Launched in 2012, Geltfiend was an innovator in the Hanukkah sweater scene. (Jay Diebel/Carin Agiman/Geltfiend)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Ever since I moved here from Israel, every late November felt like the beginning of a month-long assault. Every store, business and doctor’s office blared Christmas songs, streets were decorated with ostentatious light shows and seemingly everything became green and red — which, as an… Read more »
Syrians fleeing violence in Aleppo arrive in the city's Fardos neighborhood after government troops retook the area from rebel fighters, Dec. 13, 2016. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Although Poopa Dweck has never been to Aleppo, her New Jersey home evokes the smells of a kitchen in the now-ravaged Syrian city. Dweck was born after her parents left the once-bustling metropolis in 1947, but she still calls it her “homeland.” She has dedicated herself… Read more »
Abdul Rashid Abdullah of the National American Muslim Association on Scouting speak at a Muslim-Jewish gathering in Washington, D.C., while Rabbi David Shneyer of Kehila Chadasha looks on, Dec. 11, 2016. (Ron Kampeas)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – A year ago, when several dozen Washington-area Jewish and Muslim religious and lay leaders jostled for spots in a group picture, the mood was convivial. The most novel item on the agenda for that November 2015 confab was bringing in non-Middle Eastern Muslims into the Jewish-Muslim… Read more »
(JTA) — All I want for Hanukkah is Christmas. I grew up in suburban Chicago surrounded by my fellow Jews — at school, at camp, on the weekends, at my parents’ friends’ houses, in the streets and parks of my neighborhood. Even then, I knew that Jews made up less… Read more »
IfNotNow activists march to demand that President-elect Donald Trump fire Stephen Bannon, Philadelphia, Nov. 22, 2016. (Courtesy of IfNotNow)
NEW YORK (JTA) — “This Jew says no to white nationalism,” one sign read. “Silence is akin to consent,” another said, quoting the Talmud. A third displayed a lyric from a Yiddish song: “We will outlive them.” The signs, along with chants like “Donald Trump, it’s your fault; Stephen… Read more »
A stall selling oliebollen in Delft, the Netherlands, in 2015. (Gerard Stolk/Flickr)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Though they are considered a caloric hazard in Israel, sufganiyot are a rare Hanukkah treat for many Jews in Europe. When the holiday arrives, some Jewish communities in Russia, Ukraine and beyond arrange special community bakes. This keeps schools and kindergartens in supply of the jam-filled… Read more »
An Israeli firefighting airplane tries to extinguish a blaze raging in Haifa, Nov. 24, 2016. (Meir Vaknin/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – As wildfires threatened Israel last week, rhetoric linking arson to terrorism heated up. For about a week, fires across the country burned huge swaths of land, destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, and forced tens of thousands of people to flee. Dozens were injured, though few… Read more »
Clockwise from left: Anthony Rosenthal, Betsy Wolfe, Tracie Thoms, Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells, Brandon Uranowitz and Stephanie J. Block performing in the musical "Falsettos." (Joan Marcus)
NEW YORK (JTA) — The opening number in the Broadway musical “Falsettos” — currently being revived on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre — is called “Four Jews in a Room Bitching.” Featuring sample lyrics like “I’m neurotic, he’s neurotic, they’re neurotic, we’re neurotic. Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch,” it… Read more »
Manuel Valls, center, hosts a delegation of the Conference of European Rabbis at his office in May 2015. (Eli Itkin/Conference of European Rabbis)
PARIS (JTA) — Although his country is entering one of the most dramatic election campaigns in recent memory, Isy Morgensztern had no intention of exercising his right to vote. A left-wing Ashkenazi Jewish filmmaker from Paris, Morgensztern was too disappointed with the ruling Socialists under French President Francois Hollande… Read more »
The Defender newsroom on Chicago's South Side in the late 1940s, with Audrey Weaver, the first woman city editor of any American newspaper, in the center. (Courtesy of Abbott Sengstacke Family Papers)
CHICAGO (JTA) — Forged at the dawn of the 20th century as both peoples arrived in northern cities, the political coalition between African-Americans and Jewish Americans has endured through defeat as well as victory. Jews and African-Americans were Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s two most enthusiastic constituencies, as they have… Read more »
Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence outside the clubhouse at Trump International Golf Club in Bedminster Township, N.J., Nov. 19, 2016. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Add sweeping school reforms – and with them, funding for private schools that Orthodox groups embrace and secular Jewish groups fear — to the campaign promises that Donald Trump plans to fulfill. Last week, just before Thanksgiving, the president-elect named Betsy DeVos, a billionaire education reform activist… Read more »
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks at the Women's Foreign Policy Group Conference in Washington, D.C., Nov. 29, 2016. (State Department)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry signaled in a speech that the Obama administration was still considering action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its final days, although it might fall short of a direct intervention on the issue. There’s no way to “force-feed” peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry said… Read more »
Author and behavioral scientist Jon Levy gets out of his comfort zone in Antarctica. (Courtesy of Jon Levy)
(JTA) — To give you an idea of how uncool Jon Levy was as a kid, know this: His first kiss was in first grade, when he was a student at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. His second kiss? Well, that happened during his freshman… Read more »
The Israeli government launches several initiatives to promote Israel as a destination for tourists from India and China. (Itamar Grinberg, Israeli Ministry of Tourism)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Bollywood star and Indian fashion icon Sonam Kapoor appeared on the cover of the June-July issue of Harper’s Bazaar Bride, India, she did so wearing a sheer pink confection and a radiant smile. Behind her sprawled the Old City of Jerusalem. It wasn’t happenstance.… Read more »
Orthodox Jews try to prevent a group of Conservative and Reform rabbis and Women of the Wall members from bringing Torah scrolls into the Western Wall compound in Jerusalem, Nov. 2, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Like many of my friends, I grew up in the United States with a strong affinity for Israel. As a child we saved money to buy trees, learned Israeli songs, studied Hebrew, visited Israel and marched in Israeli Independence Day parades. I recall well that my… Read more »
JNF welcomes IDF hero and humanitarian Israel Defense Forces Major Gen. (Res.) Doron Almog spoke at a Jewish National Fund event in Tucson on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Almog, who was awarded a 2016 Israel Prize for lifetime achievement, led the operational task force in Tripoli against terrorists who killed… Read more »
Anne Silverman Rothschild, 88, died Nov. 14, 2016. Mrs. Rothschild was preceded in death by her sister, Florence Kaplan. Survivors include her husband of 62 years, Lowell E. Rothschild; children, Jonathan (Karen Spiegel) Rothschild of Tucson and Jennifer (Julian Izbiky) Rothschild of Englewood, Colo.; and four grandchildren. A memorial… Read more »
Michelle Blumenberg and Richard Green at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. High Holiday leader For 35 years, Richard Green led the Conservative service for the first day of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. A student rabbi from the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles conducted the Reform service. Growing up in Omaha, Green… Read more »
An interfaith worship service and candlelight vigil marking the fourth anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., will be held Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, 3809 E. Third St. Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim will be among the… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division and Chabad Oro Valley will present Marthe Cohn, author of “Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany,” on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 4 p.m. at the Country Club of La Cholla, 8700 N. La… Read more »
