National

Your government is funding houses of worship. Here’s why no one noticed.

Piles of ruined books from United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston. The congregation lost many of its prayer books during Hurricane Harvey and replenished them through donations. (Courtesy of United Orthodox Synagogues)
March 12, 2018 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President George W. Bush’s first act as president, on Jan. 29, 2001, was to open an office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Church-state separations that had hindered such partnerships, he said in a statement, were “inherently unfair.” Jewish groups, civil libertarians and Democrats immediately raised concerns,… Read more »

Trump administration backs PLO in terror lawsuit, angering conservatives

A view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., Dec. 4, 2017. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
March 12, 2018 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Trump administration sided with the Palestine Liberation Organization in a terrorism lawsuit that the Supreme Court may soon consider, drawing an angry rebuke from conservatives, including one of its most steadfast Jewish community defenders, the Zionist Organization of America. In 2015, a federal jury in… Read more »

Jews agree that Farrakhan is anti-Semitic. After that, it gets complicated.

Louis Farrakhan at a basketball game at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, July 23, 2017. (Streeter Lecka/BIG3/Getty Images)
March 12, 2018 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — Both have unequivocally condemned Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism. Both say that fighting anti-Semitism is a necessary part of the broader struggle against bigotry and oppression. Both seek to build alliances with other minority groups in that fight. So an alliance would seem natural between the Anti-Defamation League, a… Read more »

This Jewish Parkland survivor hid in a closet during the shooting. Now he advocates for gun reform.

Ryan Deitsch speaks at the Florida State Capitol building in Tallahassee, Feb. 21, 2018. (Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
March 9, 2018 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — Throughout his senior year in high school, Ryan Deitsch has stayed busy. A month ago, the 18-year-old filled his time outside of classes performing in an doing improvisational theater group he started at his school, producing TV content for the school’s newsroom and working as a busboy… Read more »

OP-ED Post-Parkland activism shows teens don’t need our praise. They need a place at the table.

Marjory Stoneman High School student Cameron Kasky addresses area students as they rally at his school after participating in a countywide school walkout in Parkland, Fla., Feb. 21, 2018. (Rhona Wise/AFP/Getty Images)
March 8, 2018 / David Bryfman, JTA

(JTA) — In the aftermath of the fatal mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, the Jewish community should take note: Teenagers are not just the future of the Jewish people; they are the dynamic force driving social change today. Today we are witnessing history unfold as the American teenage populace… Read more »

Most U.S. Jews oppose Trump. He was cheered at AIPAC. Awkward?

From left to right: U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon and Israeli Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked applaud for Vice President Mike Pence as he addresses the AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C., March 5, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
March 7, 2018 / Ben Sales, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — A poll last year by the American Jewish Committee showed that 77 percent of American Jews disapproved of President Donald Trump’s job performance. American Jews had voted 70 percent to 25 percent in favor of Hillary Clinton over Trump. With the exception of the Orthodox, majorities of all… Read more »

Women’s March renounces Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism, but supports a leader who embraced him

The organizers of the Women's March, from left to right: Bob Bland, Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez and Tamika Mallory at BET's Social Awards in Atlanta, Feb. 11, 2018. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)
March 7, 2018 / Debra Nussbaum Cohen, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Organizers of the Women’s March renounced the anti-Semitic views of Louis Farrakhan, but they stood behind one of its co-presidents who attended a speech last month by the Nation of Islam leader and seemed unperturbed by his attacks on Jews. Tamika Mallory, co-president of the… Read more »

He’s the Jew who inspired the PLO declaration of independence. Now he wants to take down AIPAC.

Jerome Segal, a philosopher running for the U.S. Senate, at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C., March 4, 2018. (Ron Kampeas)
March 7, 2018 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Thirty years ago, Jerome Segal made headlines in Israel and the United States with an odd pedigree: He was the committed Jew who wrote the Palestinian declaration of independence. That was never quite accurate — the University of Maryland professor of philosophy wrote an op-ed for… Read more »

In Israel, Netanyahu is embattled. At AIPAC, he was at home.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C., March 6, 2018. (AIPAC)
March 7, 2018 / Ben Sales, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is mired in several corruption scandals back home, and his political future seems increasingly under threat. But you wouldn’t know it from his speech Tuesday at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: He looked energized and… Read more »

In outreach to progressives, AIPAC airs a hearty endorsement of the two-state solution

AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr speaks to the Israel lobby’s policy conference in Washington, D.C., March 4, 2018. (AIPAC)
March 7, 2018 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — The American Israel Public Affairs Committee opened its arms to progressives this week, launching its annual policy conference with direct appeals to pro-Israel liberals who have lately considered the lobby an unwelcoming extension of Israel’s solidly right-wing government. In addition to major speeches and smaller… Read more »

Why more Orthodox Jews are going to AIPAC

AIPAC President Mort Fridman addresses participants at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., March 4, 2018. (AIPAC)
March 7, 2018 / Ben Sales, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — On the second floor of the downtown convention center here, hundreds attending the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee packed a standing-room-only hall. A bouncer stood outside to control the overflow crowd. It wasn’t a session on boycotts, Iran or the… Read more »

What is AIPAC’s role in the age of Trump?

Donald Trump waving after addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., March 21, 2016. Trump was elected president nearly eight months later. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
February 28, 2018 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — When candidate Donald Trump spoke at AIPAC’s Policy Conference in 2016 and said Barack Obama may be the worst thing that ever happened to Israel, many cheered, many choked and the organization apologized. The fallout from that event will haunt the proceedings when 18,000 activists, including… Read more »

Meet the Jewish teenager from Maryland running to be governor of Kansas
February 27, 2018 / Ben Sales, JTA
Ilan Cohen says it was a "very easy process" to get on the ballot in Kansas even though he is not legally allowed to vote. (Courtesy of Cohen)

(JTA) — Ilan Cohen loves Kansas. He knows a couple of people in Kansas. He’s currently, officially, running to be governor of Kansas. And one day he hopes to visit Kansas. And turn 18. And be able to vote. And graduate from high school. Right now, Cohen is a… Read more »

For women in Jewish fundraising, harassment is an occupational hazard

The Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York organized a town hall on sexual harassment in the Jewish nonprofit community, Jan. 25 , 2018. (Deborah Nussbaum Cohen)
February 26, 2018 / Debra Nussbaum Cohen, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — She was young, Jewish and the founder of a nonprofit organization that aids deprived children in Southeast Asia. He was a potential funder more than twice her age, promising donations and introductions to influential people. “He dangled a lot of carrots,” she said in retrospect.… Read more »

Parkland students begin to heal at Jewish conference in New York

In center, with the red beard, Rabbi Shaya Denburg, co-director of CTeen in Coral Springs, Fla., with Rabbi Moshe Klein on his right; Chayale Denburg, co-director of CTeen in Coral Springs, Fla., who is standing and second from right; and some survivors of the Parkland, Fla. school shooting. The survivors were in New York this weekend for Chabad's CTeen conference. (Itzik Roytman/Cteen)
February 26, 2018 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — Seven survivors of the Parkland school shooting were among thousands of Jewish high school students who attended the annual conference of the Chabad movement’s youth group. Responding to the Feb. 14 shooting became an impromptu theme of the conference, which was hosted in New York City by… Read more »

Florida congressman’s kids are using hamantaschen to help end gun violence

From left to right: Gabby, Cole and Serena Deutch drew inspiration from the Purim story for their fundraising initiative. (Courtesy of Gabby Deutch) --
February 26, 2018 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

  (JTA) — The college-aged kids of a Jewish congressman from Florida are raising money to end gun violence by selling hamantaschen. Gabby, Serena and Cole Deutch launched the Bake Action Against Gun Violence initiative on Sunday. Their father is Rep. Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat who represents the district where… Read more »

Why these supporters of a new US Embassy in Jerusalem think Sheldon Adelson shouldn’t pay for it

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, June 14, 2016. (Flash90)
February 26, 2018 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sheldon Adelson’s offer to help pay for the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is getting a thumb’s down from a range of observers who support the embassy’s relocation. The Associated Press had the exclusive on Friday morning, and JTA confirmed it with sources who have been… Read more »

BBYO convention theme sounds prescient note

Tucson delegates at the BBYO International Convention in Orlando, Florida, held Feb. 14-19. Front row: Joshua Kaufmann, Aliya Markowitz, Gabriel Friedman, Sam Goldfinger; back row: Joshua Cohen, Avin Kreisler, Richard Fisher, Aaron Green, Maxwell Silverman, Jaden Boling
February 22, 2018 / Pamela Ruben JNS

Mike Signer, who was mayor of Charlottesville, Va., during the rally last August that brought white supremacists to the forefront of international attention, recalled that he was about 8 or 9 when he heard his first anti-Semitic slur. “Growing up in Northern Virginia, the last thing I wanted to… Read more »

OBITUARY Billy Graham, who championed Israel in public and derided Jews in private, dies at 99

SOUTHAMPTON, UNITED KINGDOM: Billy Graham, the American evangelist, the Bible beneath his hand, pounds his knee as he is interviewed aboard the liner "United States" 26 February 1954 upon his arrival from New York to Southampton. Graham, (son of a dairy farmer, born in 1918 in Charlotte, NC), attended Florida Bible Institute and was ordained a Southern Baptist minister in 1939 and quickly gained a reputation as a preacher. During the 1950s he conducted a series of highly organized revivalist campaigns in the USA and UK, and later in South America, the USSR and Western Europe. (Photo credit should read AFP/Getty Images)
February 22, 2018 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Billy Graham, the giant of American evangelism who was exalted by Jews for his championing of Israel at its hour of need and then condemned when a nasty anti-Semitic streak was revealed, has died. Graham, 99, died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, media… Read more »