Yearly Archives 2018

Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to Brazil marks the end of an era of strained ties

Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro, left, with Israel’s Ambassador to Brazil, Yossi Shelley. ((Courtesy of Israel’s honorary consul in Rio)Brazil's president-elect Jair Bolsonaro, left, with Israel's Ambassador to Brazil, Yossi Shelley. ((Courtesy of Israel's honorary consul in Rio)
December 18, 2018 / Marcus M. Gilban, JTA

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Following years of diplomatic tensions, Israel and Brazil appear set to place their relationship on a new footing with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit, the first for a sitting prime minister. Netanyahu was invited to attend incoming President Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration on Jan. 1.… Read more »

Israel arrests 100 Palestinians in crackdown after week of violence
December 18, 2018 / Sam Sokol, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli forces arrested over 100 Palestinians over the past weekend as part of an anti-terror crackdown launched in the wake of last week’s uptick in terror activity in the West Bank.“There were 100 arrests over the weekend, and another 36 yesterday,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced… Read more »

A new Jewish Christmas tradition: Watching ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at your local movie theater

The Laemmle theater chain offers a new Christmas option for Jews. (Courtesy of Laemmle.com)The Laemmle theater chain offers a new Christmas option for Jews. (Courtesy of Laemmle.com)
December 18, 2018 / Tom Tugend, JTA

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Sick of eating Chinese food and taking in another modern blockbuster on Christmas, while your Christian friends party together with sweets and eggnog? Thanks to the imagination of Greg Laemmle, co-owner of a chain of eight art house cinemas bearing his family name in greater… Read more »

40 years ago, a refusenik made art of the Soviet Jewish tragedy. At 82, he is seeing its first English translation.

David Shrayer-Petrov outside of the Brookline Booksmith store in November, where he and the translators of “Doctor Levitin” spoke to a crowd. (Courtesy of Maxim Shrayer)David Shrayer-Petrov outside of the Brookline Booksmith store in November, where he and the translators of "Doctor Levitin" spoke to a crowd. (Courtesy of Maxim Shrayer)
December 18, 2018 / Penny Schwartz, JTA

BROOKLINE, Massachusetts (JTA) — The well-worn books that fill the shelves in David Shrayer-Petrov’s living room reveal the remarkable literary life of the influential refusenik, who has left his mark both as a distinguished physician and as an acclaimed writer. Among the volumes are works by literary lights of… Read more »

Alice Walker endorses anti-Semitic tract in a New York Times feature

Alice Walker at the “The Color Purple” Broadway opening night at The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City, Dec. 10, 2015. (Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)Alice Walker at the "The Color Purple" Broadway opening night at The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City, Dec. 10, 2015. (Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)
December 18, 2018 / Sam Sokol, JTA

(JTA) — Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker has come under intense criticism after endorsing a book by anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist David Icke. In an interview with The New York Times Book Review, Walker — who is best known for her book “The Color Purple,” detailing the hardships of African-American… Read more »

In a first, Reform rabbinical school won’t be led by a rabbi
December 18, 2018 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA
Andrew Rehfeld will serve as HUC’s 13th president. (Courtesy of HUC)Andrew Rehfeld will serve as HUC’s 13th president. (Courtesy of HUC)

NEW YORK (JTA) —The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion has appointed Andrew Rehfeld, a political science professor who has led the Jewish Federation of St. Louis since 2012, to serve as its 13th president. On Tuesday, the Reform movement’s flagship seminary said Rehfeld would lead its four campuses… Read more »

Jewish studies conference celebrates 50 years of explosive growth in the field

A stunning new facsimile of the 14th-century Sarajevo Hagaddah was on display, and for sale, by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina,in the exhibit hall at the Association of Jewish Studies cA stunning new facsimile of the 14th-century Sarajevo Hagaddah was on display, and for sale, by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina,in the exhibit hall at the Association of Jewish Studies convention. ( Penny Schwartz)
December 18, 2018 / Penny Schwartz, JTA

BOSTON (JTA) — Diversity and inclusion were among the hot topics at the 50th annual convention of the Association of Jewish Studies, where some 1,200 Jewish studies scholars gathered for a three-day conference that began here Sunday. Fifty years to the month after a handful of scholars in the… Read more »

American Federations of Teachers building defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. (Courtesy Professional Staff Congress)Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. (Courtesy Professional Staff Congress)
December 14, 2018 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The American Federation of Teachers said vandals defaced its headquarters in Washington D.C. with anti-Semitic graffiti. A number of areas around the building, including a wall, were yellow spray-painted on Tuesday and Wednesday with “I want Jexit!” an apparent anti-Semitic play on “Brexit,” Britain’s planned pullout… Read more »

Trump is looking at Jared Kushner as chief of staff, report says
December 14, 2018 / BY BEN SALES

(JTA) — Jared Kushner is being considered for White House chief of staff, according to a CBS News report. Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, would replace John Kelly, who is set to leave the post at the beginning of next year. A real estate developer who… Read more »

Baby born prematurely to mother shot in West Bank attack dies in hospital
December 13, 2018 / Sam Sokol, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A baby born prematurely after his mother was shot during a drive-by terror attack in the West Bank died on Wednesday. The statement from Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital announcing the boy’s passing said the parents met their son earlier Wednesday morning. The baby had been delivered… Read more »

2 Israelis killed in West Bank shooting
December 13, 2018 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two Israelis were killed and two seriously injured in a second shooting attack near a bus stop in the West Bank. The attack on Thursday morning occurred at a bus stop outside of the Givat Asaf settlement, about a mile down the same road from the… Read more »

Local woman seeks acts for all-female talent showcase at Tucson J
December 11, 2018 /
sara lopezSara Lopez

Sara Lopez, a local wife, mother and opera singer, is curating a Jewish women’s performance showcase, by and for women, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sunday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. Having an all-female audience “allows women across the spectrum of Jewish practice and belief to participate,”… Read more »

British play about anti-Semitism is target of anti-Semites
December 10, 2018 / Marcy Oster, JTA

<p>(<a href=”http://jta.org”>JTA</a>) &#8212; A play opening in London about rising anti-Semitism in Britain has become the target of anti-Semites.</p><p>(<a href=”http://jta.org”>JTA</a>) &#8212; A play opening in London about rising anti-Semitism in Britain has become the target of anti-Semites.</p><p>The play, “One Jewish Boy,” by Stephen Laughton, looks at the hatred and… Read more »

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