AIDS and the Jewish Community

For more than 40 years, Jews have been affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic—as doctors, activists, and artists, as well as those suffering from the disease and their loved ones. Tablet has shared these people’s stories, focusing on how they bring Jewish values to the ongoing battle against AIDS, and how that battle has affected their lives as Jews.

The End of the Exile

When I was ordained as a rabbi, I felt ignored and misunderstood as a gay man in the midst of the AIDS crisis. It took me 25 years to come home.

byDavid Edleson

A History of Silence

The story behind the AIDS crisis’ most iconic poster

byAvram Finkelstein

Larry Kramer

The late playwright and AIDS activist saw enemies everywhere—and he wasn’t wrong about that

byJames Kirchick

The Man Behind Broadway’s Big Jewish Musical

Tony Award-winning ‘Falsettos’ composer William Finn on bar mitzvahs, the AIDS crisis, and his very first show—in Hebrew

byWayne Hoffman

All AIDS and the Jewish Community stories

Behind the Blood Ban

Donor discrimination has deep roots in antisemitism

byJacob Fertig

Founding Chairman of amfAR Dr. Mathilde Krim speaks at the special Screening Of HBO's 'The Battle Of AmfAR' at United Nations Headquarters on November 26, 2013 in New York City.

Farewell to a Longtime AIDS Activist

A former gunrunner for the Irgun, Mathilde Krim spent her life fighting to save lives

byMarjorie Ingall

New York Synagogue Launches World’s First HIV Prevention Program Aimed at Jewish Clergy

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah’s new initiative hopes to fight stigma and help rabbis talk to their communities about safe sex

byRachel Delia Benaim

The Year I Skipped Yom Kippur Services

After my best friend died of complications from HIV, I avoided synagogue and found sanctuary in my mother’s house instead. And that’s where I found a space to atone, and a path to move forward.

byAmy Abrahams

One More Panel for the Quilt

After losing many friends in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, I thought the deaths were over. Then this year I lost Kolya, an activist who’d become the face of HIV in Russia.

byNeil Goldstein Glick

The Plagues Come All Year Round—And There Are Way More Than Four Questions

For World AIDS Day, a doctor, her daughters, their late dad, and his work in Africa

byMarjorie S. Rosenthal

Testing My Faith

I’d left Orthodoxy. But as I waited for HIV test results, I looked to God and the Talmud for comfort.

byMatt Goodman

School of Arts and Sciences

In a haunting memoir, an Upper West Sider puts family secrets—including AIDS—under the microscope

byAdam Kirsch

Out There

The Young Professionals, the latest dance-music venture from Israeli pop star Ivri Lider, are deadly serious about their fun—even when they’re singing about AIDS

byWayne Hoffman

A Cold Case

Trying to recall the exact moment my father told me he was dying

byMarco Roth