(JTA) — Ever wonder what the perfect pop-culture storm looks like? Hurricane Ruth — as in Bader Ginsburg — was brewing among millennials, feminists and across social media platforms before it made landfall in Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik’s new biography about the Meme Supreme: “Notorious RBG: The… Read more »
An injured woman being transferred to a hospital after a Palestinian man attacked passengers on a bus in Jerusalem, Oct. 12, 2015. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of tampering with the status quo on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. He railed against Jews defiling the holy site with their “filthy feet.” He claimed, falsely, that Israeli security forces had killed a 13-year old Palestinian boy. It’s that… Read more »
Leah and Yitzhak Rabin, then Israel's ambassador to the United States, in 1968. (Israel Government Press Office) (Israel Government Press Office)
(JTA) — I remember the assassination like it was yesterday. Yitzhak Rabin was dead, and so was the peace process. Hope on both sides was extinguished. The country was not only in mourning — it was in shock, paralyzed by the magnitude of one of our own killing a national… Read more »
The percentage of Jews who said religion is important to them rose from 31 to 35 percent since 2007, the Pew Research Center found. (Shutterstock)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Do you experience feelings of peace and well-being at least once a week? Did God write the Torah? Do you eat bacon? If these questions seem a little personal, don’t fret. They’re all part of a new Pew Research Center survey on American religion released… Read more »
The inaugural Ruderman Inclusion Summit took place at Boston's Seaport World Trade Center on Nov. 1 and 2. (Noam Galai)
BOSTON (JTA) — Ruti Regan has been told she’s a pioneer, the first autistic rabbinic student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. But she doesn’t believe that for a second. She may be the first to admit it, said Regan, 30, “but I’m not the only one.” “What do you… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – When America’s main modern Orthodox rabbinical association voted last week to ban the hiring of clergywomen by its members, the question wasn’t whether to endorse women rabbis. It was whether to widen the group’s well-established repudiation of female clergy or keep quiet and focus on finding common ground with modern… Read more »
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte meeting in The Hague on Oct. 29, 2015 (SAFA.ps)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — On his way to several meetings with Dutch parliamentarians last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his entourage passed 300 demonstrators flying Israeli flags. Like the Israeli government, the protesters, who convened outside at the urging of Dutch Jewish and Christian pro-Israel groups, accuse… Read more »
Some of the tens of thousands attending a Tel Aviv rally marking 20 years since the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Oct. 30, 2015. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Some 100,000 people joined together in central Tel Aviv on Saturday to pay tribute to slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, but they were divided over what exactly they were rallying for. The demonstration, which marked the 20th anniversary of Rabin’s assassination by a Jewish extremist… Read more »
Justine Siegal, prior to coaching for the Oakland Athletics, had already made baseball history by throwing batting practice for the Cleveland Indians in 2011. (Norm Hall/Getty Images)
(JTA) – For Justine Siegal, attending Opening Day games of the Cleveland Indians with her grandfather led to a lifelong passion for baseball – and dreams of one day playing for the Tribe. “Heaven,” she called the outings, where she sat in the best seats in the house —… Read more »
Former President Bill Clinton meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York, Nov. 8, 2010. (Avi Ohayon/GPO via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — By now it should be obvious how absurd it is to call President Barack Obama Israel’s “best friend” ever, as Thomas Friedman of The New York Times has claimed. A Blame Israel Firster, Obama won’t use his moral authority to try stopping the instigators of this… Read more »
Dutch rabbis in the Amsterdam suburb of Buitenveldert, the site of a planned center to house migrants from the Middle East. (David Serphos)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — In Buitenveldert, a quiet residential area of the Dutch capital, special forces soldiers are watching over a Jewish school from inside unmarked cars. About half of the Netherlands’ 40,000 Jews live here and in the adjacent suburb of Amstelveen, the only areas of the country with a… Read more »
Jews United for Justice offers paid parental leave for its employees and is a lead partner in the push to implement paid leave legislation in Washington, D.C. (Anya van Wagtendonk)
NEW YORK (JTA) — It’s a Sunday in 2010, and in one hand I’m texting with a colleague about work. In the other I hold a pee stick, waiting for the results of my home pregnancy test to appear. As I press send, I realize that parenthood isn’t the… Read more »
A group of American Birthright Israel participants visiting the Dead Sea, July 10, 2015. (Matt Hechter/Flash90)
(JTA) — Jewish leaders have long warned of the bleak Jewish futures in store for children of intermarriage. But these prognostications were based largely on information from more than a decade ago, when intermarriage was far less common and far less accepted by American Jews than it is today.… Read more »
Christians march in the international Jerusalem March in 2015. (Hillel Maeir)
(TPS) – Last week, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved a resolution in which it listed Rachel’s Tomb, located just south of Jerusalem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, as Islamic sites. The resolution not only stirred up a firestorm of protests from many in… Read more »
The Bandura Games co-founders: Justin Hefter, Ammoun Dissi, and Etay Furman (Courtesy Bandura Games)
SAN FRANCISCO (Tazpit) – Bandura Games, a computer gaming company based in San Francisco, California, is set to launch a new mobile game app that would bridge gaps, build connections and create empathy between people from different sides of conflict zones. Initially interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Justin Hefter,… Read more »
Daniel Lubetzky, CEO and founder of Kind Snacks, with members of his team at the company's New York City headquarters. (Poon Watchara-Amhaiwan)
NEW YORK (JTA) — In many respects, the Manhattan headquarters of Kind Snacks — the purveyors of the omnipresent fruit and nut bars found everywhere from health-food stores to office-supply emporiums — are pretty much what you’d expect: Scads of casually dressed millennials mill about sleek, brightly colored rooms adorned… Read more »
“You’re Driving Me Nuts,” a program on the ethics of driving for teens, will take place Sunday, Nov. 1 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Congregation Or Chadash. “Every year we see too many accidents and other issues related to teens and driving, some stemming from lack of… Read more »
A delegation from the Israel Public Diplomacy Forum will present a series of free discussions in Tucson Nov. 3-4. IPD Forum is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization established to advance international understanding of Israel and the Middle East. On Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m., “Shifting Alliances in the… Read more »
Charles Strauss, mayor of Tucson 1883-1884 (left), and Jonathan Rothschild, the current mayor
The Jewish History Museum will hold its seventh annual fall fundraiser next month, honoring Tucson’s Jewish mayors. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, the current incumbent — and the city’s fifth Jewish mayor — will be a special guest. The event, a champagne brunch, will be held Sunday, Nov. 8 at 10… Read more »
Seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders greets an estimated crowd of 11,000 at Reid Park in Tucson on Oct. 9. Supporters on stage behind him hold signs reading ‘Viva Bernie.’ (Michael Miklofsky)
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont spoke Oct. 9 to an estimated crowd of 11,000 at the Demeester Outdoor Performance Center at Reid Park. The rally marked the first large-scale event in Tucson by a national Jewish candidate and brought Sanders his first congressional endorsement. Former Connecticut… Read more »
