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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Searching for God After An HIV-Positive Diagnosis
Years ago, when my brother married a Jewish woman, I began to look into my family’s own history with Judaism. As a gay man it was just another aspect of my identity I would investigate. This quest took me to my grandmother’s mother, Jenny Grossman. Jenny was the daughter of Jewish parents who emigrated from…
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Can We Turn Rubashkin’s Release Into a Greater Good?
I personally was not that thrilled about Sholom Rubashkin’s premature release from prison last Wednesday, after serving only eight years of a 27-year sentence. The horrific crimes he committed were still fresh in my memory, my repulsion not dimmed by time. But the cacophonous celebration I witnessed on social-media was too overwhelming: Many of my…
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The Unraveling Of My Hasidic Life
“Are you Jewish?” I would call out on street corners for hours as a Lubavitch teenager, asking passers-by, “Do you want to put on tefillin?” Now, some 25 years later, I can hardly relate to the teen standing on the corner in his black fedora hassling strangers. I thought of him recently when I was…
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He Traveled The World To Find Hope
Hope is not easy to come by these days. Unless you know where to look. Ari Satok did – in the unlikeliest of places. Three years ago, the 22-year-old Toronto native spent a year traveling the world, visiting United World College schools in British Columbia, Wales, Hong Kong, Germany, the Netherlands, New Mexico and Swaziland….
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Who Are The Jews Celebrating Christmas… in Israel?
Shira Greenblatt, a secular Israeli Jew who was born and raised in Jerusalem, loves Christmas. “Every year I attend Christmas services at the Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, and I will go again this year, too. It’s very special to learn about Christianity here, in Jerusalem. And I love the lights, the songs,…
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I Don’t Hate Christmas — But People Think I Do
I have a reputation. When I walk into certain rooms, people roll their eyes. At least they used to. For several years, I worked at a secular, non-profit educational institution, but people there didn’t always behave in a completely secular way. At the “holiday” party, the community sang “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” and a…
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Why Christmas Lights Fill This Jew With Joy — And Dread
Lying on my living room floor in pain, surrounded by the pile of my daughter’s stuffies that broke my fall, I came to two realizations: 1) sofas don’t make good stepladders, and 2) Jews are just not built to hang holiday lights. For the first time in my life, I was decorating my place for…
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How Birthright Fixed My Jewish Imposter Syndrome
The El Al security officer’s dark gaze bored into mine, then flicked over the middle name on my passport. “Shay. That’s Arabic, isn’t it?” “No, it’s Irish.” I was being questioned for my Birthright boarding pass for my first trip to Israel and it wasn’t going well. The rapid-fire inquiries left me reeling: Was I…
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What’s Your Hanukkah Menorah Worth?
Hanukkah menorahs and lamps can be valuable — depending on their origin, material, size and decoration. Since the majority European Jews was very poor, not everyone owned their own menorah. When they did, it was usually made of brass or pewter — less expensive metals than silver. Silver lamps are often very ornately decorated with…
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Why I Hate Hanukkah
For years, I’ve taken care to light the Hanukkah candles with my children. I fry latkes every single night for eight nights and make sure we sing all the right songs. I buy doughnuts filled with jelly and sometimes even make my own. And I hate every moment of it, because it was at Hanukkah…
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8 Modest Party Dresses To Wear To Your Family Hanukkah Party This Weekend
Aside from the oil-drenched foods, the dreidel playing and chocolate coins, Hanukkah is all about family. And if your very religious cousins are hosting this year’s Hanukkah bash, it can be difficult to find the perfect party dress. After all, you want to look cute, but you need to stay modest. So what’s a nice…
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