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A WEEKLY LETTER FROM OUR EDITOR IN CHIEF A WEEKLY LETTER FROM OUR EDITOR IN CHIEF Marjorie Taylor-Greene embraces Louis Farrakhan, marriage tips from the oldest Holocaust-surviving couple, excitement at the world's hardest Torah quiz, and a big mazel to Paul Rudd. Over the 15 months or so that I've been writing this newsletter, I generally start each week with a few possibilities. By Wednesday night, one solidifies -- either there's some big news, like a new conflagration between Israel and Gaza or Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation; or something new at the Forward to introduce, like our Bintel Brief podcast hosts or our new editor-at-large; or something interesting happening closer to home -- my work at a food pantry, Zoom-mitzvah pride, , struggle to become a person who makes challah and other reflections on pandemic life.
But this was a week of trying to fit five days of work into three-and-a-half workdays because of the holiday. On Wednesday night, I was in shul for Kol Nidre. Now it's the morning after Yom Kippur, and I'm a blank slate. I've apologized to my friends and family, confessed my sins, nullified my vows. And, well, I got nothing.
Yet, it's newsletter time.
I thought about writing about the mural we put up next to our driveway a few years ago, and how I'm conflicted about the fact that some people see it as an invitation to sit in the Adirondack chairs in front of it. Actually I've been thinking about this for awhile -- a meditation of sorts on the boundaries between public art and private property -- and when some parked their bike in front of it on Wednesday morning, it seemed ripe. Benjamin Netanyahu needs to hire movers. Photo by Gali Tibbon/AFP via Getty Images The story of the mural is pretty great, actually. Though we live in suburban Montclair, New Jersey, our house is just behind a row of restaurants and stores. When we moved in, the strip next to the driveway was filled with very tall evergreens, to block the unsightly HVAC atop those restaurants. But in the winter of 2017-8, extraordinarily heavy snows destroyed those trees. The cost to replace them was something like $3,500 and we didn't even much like them. So we thought: what if we put up a mural instead? "I'll be ready. I'm not sure for what exactly. But maybe that's what being ready really means."
The original notion was to have it made by students, so we reached out to the advanced-art teachers at the local high school. Turns out there's a program in which seniors can spend their final weeks in an internship or community-service project, and two talented young women loved the mural idea. Their drawings were great, but their project-management skills lacking, and they headed off to college without painting a stroke. Lamenting our fate at the bagel place in that strip of stores, the husband discovered that the girlfriend of one of the employees -- who lived just around the corner -- was an artist. A few months and $500 later, we had the mural of multicolored faces and flowers, complete with Leonard Cohen quote appropriate to the imperfect wall: "There's a crack in everything -- that's how the light gets in."
Shabbat Shalom! Questions/feedback: [email protected]
YOUR TURN: ALL-IDAYS LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK Do you celebrate Christmas in some way? How do you feel about the "holiday season"? I'm eager to understand other people's views and experiences, whether they involve pajamas, cookies, twinkly lights or any other tradition. Use the blue button below to email us, and include pictures if relevant. We may publish some of the responses.
YOUR WEEKEND READS A FREE, PRINTABLE MAGAZINE OF STORIES TO SAVOR OVER SHABBAT AND SUNDAY Do you celebrate Christmas in some way? How do you feel about the "holiday season"? I'm eager to understand other people's views and experiences, whether they involve pajamas, cookies, twinkly lights or any other tradition.
Use the blue button below to email us, and include pictures if relevant. We may publish some of the responses.
Download the printable (PDF) ➤
WATCH: ON THE FRONT LINES OF ANTISEMITISM Do you celebrate Christmas in some way? How do you feel about the "holiday season"? I'm eager to understand other people's views and experiences, whether they involve pajamas, cookies, twinkly lights or any other tradition. Use the blue button below to email us, and include pictures if relevant. We may publish some of the responses.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION UPCOMING EVENTS 'The Chosen' | December 8 @ 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT Hundreds of you have already registered for -- and donated to -- our gala (thank you!). It's October 20, it's free, it's online, and the theme is storytelling. We've got Etgar Keret, Taffy-Brodesser Akner and Michael Barbaro on the docket, and I'll be interviewing the actor and writer David Duchovny (yes, the one from "The Chair"), whose storytelling bona fides are rooted in the Forward, where his grandfather was once a staff writer. Register for this free event ➤ – 'The Chosen' | December 8 @ 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT Hundreds of you have already registered for -- and donated to -- our gala (thank you!). It's October 20, it's free, it's online, and the theme is storytelling. We've got Etgar Keret, Taffy-Brodesser Akner and Michael Barbaro on the docket, and I'll be interviewing the actor and writer David Duchovny (yes, the one from "The Chair"), whose storytelling bona fides are rooted in the Forward, where his grandfather was once a staff writer. Register for this free event ➤
INSIDE THE FORWARD NEWS FROM OUR NEWSROOM My 9/11 story is above. Readers shared theirs: stories of grief and hope, spirituality and unity. They included a CBS White House correspondent, a State Department adviser, two rabbis, and the mother of a man killed in the North Tower. Read the story ➤ My 9/11 story is above. Readers shared theirs: stories of grief and hope, spirituality and unity. They included a CBS White House correspondent, a State Department adviser, two rabbis, and the mother of a man killed in the North Tower. Read the story ➤ My 9/11 story is above. Readers shared theirs: stories of grief and hope, spirituality and unity. They included a CBS White House correspondent, a State Department adviser, two rabbis, and the mother of a man killed in the North Tower. Read the story ➤
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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