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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‘Power of prayer:’ Rabbis reflect on Amy Coney Barrett’s statement of faith
“I believe in the power of prayer,” Judge Amy Coney Barrett said during her Senate confirmation hearings this week, “and it has been uplifting to hear that so many people are praying for me.” Barrett is a passionate Catholic whose faith has been the subject of much debate since President Trump nominated her to replace…
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Here’s the text of Gal Gadot’s favorite prayer, and why you might love it, too
Gal Gadot enjoys many of the world’s blessings, to be sure — but everyone knows that the most beautiful and wealthiest aren’t always happy. The Israeli actress and model, most known for starring in “Wonder Woman,” most definitely is, however, and she told a Vanity Fair journalist why in a Vanity Fair cover story. It’s…
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I’m not Jewish, but can I still throw a ‘cat mitzvah’ for my pet?
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]. Dear Bintel, Is it offensive if I throw my 13-year-old cat a “cat…
The Latest
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‘We Jews are not a race’: A rabbi of color speaks personally on Yom Kippur
This essay is adapted from the sermon Rabbi Angela Buchdahl delivered to Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, where she has been senior rabbi since 2013. Buchdahl was the first Asian-American to be ordained as a rabbi and, before that, the first to ordained as a cantor. You can watch the sermon on video here. Are you Jewish?…
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‘During Unesaneh Tokef, we all wept’: How we worshipped together in person
The pandemic forced many Jewish communities to hold their services online this year, but Orthodox synagogues had to find a way to gather in person. To capture the experience of those Jews trying to balance safety and spirituality, in-person, we asked readers to tell us more about their experiences. How did people feel, sitting in…
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‘The taste of disappointment:’ Learning about the loss of RBG over brisket and honey cake
Mark Hetfield didn’t know why he was making a tuna casserole for Rosh Hashanah dinner, traditionally brisket and chicken, on Friday night. But in the end he was glad he did. In the middle of their meal, he and his family and friends learned that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. Tuna casserole, in turns out,…
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American Judaism is ready for disruption – and Covid has accelerated the need for it.
Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan was 48 years old when the stock market crashed in October 1929. The toll of the Great Depression was felt acutely, but by no means uniquely, by American Jewry — and Kaplan, as founder of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ) was at the heart of it. The synagogue building…
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I asked Jewish thinkers 18 questions about God. Readers asked more.
Paul Plotkin, a retired Conservative rabbi, said he feels his “certainty of a God is constantly under attack from somewhere deep inside of me,” as though his faith “is like an outside entity that my immune system is at war with.” A reader named Shirley said she had “never been able to entertain the idea…
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Is God in the unknowable?
Still Small Voice is a collection of 18 interviews with clergy tackling 18 questions about God, published during the month of Elul, a time of Jewish reflection and accountability. Click here to read the introduction to the series. We are about to recite the High Holiday Unetanetokef liturgy — what many people think of as…
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Does God believe we can be better?
Still Small Voice is a collection of 18 interviews with clergy tackling 18 questions about God, published during the month of Elul, a time of Jewish reflection and accountability. Click here to read the introduction to the series. If we take Yom Kippur seriously — brave internal reckoning, real repentance, and a commitment to do…
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What if we don’t believe that God exists (but really wish we did)?
Still Small Voice is a collection of 18 interviews with clergy tackling 18 questions about God, published during the month of Elul, a time of Jewish reflection and accountability. Click here to read the introduction to the series, and here to browse the collection. When I embarked in March on a project asking rabbis and…
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