WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ilan Mengistu knows his pitch to rescue his brother, Avera, should be a no-brainer to Jews — “pidyon shvuyim,” the redemption of the hostage, is among the greatest of commandments. But Mengistu also knows that the story he has to tell is not the straightforward narrative… Read more »
Posts By April Bauer
Roasted Winter Squash with Tahini Recipe
(The Nosher via JTA) — I recently fell in love with honey squash, a new variety of hearty winter squash bred specifically to be concentrated in flavor and adorable in appearance. OK, maybe it wasn’t specifically grown to be adorable, but the result nevertheless is the same. I found… Read more »
Judaism is the star at a Bible museum built by Hobby Lobby
WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the Burning Bush crackles, God is heard. “Mow-zes,” God says in the mysterious mid-Atlantic accent that Hollywood once trained its actors to use — the one Anne Baxter as Nefertiti used to summon Charlton Heston’s Moses in the 1956 blockbuster “The Ten Commandments.” “Mow-zes, Mow-zes.”… Read more »
These bar-mitzvah kids already are Jewish philanthropists
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Lyla Maymon and Jane Shvartzman went to interview officials last year at the Larkin Street Youth, a local organization fighting homelessness among young people, to see if their programs were worthy of a philanthropic grant. Maymon and Shvartzman asked all the right questions, like what… Read more »
Stephen Bannon: ‘I’m proud to be a Christian Zionist’
NEW YORK (JTA) — Stephen Bannon, the former chief strategist for President Donald Trump, called himself a “Christian Zionist” at the Zionist Organization of America’s annual dinner. He also praised Republican Jewish megadonor Sheldon Adelson for his help in guiding Trump through a sexual assault scandal. Bannon, at what… Read more »
60,000 joined a Polish nationalist march. Should Jews be worried?
(JTA) — The sight of far-right activists waving racist banners and shouting anti-Semitic slogans during a nationalist march in the capital of Poland over the weekend shocked many around the world. It was an understandable reaction to witnessing tens of thousands in Warsaw marching near what used to be… Read more »
Hummus among us: Chefs debate what makes Israeli food Israeli
WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s lunch break during a one-day conference on “Israeli Cuisine as a Reflection of Israeli Society” — so naturally I’m eating lunch. Everything on my white plastic plate can be considered Israeli food. There is a burek (which originally heralds from Spain, by way of Turkey),… Read more »
Here are 5 Jewish takeaways from Election Day
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The big post-Election Day headline is the stunning Democratic sweep in Virginia’s gubernatorial and House elections, coupled with the predicted Democratic win of the governor’s mansion in New Jersey. Republicans are wondering what this says about the train that was Trumpism. In Virginia, Ed Gillespie was… Read more »
Why some religious Israelis are saying women are weakening the army
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A group of leading Orthodox rabbis met with the Israeli army’s chief of staff to complain. According to Israel’s Arutz Sheva news website, the rabbis told Gadi Eisenkot on Tuesday that the growing ranks of female combat soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces are creating an… Read more »
4 Jewish things you need to know about Catalonia
(JTA) — After simmering for decades, national aspirations in the region of Catalonia in northeast Spain plunged that country into a major crisis with far-reaching international implications. The current crisis began earlier this month when federal police clashed with voters over an illegal referendum on independence. But it came… Read more »
Jews for Jesus commissioned a study on Jewish millennials. Here’s what it found.
NEW YORK (JTA) — Are Jewish millennials the most religious generation? And do one-fifth of them think Jesus was God in human form? Yes and yes, says a new survey of 599 Jews born from 1984 to 1999. The survey creates a contradictory portrait of Jewish millennials: These young… Read more »
Kiev’s American-style JCC gives low-income Jews the millionaire treatment
KIEV (JTA) — This city of 2.5 million residents may be the capital of one of the poorest countries in the Former Soviet Union, but it offers a dazzling selection of luxury services to those who can afford them. On potholed streets where some elderly people are forced to… Read more »
Europe has a ‘Jewish’ soccer team problem
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (JTA) — Seventeen-year-old Sjuul Deriet, standing outside this port city’s main soccer stadium on a rainy Sunday, vividly explains why he hates the people he calls “the Jews.” “They have the money, they run the business from management positions and they think they’re better than blue-collar people… Read more »
OP-ED Eager for the US to pull out of UNESCO? Not so fast.
(JTA) — Here we go again: The issue of how and why the United States should engage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is back in the news. The announcement by the Trump administration that the U.S. will be pulling out of UNESCO over its biased… Read more »
Conservative movement doubles down on intermarriage and its rabbis ask why
NEW YORK (JTA) — “It doesn’t help.” “I don’t know how it happened or why it happened.” “The most common response I’m seeing is confusion.” That’s what some Conservative rabbis are saying about their movement’s recent major statement on intermarriage, which reasserts the ban on rabbis performing interfaith weddings… Read more »
How to make chicken soup in an Instant Pot
(The Nosher via JTA) — For generations, Jewish grandmothers have spent hours and hours chained to their stoves perfecting their family chicken soup recipes. The prevailing thought was that the longer the soup simmered, the more flavorful the result. Fortunately for the current generation, technology has created new ways… Read more »
Orthodox Union’s new project says women don’t need to be rabbis to be leaders
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Orthodox Union is founding its own division to advance women as congregational leaders, as well as to promote Jewish study and communal participation for women in Modern Orthodoxy. The announcement comes nearly nine months after the group, an umbrella association of centrist Orthodox synagogues,… Read more »
State anti-BDS laws are hitting unintended targets and nobody’s happy
WASHINGTON (JTA) — On May 2, Israel’s Independence Day, Texas state Rep. Phil King stood smiling as Gov. Greg Abbott signed King’s bill banning the state from doing business with boycotters of Israel. “Anti-Israel policies are anti-Texas policies, and we will not tolerate such actions against an important ally,”… Read more »
OP-ED Why we waited before publishing that story about Elie Wiesel
NEW YORK (JTA) — If a woman called the JTA office and said she wanted to tell her story of sexual harassment by a prominent community figure, we’d have questions. Would she put her name to the accusations? Can she corroborate them? Can she provide specific dates and descriptions… Read more »
Palestinian Authority wants two-state commitment from Trump administration by end of August
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Palestinian Authority expects the Trump administration to commit to a peace deal endgame before the close of this month and prefers it would be the two-state solution. “We need them to tell us where the hell they are going,” Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Liberation Organization… Read more »