Posts By Jigsaw Digital

JERUSALEM (JTA) — My kids are the first to tell me that God does not have a body. “But how can He write us in a book of life? God isn’t like a person, ima!” Indeed. The image of an anthropomorphic God is rife, however, throughout the machzor, the… Read more »

New children's books: a tale from Spain, easing a young girl's pain (Courtesy Wisdom Tales Press)

BOSTON (JTA) — Fourteen years ago, sitting in her synagogue during Saturday morning services, Jacqueline Jules was browsing some Torah commentary when a story about a medieval poet struck an inspirational chord. “It was an ‘aha’ moment. This will be my next writing project, my next children’s book,” recalled… Read more »

A Thai worker picking decorative flower leaves on the Kibbutz Sde Nitzan flower farm, near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, July 20, 2014. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah comes later this month, Israel’s Jewish farmers won’t just be celebrating the start of a new year. They’ll be marking a year in which they are prohibited from doing their jobs. Called Shmita, the Torah-mandated, yearlong farming hiatus is felt across Israel,… Read more »

Chloe Valdary called her AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel "life changing." (Lauren Clarice Cross)

(JTA) — Growing up in New Orleans, Chloe Valdary kept kosher, studied the Jewish Bible and celebrated Jewish holidays with festive meals. In recent years she has become an outspoken pro-Israel campus activist, contributing regularly to the Jewish press, and speaking and posting widely about the merits of the… Read more »

Jacqui Dauphinais, second from left, was an assistant coach last season for the Yeshiva University men's volleyball team that won its conference championship. (Adena Stevens/Yeshiva University)

(JTA) – Having been a standout player in high school and college, and an assistant coach, new Yeshiva University men’s volleyball coach Jacqui Dauphinais has plenty of knowledge about the sport. And in her one season as an assistant for the Maccabees, she showed she wasn’t afraid to speak… Read more »

Iraqi families who fled ISIS fighters near the Iraqi city of Mosul prepare to sleep on the ground near the Khazair temporary displacement camp in a Kurdish-controlled part of Iraq, July 3, 2014. (Spencer Platt/Getty)

(JTA) – Between this summer’s war in Gaza and gains by Islamic militants in Iraq, Syria and Libya, there’s still plenty of cause these days for pessimism about the Middle East. But there’s also some good news for Israel. If it wasn’t obvious before, the conflagrations have driven home… Read more »

(JTA) – A prominent rabbi whose outspoken criticism of Israel became too divisive for his congregation announced this week that he is resigning his pulpit. Brant Rosen, rabbi at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Ill., made the announcement Tuesday. Aside from his pulpit position, which he has held… Read more »

The Beatles -- from left, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison -- letting off steam with a pillow fight. (Harry Benson)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — It was 6 a.m. on Aug. 19, 1964 when the phone rang in the Los Angeles apartment of Ivor Davis, the young West Coast correspondent for London’s Daily Express, circulation 4 million. On the other end was the paper’s foreign editor, who told Davis to… Read more »

University of Central Florida student Melissa Catalanotto (L.), president of the UCF Society of Professional Journalists attends a candlelight vigil held for journalist Steven Sotloff on Sept. 3, 2014 at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. (Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Don’t bring it up. If it comes up, change the subject. If you can’t change the subject, consider an outright denial. Those are some of the strategies used by Jewish reporters working in the Arab and Muslim Middle East to conceal their religious heritage. The dangers… Read more »

Rafat Ayasha, 20, was one of the approximately 1,500 Arab-Israelis arrested for involvement in protests against Israel's operation in Gaza. (Ben Sales/JTA)

BEERSHEBA, Israel (JTA) — Handcuffed to a wooden chair in the middle of the night, Rafat Awaysha still wasn’t sure what crime he had committed. He had announced a demonstration against the war in Gaza in a July 11 Facebook post. Soon afterward, he received a call from the… Read more »

Erik Lorig, in his fifth NFL season, has moved to the New Orleans Saints after playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Courtesy New Orleans Saints)

BALTIMORE (JTA) – Blocking brothers, a college star seeking success in the pros, a fullback who hasn’t had a carry in four seasons and a couple of ace special teamers are among the Jewish players on NFL rosters as the league kicks off this week. A punter may join… Read more »

Comedian and host Jon Stewart speaks onstage at Spike TV's "Don Rickles: One Night Only" on May 6, 2014 in New York City. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Spike TV)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Jon Stewart’s directorial film debut, “Rosewater,” is set to premiere at film festivals in the United States and Canada this September. So the Hollywood Reporter took the opportunity to grab some golden quotes (and glam shots) of the iconic “Daily Show” comedian about filming in… Read more »

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Barack Obama meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2014. (Andrew Harper-Pool/Getty Images)

(JTA) – All is not well in the U.S.-Israel relationship. Somehow, the 50 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas frayed ties between Washington and Jerusalem. How did this happen? In part, the contretemps stems from the divergent ways that the Israeli and U.S. administrations view the Gaza war.… Read more »

Now that the guns have fallen silent, leaders of Israel and Hamas are busy trying to convince their respective peoples that they emerged victorious from this 50-day war. On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff of the IDF Gen. Benny Ganz… Read more »

Palestinians viewing what used to be a tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip into Israel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, Aug. 5, 2014. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

OR YEHUDA, Israel (JTA) — Something that looks like a can of soda could be Israel’s high-tech answer to the network of tunnels that Hamas has created under the Gaza border. A sensor known as a geophone can detect underground movement based on the sound generated by the movement,… Read more »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, Aug. 27, 2014.

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s war is over, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fight may only have just begun. The past month has seen Netanyahu’s approval rating plummet, according to polling by Israel’s Channel 2. On July 23, about a week after Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza,… Read more »

For years, Israel has been trying to convince the West that it is the first line of defense against radical Islam, and that if Muslim extremists are not checked in their home territory, they might sooner or later export their brutality. These arguments were usually dismissed, with the UK… Read more »

Israeli soldiers attending a ceremony at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem honoring Lee Matt, who died in July while fighting in Gaza, Aug. 21. 2014. (Hadas Parush/Flash90/JTA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — A rocket barrage fell on Israel, a boom sounded over Tel Aviv and then it was over — at least for now. After 50 days of missiles, airstrikes, ground operations, tunnel incursions, truce talks, cease-fire proposals, death and destruction, Israel and Hamas agreed to an… Read more »

David Gregory attends NBC News Education Nation Job One Panel Discussion at Georgia Aquarium on May 7, 2012 in Atlanta. (Moses Robinson/Getty Images for NBCUniversal)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — David Gregory was just sacked as host of “Meet the Press” in public and humiliating fashion. And like so many before him, he will seek respite from the suffering of worldly scorn in the consolation of religion. This isn’t to say that Gregory will be… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Egypt announced a new open-ended cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian groups shortly after an Israeli struck by a Gaza mortar died of his wounds. The official Egyptian News Agency announced Tuesday evening that the cease-fire would begin at 7 p.m. In the hour leading up to… Read more »