Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

CALDWELL, N.J. (JTA) — Figure skating costumes have a long and sometimes ridiculous history. Until about the 1930s, women were expected to compete in ponderous and weighty skirts, making it hard to move freely, let alone tackle a triple lutz. That all started to change largely for two reasons. The… Read more »

(JTA) — Tiffany Haddish celebrated her bat mitzvah Tuesday night surrounded by an array of Jewish celebrity friends, including Billy Crystal, Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman. The comedian, who celebrated in Beverly Hills on the occasion of her 40th birthday, released her Netflix standup special, “Black Mitzvah,” on the same… Read more »

This recipe originally appeared on The Nosher. Why use several different pots and pans when you can fit a full meal into one? Bachsh is a traditional Bukharian rice and meat dish that is loaded with aromatic onions and fresh herbs. Bukharian Jews originate from central Asia, in modern… Read more »

LONDON, England (JTA) — I am a secular Jew and a lifelong British Labour Party voter — two allegiances that once intersected very comfortably. As so many of us do, I inherited my politics. Every time Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher was reelected, my mother and her friends held a… Read more »

Abigail Rose Stadheim, daughter of Suzie and Chad Stadheim, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Dec. 7, 2019 at Congregation Or Chadash. She is the granddaughter of Leah and the late Frederick Richter of Tucson, and Myrna and Robert Stadheim of Sun Lakes, Arizona. Abigail attends Orange Grove… Read more »

This story originally appeared on Alma. I am a product of a Jewish day school education, eight years of Jewish summer camp, and a Conservative Jewish upbringing. Finding a Jewish partner to marry and have Jewish babies with was in my DNA, as was tikkun olam. So it came… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — On a recent snowy afternoon, Tony Shalhoub is drinking tea in a room at the Whitby Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. He’s in the midst of a long press day promoting season 3 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and he just wants to get comfortable. So… Read more »

(JTA) — The United Nations General Assembly passed five resolutions against Israel, but for the first time, 13 countries switched their positions and voted against a pro-Palestine measure. The five resolutions passed Tuesday are among 20 against Israel that the international body will vote on during the 74th session… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Seth Rogen and his father were honored by the secular Jewish group The Workers Circle — formerly known as The Workmen’s Circle until Monday night — for their contributions to Jewish culture, activism and promotion of the Yiddish language. Rogen, 37, who usually plays Jewish… Read more »

(JTA) — Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour took to Twitter to clarify recent controversial comments she had made about Israel. Speaking Friday at the annual conference of American Muslims for Palestine in Chicago, Sarsour had criticized progressive Zionists. “Ask them this, how can you be against white supremacy in America… Read more »

(JTA) — Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, is dropping her presidential bid. “My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” Harris, 54, told supporters in a message on Tuesday. The former California attorney general had failed to gain steam among the… Read more »

(JTA) — Moshe Holtzberg, whose parents were killed in the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai when he was 2, was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah. Holtzberg celebrated on Saturday in his hometown of Afula, in northern Israel, Chabad.org reported. A party was held on Sunday night in… Read more »

(JTA) — As the United Kingdom nears the final stretch of what is shaping up to be one of its most fateful general elections since World War II, all eyes are on the leaders of its two main parties: Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the Conservatives and Jeremy Corbyn… Read more »

(JTA) — In case you missed it: Black and Jewish comedian Tiffany Haddish is having a bat mitzvah ceremony soon. She has released a Netflix stand-up special inspired by the occasion as well. So, naturally, on a special Sunday night edition of Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show,” Haddish broke… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — The Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires was rededicated after a two-year, $4.5 million renovation and expansion. The project updates, modernizes and adds new spaces to the institution in the city center of Buenos Aires. The addition of nearly 1,000 square meters, or nearly 11,000… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Two production companies are teaming up to make a film about WeWork and its founder, Adam Neumann. Universal and Blumhouse Productions have fast-tracked a film written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Charles Randolph, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It is based on an upcoming book by… Read more »

(JTA) — Amazon has come under fire for selling Christmas ornaments and bottle openers featuring images of the site of Auschwitz. The products were removed from the Amazon website hours after a request by the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum on Sunday morning. “Selling ‘Christmas ornaments’ with images of Auschwitz… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The following is Sacha Baron Cohen’s keynote address at Anti-Defamation League’s 2019 Never Is Now Summit on Anti-Semitism and Hate, held in New York City on Nov. 21, 2019. It is reprinted here with permission from the ADL.  Thank you, , for… Read more »

(JTA) — A Muslim woman wearing a hijab confronted a man on an Underground train in London who was verbally attacking a man and his sons, who were wearing kippahs. The man, in a tirade caught on video, told the family during the Friday ride that they are members… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — First Bernie Sanders. Now Michael Bloomberg. This cycle’s Democratic primary is shaping up to be the all-time greatest troll of white nationalist Twitter — a battle royale featuring both a Jewish socialist from Brooklyn and a Jewish billionaire who made his fortune catering to Wall… Read more »