National

2 weeks after deadly shooting, blacks and Jews in Jersey City unite for holiday charity drive

Rabbi Moshe Schapiro shows a toy to a child during the charity drive in Jersey City, N.J., Dec. 23, 2019. (Courtesy of Benny Polatseck)

(JTA) — All day Monday, volunteers trickled in and out of the Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center in Jersey City’s Greenville neighborhood, lining up boxes upon boxes of pretzel challah, soup mix, hummus, turkey and chocolate. Trucks backed up to the community center to unload pallets of food and… Read more »

With adoption of major spending bills, Congress signals support for two-state solution

The Iron Dome missile-defense system intercepts rockets that were fired from Gaza, Nov. 13, 2019. Congress is approving funds to continue financing this and other anti-missile systems. (Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — If where you spend your money is the clearest sign of your priorities, Congress seems to be saying that it remains invested in Israeli-Palestinian peace and in robustly supporting Israel’s defense systems. The House of Representatives threw its support this week behind a spending package that… Read more »

10 years after the founding of the first Orthodox school to train female clergy, what’s actually changed?

Rabbanit Jenna Englender dances with the Torah during her graduation ceremony from Yeshivat Maharat in New York, June 17, 2019. (Shulamit Seidler-Feller/Maharat)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Growing up in a Modern Orthodox community in South Africa, Sara Hurwitz never imagined that she would one day become a clergy member. The Conservative and Reform movements have been ordaining female rabbis for decades. But in the Orthodox world, women are barred from many… Read more »

Jersey City shooter called Jews ‘Nazis’ in social media posts

(JTA) — One of the Jersey City kosher store shooters made derogatory comments about Jews in social media posts, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL on Tuesday said it had uncovered a Facebook page that it says belonged to David Anderson, one of the two shooters who killed… Read more »

Victims of Jersey City shooting remembered as generous, helpful and courageous

Hasidim, government officials and police officers stand in front of the K'hal Adas Greenville synagogue next door to JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, N.J., the site of a deadly shooting, Dec. 11, 2019. (Laura E. Adkins/JTA)

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (JTA) — One opened a grocery store that became a hub for a growing community. Another was a young student who stood out for his charitable work. Another was an exemplary cop who tried to make the streets safer. Another was a worker who was always… Read more »

Ronald Lauder is funding a $25 million campaign against anti-Semitism in US politics

(JTA) — Billionaire philanthropist Ronald Lauder is funding a $25 million campaign against political candidates in the United States who support or normalize anti-Semitism. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, announced the new campaign, called the Anti-Semitism Accountability Project, or ASAP, on Monday. The effort will include… Read more »

Netanyahu says he and Mike Pompeo talked about annexing the Jordan Valley

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed annexing the Jordan Valley with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when they met in Portugal, but the State Department has denied the claim. On Thursday, a day after meeting Pompeo in Lisbon, Netanyahu told reporters that they… Read more »

Arizona State student government passes resolution to support Jewish students

(JTA) — The undergraduate student government of Arizona State University passed a resolution in support of the Tempe school’s Jewish students. The resolution, which passed Tuesday by acclamation, comes amid public discussion among campus student organizations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in the wake of fliers bearing swastikas and… Read more »

Linda Sarsour clarifies her comment that Israel is ‘built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else’

(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 »

Kamala Harris drops out of 2020 presidential race

(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 »

There will soon be a movie about WeWork and its founder Adam Neumann

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 »