The Supreme Court is hearing a landmark abortion case today: Here’s how 1,000 rabb is (and a few others) are responding

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Tel Aviv is world's most expensive city, Barry Manilow serenades Holocaust survivors, Sarah Silverman's birthday and the inspiring backstory of the vice president's menorah.

OUR LEAD STORY

There’s only 3o more days until the end of the year. Let’s make the most of them.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today in a Mississippi abortion case that could lead to the overturning of Roe. v. Wade. “Taking away abortion access is a religious freedom issue,” said Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women. “It’s so critical right now that we don’t allow one particular faith perspective to dictate when life begins.”

More than 1,000 rabbis have joined forces to protect access to abortion. They are basing their argument on a text from the Torah – Parshat Mishpatim, which deals with the accidental death of a fetus. “Causing a miscarriage isn’t manslaughter, so the fetus doesn’t have the status of personhood,” explained Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg.

Earlier this fall – when Texas barred virtually all abortions – Jodi Rudoren, our editor-in-chief, shared publicly for the first time the story of how her two abortions led to the birth of her healthy twins. “I share my experience,” she wrote, “because it is true and it is real and we should not be afraid to talk about it.”

Readers responded to the column with an outpouring of emotion, via email and text, on Twitter and on Facebook. Many made clear that they had their own story to tell. So we curated nine of our readers’ Jewish abortion stories.

And we’ve published similar takes over the years:

ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

Hanukkah today would make the Maccabees roll over in their graves:Our culture reporter Mira Fox grew up with the simplified version of the holiday story: The oil was only supposed to last for one day, but it burnt for eight – it’s a miracle, let’s eat. Only later did she discover that the Maccabees fought against and killed their Hellenized brethren. “It’s ironic that Hanukkah — a celebration of strict Orthodoxy and vicious repudiation of assimilation — is, today, often most beloved by the the most assimilated Jews, who are trying to fit in with a dominantly Christian culture with decorations and gifts that model themselves after their Christmas counterparts.”Read her essay >

With special menorah, Vice President Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff honor ‘mensch’ who kept paying employees after factory fire:Aaron Feuerstein continued to pay his workers after the textile factory he owned burned to the ground. When he died last month, his granddaughter found comfort in the menorah she had hand-painted for him. “To see his menorah in the vice president’s residence means his light is still shining,” said Marika Feuerstein. “One light sparks another sparks another, and that’s what we’re supposed to do as individuals.” Read the story >

But wait, there’s more...

A message from our sponsor: Kripke Institute

Hanukkah Homecoming is Nov 28 - Dec 5

Join a worldwide "open house" of Jewish communities inviting you to celebrate Hanukkah onsite and online together during Hanukkah Homecoming, November 28 - December 5, 2021.

Find Your Gathering Here.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

🕎 Hanukkah’s early start this year amid warmer November temperatures nearly melted a Jewish tradition in Siberia: a 10-foot-tall ice menorah carved out of a frozen lake. “We were watching the thermometer every day,” said Rabbi Levi Kaminetsky. (JTA)

🕯 Staying with the holiday theme... Several dozen Holocaust survivors marked the third night of Hanukkah on Tuesday with a candle-lighting ceremony at the Western Wall that was streamed online. Barry Manilow sang and there was a Yiddish performance of “Fiddler on the Roof.” (AP)

🚔 New York City police are looking for three women involved in a series of assaults on Jewish children in Brooklyn. And in Queens, a public menorah was vandalized in the same spot as a similar incident in 2014. (JTA, Algemeiner)

💰 Tel Aviv was named the world’s most expensive city to live in by a division of The Economist magazine. It jumped five spots – overtaking Paris and New York – thanks in part to inflation. Damascus was ranked the world’s cheapest city. (AFP)

✍️ One of the internet’s hottest new trends? Bible fan fiction. Many people find writing it a tool for increasing their faith. Some stories imagine biblical characters interacting with the likes of Elon Musk, Nicolas Cage and Shrek. (Religion News Service)

Shiva call > Noah Gordon, whose novel “The Rabbi” (published in 1965) spent 26 weeks on The New York Times’ best-seller list, died at 95. In an appreciation, Andrew Silverstein calls Gordon the most phenomenally successful Jewish author you’ve probably never heard of. He was more popular in Europe, particularly Germany, where Gordon’s books helped explain Judaism in easy-to-read, plot-driven texts.

What we’re watching > The trailer for the upcoming new season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Amazon announced on Tuesday that new episodes will be released Feb. 18. (YouTube)

What else we’re reading > Mayim Bialik merged her professional and Jewish identities when she lit the menorah and sang in Yiddish on the set of “Jeopardy!” … The Black Eyed Peas performed in Jerusalem, the first major concert in Israel since the beginning of the pandemic … A gut tweak can make anyone a ‘morning person,’ Israeli poop analysis suggests.

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history: Sarah Silverman – an activist, actress and comedian of sardonic wit – was born on Dec. 1, 1970. Throughout her career, she has made her Judaism a centerpiece of her persona (her rabbi-sister is fodder for both comedy and nachas). Most recently, she stirred a national debate about “Jewface,” which she defined as “when a non-Jew portrays a Jew with the Jewishness front and center, often with makeup or changing of features, big fake nose, all the New York-y or Yiddish-y inflection.” At a time “when the importance of representation is seen as so essential and so front and center,” she asked, “why does ours constantly get breached even today in the thick of it?”

Last year on this day, we were reporting on the likelihood of Israel having a fourth election.

On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 27th of Kislev, when the flood rains ceased, ending a 150 day once-in-a-lifetime experience for Noah and his family.

One week from tonight: Join us for “The Chosen at 40.” Our executive editor, Adam Langer, will talk with filmmaker Jeremy Kagan about his adaptation of Chaim Potok’s novel, “The Chosen,” which debuted in 1981. As Kagan recently wrote in our pages, he originally had no interest in making the film, but doing so changed his life. Register now >

VIDEO OF THE DAY

We’ve partnered with Tania Grinberg, a Brazilian composer who sings in both Portuguese and Yiddish, to produce a new video of her performing the Hanukkah song, “Akht likhtlekh” (Yiddish for eight candles). The song was written by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, the aunt of Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter. “Beyle composed many children’s songs, both lyrics and melody, that are sung at Yiddish music festivals round the globe,” Rukhl explains. “I myself sang a number of them with my children and now with my grandchildren.”

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