp
Your kids are fighting over a toy. You know, the toy they’ve fought over every single day since shelter-in-place began. You’re worried that someone is going to end up with a bloody nose, and you’re also desperate for a few quiet moments to get some work done. You yell at them. They yell back. Soon…
The Latest
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Kosher food is already expensive and inconvenient. Now thanks to Covid, there’s a lot less of it.
When I started keeping strictly Kosher, the first thing everyone asked me was: What is the non-kosher thing do you miss the most? Is it the lobster (yes!), the cheeseburgers (meh), or the bacon (not even a little)? My answer was always the same: What I miss most is the convenience. I miss being able…
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What Coffee Bean can learn from Coke about the benefits of being Kosher
We live two blocks from a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. We dart over frequently for coffee, bran muffins, and sometimes even the calorie-bomb: melted mozzarella and tomato on sour dough – yummm. And all our road trips start with a CBTL stop. So, it affected us personally when the company announced last week that…
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“Not that kind of Jew:” Why I put on tefillin for the first time at 36
Not that kind of Jew. In the year since I moved to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, I must have said this dozens of times in response to the enthusiastic calls of Chabad emissaries encouraging me to try wrapping tefillin. I’ve made plenty of excuses, both to myself and to the people on the…
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Despite camp closures, color war is still on — for the grown-ups
Lift weights using the wackiest objects you can find in your home. Stage a puppet show for a friend’s kid. Take a snapshot of yourself enjoying a bubble bath (but just the toes, please). These are just a few of the challenges you might face as a participant in Expedition Nai, an online competition that…
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A South Carolina couple dies as they lived — together
They were married for 64 years. Then they died of coronavirus, within hours of each other. When Gerald and Arline Polinsky, 89 and 86 respectively, died on the night of April 13, it was the conclusion to a quiet but enduring love story. They met in 1951, when Boston-born Arline Furman traveled to St. Louis…
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My husband is too productive in quarantine — how do I keep from killing him?
From its start in 1906, A Bintel Brief was a pillar of the Forward, helping generations of Jewish immigrants learn how to be American. Now our columnists are helping people navigate the complexities of being Jewish in 2020. Send questions to [email protected]. Stuck in the stages of grief Dear Abbys, My father passed away last…
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Virtual shidduch-making for the Orthodox (they weren’t going to hold hands anyway)
One recent Saturday night, a 24-year-old named Tiffany G. put the finishing touches on her makeup to prepare for a date. New York City had been in lockdown for weeks, the usual hotels and lounges where Orthodox Jews meet for arranged dates all shuttered. So where was Tiffany headed? To meet a potential husband on…
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‘Somehow in the morning there’s something there:’ How one pastor is feeding the hungry
Pastor Joel Hubbard calls it the Manna Food Depot. “I get here and the room is empty,” he explained one recent morning as we sat in the so-called multipurpose room of his Park United Methodist Church in Bloomfield, N.J. “And then by 10:30, there’s food in it. And then by 1 o’clock there’s not.” Hubbard,…
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