Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
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News He made the call to cancel summer camp for 10,000 kids. Here’s what he has to say.
Ruben Arquilevich is a Jewish summer camp guy. He says his life was shaped by Jewish summer camp. Over the past three decades, he’s been a camper, a counselor, a professional staffer and the director of a Jewish summer camp. He met his wife at Jewish summer camp. He sent his kids to Jewish summer…
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Opinion We canceled camp. We’re crying, too.
I let myself cry today. For weeks during the shelter in place, I’ve been emotionally stuck in turmoil. You see, I’m an overnight Jewish camp director. This was to be my eighth summer on staff at Camp Newman and my 16th overall at Jewish camp. On May 31, we were to begin training staff for…
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Fast Forward It’s Official: URJ summer camp is canceled due to COVID
(JTA) — All Reform Jewish summer camps will remain closed for the 2020 summer due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned. Related story: He made the call to cancel summer camp for 10,000 kids. Here’s what he has to say. The landmark decision, made Thursday afternoon, will affect 16 overnight…
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Fast Forward Police crack down on open synagogues in Hasidic neighborhoods after funeral
Police officers issued a series of summonses and tickets to Hasidic Jews and institutions in Williamsburg and Borough Park Thursday, making good on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise that, in the wake of a large funeral which he personally had a hand in breaking up, police would stop issuing warnings for violating…
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Opinion What’s Birthright doing during the pandemic? Glad you asked!
Twenty years ago, Birthright Israel was just a dream. Its goal was to combat the danger of a declining Jewish future and its founders hoped that if we could simply bring young diaspora Jews to Israel — to let them see and feel the land — that those young men and women would fall in…
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News The death of small business is a tragedy for Jewish community and democracy
“Small-scale commercial production is, every moment of every day, giving birth spontaneously to capitalism and the bourgeoisie…wherever there is small business and freedom of trade, capitalism appears.”— V.I. Lenin A great connoisseur as well as sworn enemy of the free market, Vladimir Lenin might smile a bit if he witnessed what is now happening to…
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Fast Forward Chabad synagogue in Atlanta announces reopening, then changes its mind
Update 6:00 p.m. A Chabad synagogue in Atlanta announced Wednesday that it would open its doors for daily prayer, but reversed course the following day, a few hours after the Forward published a story about the opening. Chabad Israeli Center Atlanta – Congregation Beit Reuven, an Orthodox synagogue that caters to the city’s Israeli expat…
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Fast Forward After Orthodox funeral, liberal Jews slam de Blasio for anti-Semitic tweet, threat of arrests
A letter signed by prominent Jewish politicians and organizations condemned a controversial tweet from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, which scolded “the Jewish community” in the wake of a Hasidic funeral that violated social distancing guidelines on Tuesday. “With thousands of New Yorkers dead, and many more sick, we all understand the danger of…
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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
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
In Case You Missed It
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Opinion Congress is voting on a bill targeting pro-Palestinian groups. Israel’s example proves it’s a terrible idea
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Fast Forward Progressive Jewish groups back Senate resolutions against arms sales to Israel
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Fast Forward Sotheby’s to auction a Ten Commandments tablet with a disclaimer: Israel always wanted it to be put on public display
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