Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
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Opinion Renegotiating the tension between the hyper-local and the collective
Previous Article Next Article I am an urban planner by training, and I’ve long been curious about our community’s sense of place. In the wake of the pandemic, I’m wondering if we will see a shift in how we move between our public and private spaces, and how we think about Jewish places. Will it…
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Opinion We will – we must – gather again. One day.
Previous Article Next Article On November 18, 1656, Jacob Zahalon, a rabbi and a doctor, stood in an apartment in an Italian ghetto, shouting out a window to deliver his Hannukah sermon. Below him stood a number of Jews, unable to enter the synagogue. Why? The bubonic plague was afflicting the community, and no one…
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Opinion Fewer barriers, more intimacy
Previous Article Next Article It was during the first weekend of the lockdown that I attended my first online bat mitzvah. I happened to be at my computer during Shacharit services when Facebook notified me that my congregation was going live. As I watched, notifications popped up as my friends and contacts tuned in. As…
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Opinion Some koved for covid
Previous Article Next Article Like a favorite bra or gentlemen’s truss, Yiddishland during the pandemic continues to offer this Yiddish-head the greatest uplift, providing some virtual koved during covid. Given shelter at home rules, you’d think a Yiddish svive (reading group) might be the first casualty. We usually gear up with a nice selection of…
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Opinion Russian Jews have been preparing for this crisis our whole lives
Previous Article Next Article It’s hard to resist employing the kind of cynical Jewish humor that Russian-speaking Jews know so well when speaking with Americans. If you’re asked a question you don’t want to answer, well, be a clever Jew and respond back with your own question. I successfully resisted the urge when my editor…
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News Defying the governor but heeding the President, a Los Angeles synagogue opens its doors
Mere hours after President Donald Trump called on governors to open places of worship, calling the institutions “essential,” one Los Angeles congregation pounced on the opportunity. In defiance of a California state ban on religious gatherings due to the potential spread of coronavirus, it opened for Friday night services. Members of Congregation Etz Chaim, an…
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Community A paean to camp: ‘I was a NFTY kid’
I am watching faded, ghostly but joyously animated images on my screen — a screen larger than that of any TV we might have owned in the summer of 1966 when my father shot this film with his new Super 8mm movie camera. There are boys in crisp white shirts and pressed trousers, many of…
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Fast Forward Trump says he’ll open houses of worship as ‘essential’ — but he can’t do that
In a surprise announcement Friday afternoon President Donald Trump said he was deeming houses of worship “essential,” and said he would “override” governors if they push back on the designation — echoing a prior claim about his “total authority” over states that he abandoned. Trump can try to use political persuasion to sway the states,…
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News What a Secretary of State Marco Rubio would mean for American Jews and Israel
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News Your complete guide to Trump’s Jewish advisers and pro-Israel cabinet
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Fast Forward Trump AG nominee Matt Gaetz has left a trail of antisemitic comments
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Opinion Trump’s first picks are die-hard Israel supporters, mocking the pro-Palestinian protest vote
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Biden administration sanctions Israeli settler group, in move that Trump could reverse
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Culture Is RFK about to ban goyslop — and what on earth is that?
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Fast Forward Why Neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the U.S.
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Yiddish אַ זעלטענע זאַך אין פּאַריז — אַ קאָנפֿערענץ בלויז וועגן די ליטוואַקעסA rare event in Paris — a conference just about the Litvaks
צוליב דעם וואָס ס׳רובֿ פּאַריזער אַשכּנזים שטאַמען פֿון פּוילן, קומט די ליטוויש־ייִדישע קולטור נישט אָפֿט צו רייד
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