National

(JTA) — A rabbi was appointed to serve in the Illinois legislature, a first for the state. Rabbi Yehiel Kalish, 43 and a father of six, was sworn in to the state’s House of Representatives on Sunday night. The Orthodox spiritual leader will be representing a district that is… Read more »

(JTA) — For many Jewish organizations, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time to talk about the current state of black-Jewish relations. There’s a lot to talk about this year, from the controversy over ties between Women’s March organizer Tamika Mallory and Louis Farrakhan, to common cause over… Read more »

(JTA) – Israeli President Reuven Rivlin honored an American-Jewish academic for her efforts to help Syrian refugees. Rivlin praised the actions of Georgette Bennett at an awards ceremony Thursday in Tel Aviv for eight groups or individuals deemed to have made a positive impact in the developing world. Bennett, 72,… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, is reportedly set to announce her bid for the Democratic presidential nod. Harris, 54, is a progressive on most issues who draws some ire from the left for her tough-on-crime posture when she was California’s attorney general. She pleased… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — April Baskin, one of three Jewish women newly appointed to the Women’s March Inc. steering committee, says it is unrealistic to expect co-founder Tamika Mallory to explicitly condemn Louis Farrakhan for his anti-Semitism. There is “a long history of asking black leaders to condemn each… Read more »

(JTA) — A student at the Hebrew Academy of Miami died in a fall from the ninth story of his high-rise condominium building. Samuel Farkas of Miami Beach was locked out of his family’s ninth-floor condo on Tuesday evening and was trying to climb down the balcony from the floor… Read more »

Editor’s note: JTA published this article in February 2018. Marc Rauch, director of Camp Kinder Ring, assures the Arizona Jewish Post that Mikhl Baran, now 96, taught at the camp “throughout the summer of 2018 and plans to return in 2019. He is truly an icon at Kinder Ring,… Read more »

(JTA) — On an average Saturday morning at the Orthodox Ohel Tefillah synagogue on Chicago’s North Side, about 10 percent of the men carry a handgun. That number may seem high in a liberal city with some of the strictest gun laws in the country. But in the aftermath… Read more »

(JTA) — Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer in Olympics history, will receive the Morton E. Ruderman Award for Inclusion of People with Disabilities. The Ruderman Family Foundation will honor Phelps in recognition of his advocacy for people with disabilities and the sharing of his own journey with mental health, the… Read more »

(JTA) — Jewish federal employees who are struggling with expenses due to the government shutdown can now find some relief. The Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington approved an emergency program last week to provide loans of up to $2,000 per household to affected Jews living in the… Read more »

(JTA) — The father of Meadow Pollack, a student who was among the 17 people killed in the shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school, has been appointed to the state Board of Education. Gov. Rick Scott appointed Andy Pollack in an announcement on Friday evening, the South Florida… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In the waning days of 2018, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., formally declared her interest in running for the presidency. Warren was not the first to do so — former Maryland Rep. John Delaney has for months been canvassing for Democratic votes in Iowa, the first caucus… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi Rachel Rubenstein knows that in the age of Kickstarter, getting young people to give to a Jewish federation can be a hard sell. “In today’s culture, we can go straight to the GoFundMe, and fund so hyper-specifically what you want to fund,” she told… Read more »

(JTA) — PBS’ celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots” has had plenty of Jewish guests — Bernie Sanders, Larry David, Paul Rudd and Scarlett Johansson — and the occasional guest, like Paul Ryan, who learn they have a Jewish ancestor on their family tree. But the season five premiere, which airs… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Days after launching a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged her salary to HIAS, the Jewish immigration advocacy group, as long as the government is shut down. “Over 7,000 people in Massachusetts have been sent home or are working without pay… Read more »

(JTA) — A New York rabbi says he has been asked by the Muslim country Qatar for advice on how to host Jewish soccer fans at the 2022 World Cup. Rabbi Marc Schneier told Bloomberg News that he was asked by Hassan Al-Thawadi, the secretary-general of the organizing committee… Read more »

(JTA) — Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg insists that the massive social network is a force for good, but the company keeps getting called out for being slow or unable to curb the worst tendencies of users and abusers. In the latest probe of its practices, The New York Times scrutinizes… Read more »

(JTA) — When a huge auction was held at Sotheby’s last month of items belonging to Frank Sinatra and his wife Barbara, the item that made the most headlines was one of the smallest: a hand-knit yarmulke, owned by Frank, which was purchased for nearly $10,000 by an unknown… Read more »

(JTA) — Seven years ago, Lisa and Kenny Priddle left New York to help build up the Jewish community of the small Alabama town of Dothan. They were attracted by the idea of shoring up the Jewish community in the South and also by the offer of a $50,000… Read more »

(JTA) — A medical resident at the Cleveland Clinic who wrote scores of anti-Semitic social media posts no longer works at the medical center. Dr. Lara Kollab worked at the Clinic from July 2018 – September 2018.  The Clinic on Monday in a statement confirmed that Kollab no longer works… Read more »