National

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is just one of 435 members of the incoming U.S. House of Representatives, but her youth, surprise primary win in her Bronx-area district, socialism and, above all, outspokenness have attracted outsize attention. So when Ocasio-Cortez, 29, likened the crisis at the U.S. border with… Read more »

(JTA) — Teresa Shook says she likes to work “behind the scenes.” But this week, the woman who co-founded the Women’s March thrust herself front and center by calling its leadership to step down. Shook, a grandmother from the remote Hawaiian town of Hana, posted the Facebook event that… Read more »

(JTA) — Linda Sarsour released a statement apologizing on behalf of the Women’s March for causing harm to the movement’s Jewish members and for being too slow to show its commitment to fighting anti-Semitism. “We should have been faster and clearer in helping people understand our values and our… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The Woolsey Fire, which began two weeks ago and engulfed a massive swath of Southern California, has killed at least two people, burned nearly 100,000 acres and ravaged hundreds of structures — including several touchstones of Jewish life in this city. Three historic Jewish sleepaway… Read more »

NEW YORK — The bialy challah practically glowed, swirls of caramelized onion peeking out between its braided, poppy-dusted strands. In a charming red-and-white tiled kitchen at the back of a Brooklyn bookstore, some 50 people gathered around a long table to watch a trio of chefs prepare an unusual… Read more »

Rabbi Hara Person says "it's hugely historic, and also it's time" for a woman to be heading the Central Conference of American Rabbis. (Courtesy of CCAR)

NEW YORK (JTA) — The Reform movement’s rabbinical wing has appointed Rabbi Hara Person as its first female chief executive. The Central Conference of American Rabbis, which represents 2,100 Reform rabbis around the world, made the announcement on Thursday. Person succeeds Rabbi Steven Fox, who is retiring in June after… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — After a mass shooting in a heavily Jewish area shocked the nation, Rabbi Yakov Saacks felt like his Long Island congregation was at risk. So the rabbi installed 17 cameras on the synagogue’s exterior that can zoom in to read numbers on license plates, as… Read more »

(JTA) — The death toll and damage continue to rise in California in the wildfires ravaging the state. More than 6,400 homes have been damaged and at least 31 people have been killed, according to CNN. Like other Californians, Jewish residents are evacuating their homes and dealing with the… Read more »

Beth Braun and the University/Rincon High School Primaveras dance group have been invited to perform at the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, in June 2020. As official representatives of  the United States, the Primaveras will perform at the D-Day Anniversary Parade, the International Salute to Liberation, and… Read more »

Earlier this year, our colleagues at the three leading Jewish newspapers in the United Kingdom published the same front-page headline and joint editorial voicing concern over rising anti-Semitism in Britain’s Labour Party. Today we have found a mournful occasion to follow in their footsteps. For many Jews, the United States… Read more »

Jacky Rosen is interviewed after rallying supporters at a get-out-the-vote event at a Nevada state Democratic Party field office in Las Vegas, Nov. 4, 2018. Rosen won her Senate race. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Tuesday night’s midterm elections were hailed as a victory for gender parity, as an unprecedented number of women won bids to serve in Congress. More than 100 women were elected to serve in the House of Representatives and the Senate, according to final vote tallies and projections. It’s a… Read more »

Jared Polis in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 24, 2016. Polis was elected the first Jewish governor of Colorado. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)

(JTA) —  Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections held Tuesday, with Jewish Congress members poised to take key leadership roles. Republicans looked to increase their majority in the Senate. Five Jewish Democrats are set to chair key House committees, including three representatives from… Read more »

On Saturday, I received a text: “why do they hate us so much?” It was from my daughter, a first-year student at college who is thousands of miles away from home but, at that moment, was reaching out for comfort, wishing she was curled up on the couch beside… Read more »

Kim Schrier won her race in the 8th District of Washington state. (Screenshot from YouTube)

(JTA) — In the final weeks of the midterm election campaign, Republicans in six states targeted their Democratic opponents with attacks many saw as echoing anti-Semitic tropes. The attacks — mostly involving pictures of Jewish candidates clutching money — were denounced and debated. But were they effective? Answer: Yes… Read more »

PITTSBURGH (JTA) — Bernice and Sylvan Simon were married in the sanctuary of Tree of Life Congregation 62 years ago. Week after week they attended services there, chatting with the Holocaust survivor who sat a row in front of them. And on Saturday, hours before they were to gather with their… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — In 2014, Lacey Schwartz Delgado made headlines around the world for a documentary in which she explored a shocking family secret. “Little White Lie” tells Schwartz Delgado’s real-life story of being raised in a white Jewish family in the upstate New York town of Woodstock. Though… Read more »

(JTA) — My father, whose own father changed his unpronounceable last name to Carroll when he came to America, would often tell a story about job hunting in the late 1940s and 50s. It was only after the interview that the men across the desk would ask, “And all… Read more »

(JTA) — Jaime Guttenberg and Meadow Pollack shared many similarities. Both were brown-haired and bright-eyed girls, beloved by friends and family. Both were passionate about their hobbies. Jaime, 14, spent her free time dancing and volunteering with special needs children. Meadow, 18, was a girly girl who loved the… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Elaine Luria spent nearly 20 years in the U.S. Navy, the first female sailor to spend her entire career on combat ships. Her hitch included the first seven years of her daughter’s life — the former commander told JTA earlier this year that she communicated daily with her… Read more »

(JTA) — Robert Bowers, the man held in the shooting deaths of 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, belonged to an online community where he frequently railed against Jews and immigrants. That social media site, Gab, came under closer scrutiny last week. Created two years ago as a… Read more »