To which of the many threats posed by the Trump administration should the Jewish community give most of its attention? The repellent and frightening resurgence of anti-Semitism? The inhumane persecution of undocumented immigrants? The loosening of gun regulations? The discriminatory and irrational Muslim ban? Collusion with Russia? All of these are important, but I fear…
I used to think of Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish “new year” for trees, as somewhere between a children’s holiday and a faux holiday. Give a child some dirt in a plastic cup, plant a seed, and move on. Call the Jewish National Fund, plant a tree in Israel in someone’s honor, and don’t think about…
Martin Luther King Day may be fading into the distance. But at Congregation KAM Isaiah in Chicago’s Hyde Park, the recent Martin Luther King weekend—usually an occasion for synagogues to do community service projects—became the vehicle for a discussion on climate change and the environment, which was itself just part of the synagogue’s ongoing program….
2016 is almost behind us — and what a year it’s been for Scribe, the Forward’s contributor network. Since launching in July, nearly 250 contributors from 6 continents have shared their insightful, inspirational, and impactful stories, providing a 360 degree view of the world around us. Our Scribes not only come from all over the…
On the shimmering Sea of Galilee, where the Christian gospels say Jesus walked on water, 150 Nigerian pilgrim sing and dance to an African beat. Reverend Samuel Tunde Ogunmodede, said he and his congregation had come to see what they had, until now, only read about in the scriptures. “We came here to seek the…
Erin Schrode has a message for the “alt-right” – she’s not going to take it anymore and she thinks the group’s name is bogus. “I am done with the term ‘Alt-Right’ for those who are effectively modern-day Nazis and Ku Klux Klan, for those who attack me personally with unspeakable, unabating venom, for those who…
Thanksgiving is the most Jewish of American holidays. It recalls the Torah’s instruction that “when you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which God has given you” (Deut. 8:10). Thanksgiving calls on Americans not to hoard the earth’s bounty, but rather to share with “the stranger,…
If you’ve been following the news or social media recently, you’re probably familiar with the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). If not, here’s a run down. Energy Transfer Patterns, a privately held company, is attempting to build a $3.7 billion dollar pipeline from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota to a refinery…
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