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The Forward
Why we observe Shabbat outside an abortion clinic
We arrive with our signs by 6:15 in the morning, with trucks rumbling down Route 29 behind us, to watch the sunrise as we begin our worship service. Our Shabbat prayers begin before patients, clinic escorts and anti-abortion activists arrive. One Saturday morning a month for the last year, up to 100 of us have...
Israel needs to follow through on drafting the Haredim — for the sake of its economy, not just its military
An old joke says that Israel is a country where one-third of the population goes to the army, one-third works, and one-third pays taxes. The problem is, the joke goes, it’s the same third. After Oct. 7, to many, that joke became less funny. That’s because, in the midst of the longest war in Israel’s...
Leftist group exhibits art on Israeli streets to avoid censorship
TEL AVIV — It’s dark, even for nighttime. A Palestinian boy of about 12 or 13, hands cuffed and eyes blindfolded, is being walked out of his shadowy city through a field of dandelions. “Maybe he threw a rock or shouted at a soldier, or maybe they’re detaining him for no reason at all,” said...
In Jerusalem, a unique hotel offers respite for women who have experienced stillbirth
(JTA) — JERUSALEM — Moriel Yamin was six months pregnant with her first child when Hamas terrorists overran the police station opposite her home in Sderot, killing 35 people. Yamin’s husband, a soldier in reserves, was called up. Like most residents of Sderot, Yamin was evacuated to a safer part of the country. In November,...
At this NYC congregation, food is connecting people to their Judaism
How do you spark and hold the interest of a congregation of Reform Jews who, statistically speaking, are more likely to marry outside the faith than they are to attend religious services? That was the conundrum Rabbi Benjamin Ross was considering when he ran into Liz Alpern — arguably one of the Jewish food world’s...
Eichmann’s judgment — through the eyes of those who burned his body
After Israel hanged Adolf Eichmann, they had a problem: his body. Not wanting to harbor the mass murderer’s remains, the government had an oven factory manufacture a one-time use furnace to cremate him at a high heat, with his ashes then scattered over the Mediterranean Sea. The story of the oven — and the people...
Haredim warn of ‘religious war’ after Israel Supreme Court orders yeshiva draft
BNEI BRAK, Israel — Members of Israel’s Haredi community are warning of a religious war after this country’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the government must start drafting yeshiva students into its military. “If our young men have to stop studying Torah to go fight in the army, this country has nothing,” said Israel Trabelsi, a...
In landmark ruling, Israel’s top court rules that haredi Orthodox Jews must serve in the army
(JTA) — Israel must draft haredi Orthodox Jews into its army, the country’s Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision Tuesday. The ruling could trigger a political earthquake in Israel at a time when it is already embroiled in a war in Gaza and has seen social unrest at home. The requirement to begin drafting...
Jewish parents join lawsuit challenging Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments in schools
(JTA) — Three Jewish families are among a group of nine Louisiana families with children in public schools who have filed a suit in federal court challenging a new state law that requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms. The lawsuit — filed on the families’ behalf by Americans United for...
Is Jamaal Bowman pro-Palestinian enough for pro-Palestinians?
It’s rare to see AIPAC and pro-Palestinian activists protesting the same event. And yet, when it comes to one heavily contested Congressional primary — which has pit an avowed opponent of Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the Palestinian people against a vocal supporter of Israel — that was exactly what they did. Or so I observed on...
‘Does anybody question the NAACP?’: The ADL head thinks Wikipedia is biased. Is he right?
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, will freely admit it: He does have an issue with Wikipedia. “Does anybody question the NAACP, that does ongoing research on black America, just because they advocate for Black Americans?” he asked during a phone interview. Greenblatt reached out to me after I wrote last week that Wikipedia’s...
Not just Bowman and Congress: Israel and Gaza are also an issue in NYC local races
(New York Jewish Week) — The primary election between Rep. Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer has become one of the nation’s most closely watched votes due to its focus on Israel. But the international issue has also become a factor in down-ballot Democratic primaries across the five boroughs of New York City, as progressive candidates...
Netanyahu recommits to Biden’s proposed hostage deal after families release grim video
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recommitted to pursuing the release of all hostages under the terms of a deal that includes a ceasefire after families of hostages released gruesome video of three on the day of their abduction. Netanyahu had come under fire from the Biden administration and from hostage families for telling...
Victims of Oct. 7 attack sue UNRWA for allegedly laundering money for Hamas
(JTA) — More than 100 victims of Hamas’s massacres in Israel on Oct. 7 are suing UNRWA, the main relief agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, saying it effectively laundered money for the terrorist group, the latest in a spate of lawsuits launched in U.S. courts since the Israel-Hamas war started. The lawsuit filed...
Our relatives are held hostage in Gaza. We are begging American Jews to pressure Netanyahu to make a deal now
The word “hostages” typically elicits a sense of urgency — an understanding that lives are at stake, that human beings have been violently kidnapped by people who could at any moment end their lives. Somehow, when it comes to those taken by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, this sense of urgency doesn’t seem to apply....
What the LA synagogue pro-Palestinian protest was really about
LOS ANGELES — A pro-Palestinian protest outside an Orthodox synagogue here in Los Angeles drew President Biden’s condemnation Monday after videos of fighting with counterprotesters spread on social media. The protest was organized by Palestinian Youth Movement, a national activist group, in response to an Israeli real estate seminar held Sunday at the Adas Torah...
Stanford task force documents ‘widespread and pernicious’ antisemitism on campus since Oct. 7
(JTA) — Antisemitism is prevalent at Stanford University and action on several fronts is needed to combat it, a committee charged with analyzing its presence on campus since Oct. 7 has concluded. “Our Subcommittee has reached a simple but highly disturbing conclusion: there can be no doubt that antisemitism exists today on the Stanford campus...
Analysis: Latimer expects to beat Bowman in this week’s primary, but not because of Israel
If George Latimer, the popular Westchester County executive, beats Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York’s Democratic primary Tuesday, pro-Israel organizations will undoubtedly take credit. Considering Bowman’s staunch criticism of Israel and his diatribes against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its support of Latimer, the analysis makes sense. But Latimer doesn’t much like it....
Fake ‘Forward’ article posted online and circulated on X
The Forward did not publish a story on international reaction to Israel at a French defense conference. A post about the conference is currently circulating on social media, attributed to the Forward, with the headline: U.S. Democratic Party Plays along with French Businessmen. The Forward did not write or publish this story. The original article...
Fake ‘Forward’ article posted online and circulated on X
The Forward did not publish a story on international reaction to Israel at a French defense conference. A post about the conference is currently circulating on social media, attributed to the Forward, with the headline: U.S. Democratic Party Plays along with French Businessmen. The Forward did not write or publish this story. The original article...
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