Louis Keene

1 week ago | forward.com | Louis Keene

The debate crops up on social media each spring: Is the Passover Seder Zionist? Or is it, in fact, the exact opposite? Like most Jewish questions, it depends on who you ask. "It is impossible to have an anti-Zionist Passover," pro-Israel advocacy group Stop Antisemitism posted Tuesday on X. "The Exodus from slavery in Egypt was a journey toward Zion-the land promised by G-d.""It is impossible to have a Zionist Seder," Zachary Foster, a pro-Palestinian writer, quipped in response.

3 weeks ago | forward.com | Louis Keene

Yeshiva University's approval of a campus LGBTQ+ club in a landmark settlement seemed to herald a new era of acceptance for queer students at the flagship Orthodox Jewish university. But amid uproar in the wider Orthodox community, the school's rabbinic leaders have tried to make clear in the days since that nothing could be further from the truth.

3 weeks ago | forward.com | Louis Keene

When the Portland Trail Blazers gave up four draft picks for Deni Avdija last summer, it seemed like an overpay. Avdija, the league's only Israeli-born player, was coming off a breakout fourth season in Washington. But his stats had popped so much that some regression - especially in his shooting percentages - felt almost inevitable. Instead, as the focal point of a young, head-turning team, Avdija's gotten even better.

3 weeks ago | forward.com | Louis Keene

Mahmoud Khalil, the recent Columbia graduate detained by ICE for his role in pro-Palestinian protests at the school, acknowledged he could be deported in a new documentary filmed prior to his arrest. Asked what would happen to him if he were deported, Khalil said, "I will live, I will continue to live. The Palestinian people have been living under occupation, ethnic cleansing, and all sorts of crimes since 1948 and we prevailed.

1 month ago | forward.com | Louis Keene

The following contains spoilers for Season 3 of The White Lotus. You would probably not, all things considered, bring the hardcover Barbra Streisand autobiography with you on vacation. That is because it is extraordinarily long, and heavy. Coming in at a Tolstoy-esque 992 pages and 2.3 pounds, My Name Is Barbra is hardly a beach read. If you do somehow fit it in your carry-on, you will soon be asking yourself why you tried.