Forward.com

Playing the FieldEven though he retired from pro football in 1934, Jewish quarterback Benny Friedman didn’t make the sport’s Hall of Fame until 2005. Now, Friedman has received a biography of his own.…Read more

Shooting Hoops, a Jewish HistoryIt’s true that Major League Baseball has seen a renaissance of Jewish players during the past few years, but the historic American Jewish sport is surely basketball. It makes sense if you think about it. Easy to play on the concrete surfaces that are ubiquitous in urban areas, basketball was the sport most accessible to the sons of the immigrants who had flocked to the United States between 1880 and 1920.…Read more

Service Without a SmilePicture the stereotypical Israeli soldier — macho, muscular and, of course, male. But young Israeli women do up to two years of compulsory military service (men do three), some of them spending their time in the simmering West Bank. And as the powerful documentary “To See If I’m Smiling” makes clear, the women who serve in the territories often find the effects of their service painful, disturbing and long lasting.…Read more

A Wiseguy’s Jewish JourneyLouis Ferrante was just a Mafia member from New York City who was serving time, until he began a jail-time journey that resulted in his conversion to Judaism after his release in 2003. In “Unlocked: A Journey From Prison to Proust” (HarperCollins), Ferrante chronicles his trip. Although the memoir focuses mainly on his days in the mob, Ferrante depicts how his discovery of reading while in prison led him to the Torah. (He now lives in upstate New York and has a girlfriend who has also converted.) Peter Ephross recently talked with Ferrante, 38, and asked him to explain his embrace of Judaism — and how that embrace has affected his daily life.…Read more

Behind BarsThere’s a particularly chilling scene about two-thirds of the way through “HotHouse,” a new documentary that examines the lives of Palestinians serving time in Israeli security prisons.…Read more