Oren Hazan in front of the Israeli parliament building, Oct. 31, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Oren Hazan finally met his hero, and he wasn’t going to let the moment go undocumented. The notoriously misbehaved Israeli lawmaker snapped a selfie with President Donald Trump during the official welcome ceremony Monday at Ben Gurion Airport. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu belatedly attempted to stop… Read more »
Air Force One arrives at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, May 22, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did his best to give Donald Trump a warm welcome when he landed Monday at Ben Gurion Airport on his first trip abroad as U.S. president. Netanyahu offered support for Trump’s stated aspiration to broker the “ultimate deal” between Israel and… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — It is one of those days. I wake up on the wrong side of the bed. To every question posed to me in the morning, I immediately answer, “NO! No I can’t help you!” Even when it makes no sense, even when my children aren’t… Read more »
Tahini Marshmallow S’mores (Sheri Silver)
(The Nosher via JTA) — Tahini is certainly having “a moment.” This ancient condiment is just about everywhere these days – most notably on the sweeter side of things, in treats and desserts. Stuffed into croissants. Turned into cake pops. Folded into brownie batter. And I love it all.… Read more »
The Orthodox Union is asking Maharat Ruth Friedman, left, shown at her graduation from Yeshivat Maharat in 2013, to change her title in order to comply with a rabbinic ruling that bars female clergy. (Joe Winkler)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Following its rabbinic ruling prohibiting synagogues from hiring female clergy, the Orthodox Union is pressuring synagogues that have hired the women to change their titles. In February, the Orthodox Union, an umbrella Orthodox Jewish group, issued a Jewish legal ruling by seven rabbis that bars women… Read more »
From left to right: Orna Banai, Yafit Asulin, Evelin Hagoel, Sharona Elimelech and Einat Sarouf in "The Women's Balcony." (Courtesy of Menemsha Films)
(JTA) — It’s safe to call the Israeli film “The Women’s Balcony” the opposite of a Hollywood blockbuster. The movie, directed by Emil Ben-Shimon, is a sensitive, slice-of-life story that focuses on the rift caused in a modern Orthodox community in Jerusalem when a Hasidic rabbi offers to fill… Read more »
President Donald Trump at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduation ceremony in New London, Conn., May 17, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Zionist Organization of America launched two broadsides against a Trump administration it has ardently defended, signaling a growing unease on the pro-Israel right with the president’s Israel policies. The ZOA, the flagship for the conservative pro-Israel community, slammed President Donald Trump for retreating from… Read more »
Mel Brooks, left, and Norman Lear, center, with Carl Reiner in “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast.” (Courtesy of HBO)
(JTA) — The first thing Carl Reiner does every morning is pick up the paper and read the obituary section to check if he’s named there. “If I’m not, I’ll have my breakfast”— or so he says in the charming and appropriately titled HBO documentary “If You’re Not… Read more »
Participants in a past Shavuot program at JCC Manhattan gather on the JCC's roof. The JCC's annual event lasts all night and features an array of classes and workshops. (Courtesy of JCC Manhattan)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Shavuot is the “Rodney Dangerfield of Jewish holidays,” says Rabbi Shira Stutman of Washington, D.C.’s Sixth and I synagogue. Meaning: It gets no respect. Considered by Jewish tradition to be on par with the fall and spring festivals of Sukkot and Passover, Shavuot is sometimes… Read more »
Hasidic Jews from the Strikov dynasty celebrate
the writing of a new Torah scroll in Bnei Brak, Israel, March 26, 2017. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Israel’s projected future looks a lot like a visit to the Jerusalem central bus station: crowded and very religious. According to a government report to be released in full next week, the Jewish state’s population will double in about 40 years. Some 29 percent —… Read more »
David Friedman, right, with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at a ceremony for new ambassadors at the president's residence in Jerusalem, May 16, 2017. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The new U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, presented his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem. During the ceremony Tuesday morning, Rivlin identified himself as a seventh-generation Jerusalemite and noted.”Next week, we will celebrate 50 years since Jerusalem was united, and the Jewish people were… Read more »
George Soros at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sept. 20, 2016. (Peter Foley/Pool/Getty Images)
(JTA) — On a recent Sunday, eight far-right activists filmed themselves on what they called a “raid” on the Aurora Jewish community center in Budapest. Sporting crewcuts and black clothes, the men affixed posters with a crossed-out picture of the Hungary-born Jewish American billionaire George Soros to the entrance of… Read more »
A simulation of cars using Autotalks' vehicle-to-vehicle communication system. (Screenshot from YouTube)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Israeli startups are revving their engines ahead of the country’s largest-ever “smart transportation” event. Over 200 local companies working in transportation technology will be at the EcoMotion Conference on Thursday at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa. The plan is to give auto industry… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Bill Clinton consulted with folks who came up with him in Arkansas, George W. Bush preferred Texan veterans of his family’s hard-fought political battles and Barack Obama had his Chicago peeps. Who does the first billionaire president go to when he wants real-deal advice? Other billionaires,… Read more »
President Donald Trump walks to a waiting limousine to greet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House, May 16, 2017. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — No one who has lived in Israel or even visited for an extended time can forget the top-of-the-hour news broadcasts on Kol Yisrael, or Israel Radio. Before its shutdown this week as part of a byzantine reform of public broadcasting, the government-run station preceded… Read more »
Smartphone apps can help with everything from putting on tefillin correctly to finding a minyan to locating a kosher restaurant. (Lior Zaltzman)
(JTA) — These days there are smartphone applications for pretty much anything, from ordering food to finding a date to reporting anti-Semitic incidents. But what about tools for living a religious Jewish life? Well, there are apps for that, too. Whereas in the time before smartphones, observant Jews may have… Read more »
(Dafne Cholet/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
(JTA) — Only one religious group in the U.S. has a federally proclaimed month celebrating their history: the Jews. In 2006, President George W. Bush officially declared May as Jewish American Heritage Month. Yet Jewish American Heritage Month, or JAHM, hardly seems a priority — not in the government, not… Read more »
Israeli couscous mac and cheese (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — Mac and cheese is one of those comfort food dishes that is sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face. So when my co-workers suggested I try a mac and cheese made with Israeli couscous instead of traditionally larger pasta like elbows or shells… Read more »
Community commemorates Yom HaShoah Some 200 people attended the Jewish community’s 2017 Yom HaShoah commemoration on Sunday, April 23 at Temple Emanu-El. The event, organized by the Jewish History Museum, explored the theme of “Art and Totalitarianism: 80 Years After the ‘Degenerate Art’ Exhibition” and included a Holocaust survivor… Read more »
Rabbi Thomas Louchheim At the invitation of Rep. Martha McSally and the Office of the Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives, RABBI THOMAS LOUCHHEIM of CONGREGATION OR CHADASH will open the House of Representatives with prayer as the guest chaplain on Wednesday, May 17 at 12 p.m. (EDT). INTERFAITH COMMUNITY… Read more »
