Jared Kushner at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., July 31, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — On Season 3 of “The West Wing,” a bomb goes off outside a cafe on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, killing two American students. “What were they doing there?” asks C.J., the White House press secretary. C.J.’s question always struck me as the prime example of… Read more »
Congregants from Temple Hadar Israel in New Castle, Pa., gather at the local Tifereth Israel cemetery to bury ritual objects from their defunct synagogue, Dec. 31, 2017. (Alanna E. Cooper)
NEW CASTLE, Pa. (JTA) — It was a frigid 10 degrees on Sunday, the last day of 2017, but some 20 people gathered at Congregation Tifereth Israel’s cemetery in this city of 22,000 on the Ohio border. A blue tent and folding chairs had been set up for… Read more »
Michael Oren attends a meeting in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
(JTA) — If a Palestinian appears to be committing a terror attack, do they deserve to die on the spot? The answer is yes, says Michael Oren. The former Israeli ambassador to the United States, now a deputy minister in Israel’s Cabinet, tweeted last week that the Israel Defense… Read more »
Gal Gadot was the sixth most searched person on Google in 2017. Here, the actress attends an event at the 92nd Street Y on October 1, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Is Gal Gadot the most famous Israeli ever? Judging by 2017’s top Google searches, the answer might be yes. Gadot was the sixth-most searched person worldwide, and the third-most searched actor. The 32-year-old, who was born and raised in Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces, starred… Read more »
Lorde performs during the iHeartRadio Secret Sessions by AT&T at the magical Houdini Estate in Los Angeles, California, Aug. 29, 2017. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Pop star Lorde’s decision to cancel her scheduled concert in Israel has sparked some fierce reactions, even if most of them were expected. The 21-year-old New Zealand native’s move earned praise from proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, who said she was taking a stand for the… Read more »
Elhanan Miller, a journalist and rabbinical student who speaks fluent Arabic, sees his videos as a way to bridge a religious divide. (Bruria Hammer)
(JTA) — Is it true that Judaism doesn’t accept converts? Is it true that Jews have to wash their hands before they pray? Is it true that Jews have historically killed their prophets? These are just a few of the questions Elhanan Miller has heard over the years. A… Read more »
Jason Greenblatt, in gray shirt, visits the Nahal Oz military base near the Gaza border, Aug. 30, 2017. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s chief Israeli-Palestinian negotiator, has an office just around the corner from the White House. On his computer monitor is a Post-it note, inscribed with a quote from former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo: “At the end of the day, a peace agreement… Read more »
Leah Goldin, mother of late Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin, at a meeting in the Israeli parliament, April 19, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel’s government may be ambivalent about the nascent reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, but it outright opposes Palestinian bids for statehood recognition through international bodies, including the United Nations. However, for one influential Israeli constituency — the families of Israelis held captive in Hamas-controlled… Read more »
(JTA collage)
(JTA) — It’s been a busy year here at JTA, where we’ve published thousands of stories covering topics as diverse as celebrity profiles to the rise of Europe’s right-wing to breaking the news of bomb threats at Jewish institutions across the U.S. Among the nearly 5,000 pieces we… Read more »
Sholom Rubashkin, seen in Postville, Iowa, in December 2004, served eight years of a 27-year prison term for bank fraud. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Why did President Donald Trump commute the sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, the former CEO of an Iowa kosher meat plant sentenced to 27 years in prison for bank fraud? The official line is that the bipartisan support for Rubashkin’s cause made cutting short his sentence a… Read more »
National Front leader Marine Le Pen addresses activists at the Espace Francois Mitterrand in Henin Beaumont, France, April 23, 2017. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
PARIS (JTA) — On the surface, at least, Europe has not changed much over the past 12 months. In fact, when it comes to European politics, this year may appear mild in comparison to 2016, which saw several dramatic and shocking developments, such as Brexit, a refugee resettlement crisis… Read more »
The historic Salt Lake Temple and the world headquarters of the Mormon church in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 14, 2015. (George Frey/Getty Images)
(JTA) — A researcher says Mormons have posthumously baptized the late Lubavitcher rebbe, the grandparents of Carrie Fisher and Steven Spielberg, and hundreds of Holocaust victims, violating an agreement to halt the practice. Helen Radkey, a Salt Lake City-based independent researcher who has been looking into the Mormon practice… Read more »
Guy Maimon with his father outside the Tel Aviv bitcoin exchange where he just bought his first cryptocurrency, Dec. 19, 2017. (Andrew Tobin)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israelis lined up Tuesday afternoon at the newly opened bitcoin exchange in this city to purchase the coveted cryptocurrency. Amid the store’s yellow signage, the customers one by one inserted bank cards into a towering ATM-like machine. Sharply dressed young employees helped them make the… Read more »
From a wave of bomb threats to JCCs and a neo-Nazi in Charlottesville and to Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, 2017 was not a quiet year for Jews. (JTA collage)
(JTA) — The past year was not a quiet one, to say the least. From the tumultuous first year of Donald Trump’s presidency to a wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers to the flood of high-profile sexual harassment allegations, Jews — like so many others —… Read more »
Protesters against a coalition of the People's Party and the far-right Freedom Party in Austria demonstrate outside the parliament in Vienna, Dec. 14, 2017. (Herbert Neubauer/AFP/Getty Images)
VIENNA (JTA) — Like Germany’s governments, those of neighboring Austria have acknowledged their country’s role as a chief perpetrator of the Holocaust. Since the 1990s, Austrian officials have faced up to and condemned how their countrymen and authorities supported Adolf Hitler, an Austria native, and his war of annihilation… Read more »
Due to circumstances beyond our control, delivery of the Dec.15 Arizona Jewish Post has been delayed. Papers will be delivered either this weekend or Monday. We apologize for the inconvenience.… Read more »
Jay Korza, right, with an Israel Defense Forces paramedic in Nir Am, Israel, in June 2017.
Israel’s intelligence community told a cohort of volunteer first responders that it is most concerned about a new war with Syria, says Jay Korza, a sergeant with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. If that threat materializes, Korza will be there to help. Korza traveled to Israel this summer to… Read more »
Kenneth S. Goodman and his wife, Yetta Goodman
The most gratifying aspect of teaching is watching your students move toward their own greatness, says Kenneth S. Goodman, a professor emeritus at the University of Arizona department of language, reading and culture. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, but I’m also proud of what the people who I’ve… Read more »
Ali Katz
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Women’s Cabinet is hosting an event next month to help women of all ages kick off the new (secular) year feeling rejuvenated. “Mindfulness, Martinis & Mitzvahs” will be held Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center… Read more »
Rabbi Naomi Levy
When bestselling author Rabbi Naomi Levy came across a poignant letter by Albert Einstein to a grieving rabbi, it shook her to her core. His words perfectly captured what she has come to believe about the human condition: that we are intimately connected and that we are blind to… Read more »
