News

(JTA) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his candidacy for president in the 2020 election, calling President Donald Trump a “bully.” De Blasio, the mayor since 2014, made the announcement early Thursday morning in a 3-minute video posted on YouTube and becomes the 23rd candidate for the… Read more »

(JTA) — A St. Louis Jewish teen who writes a daily politics newsletter scooped New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s presidential candidacy announcement. De Blasio officially made the announcement early Thursday morning in a 3-minute video posted on YouTube, and followed it up with an appearance on ABC’s “Good… Read more »

BOSTON (JTA) — A fire outside the suburban Boston home of a rabbi that serves at a Chabad center is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Police in Arlington, Massachusetts, have asked for the public’s help in identifying a person caught on a neighbor’s video camera walking away… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Rest easy, Madonna fans, it’s official: The pop icon will sing at the Eurovision Song Contest finals in Tel Aviv. She signed her contract on Thursday morning, two days before her performance, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported. Madonna is scheduled to perform two songs on Saturday night. Though… Read more »

(JTA) — A teenager has turned himself in for punching an identifiably Jewish man in the head in Brooklyn. It was one of two attacks on haredi Orthodox men in the largely haredi Williamsburg neighborhood in less than two weeks. Police are withholding the 16-year-old’s name because he is… Read more »

(JTA) — President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Conrad Black, the former owner and publisher of The Jerusalem Post who had spent three years in prison for stealing $60 million from his own company, Hollinger International. Black was found guilty of fraud and obstruction of justice in… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — NASA released a photo of what it says is the crash site of Israel’s Beresheet lunar lander. The image taken some 56 miles from the surface of the moon by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on April 22, 11 days after the crash, shows a dark smudge… Read more »

(JTA) — Viewers of soccer on Telemundo are likely familiar with the “gooooooooaaaal” call that their announcers helped make famous. Those who’ve watched that American Spanish language network during a World Cup, Olympics or other major soccer tournament have probably heard Sammy Sadovnik call a game. Sadovnik is a… Read more »

(JTA) — On Tuesday night, the NBA held its draft lottery, determining in which order each of its teams would pick players in next month’s draft. It made headlines for a couple of reasons: First, the consensus No. 1 pick, Zion Williamson of Duke, is the most hyped basketball player… Read more »

(JTA) — Early Tuesday, a man wielding a large knife approached the secretary of the Jewish community of Helsingborg, Sweden, from the back and delivered near-fatal stab wounds to her upper body. The victim, a woman in her 60s whose family asked not be named in the media, was… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — An American administration is issuing dire warnings about a Persian Gulf nation, there’s talk of war and questions about the quality of intelligence. And those who back confronting Iran and those who don’t are citing Israel as a factor. If the Iran war talk sounds familiar,… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — On April 16, Dzanc Books announced its latest release, “The Siege of Tel Aviv,” a novel that imagines an Iran-led attack on Israel that leaves the country decimated. Author Hesh Kestin, a former journalist who had already published two novels with the small independent press,… Read more »

A daughter, Maya Klari Neuman, was born on April 8, 2019 to Eszter and Ariel Neuman of Los Angeles. Maya joins brothers Zev and Louis Neuman. Grandparents are Shlomo and Yael Neuman of Tucson, and Eva and Tamas Lengyel of Los Angeles.… Read more »

(JTA) — The gunman who killed a woman and wounded three others at the Chabad of Poway told a 911 dispatcher he had done it because “the Jewish people are destroying the white race.” Prosecutors described the call Thursday in announcing 109 hate crime and other charges against John T.… Read more »

(JTA) — Judging by all the media attention, the world loves short Jewish women named Ruth. One of them, Ruth Westheimer — better known as the renowned sex therapist Dr. Ruth — is on the phone to talk about her life and a new documentary about it. But first… Read more »

(JTA) —It’s glitzy. It’s kitschy. It’s like a musical Olympics or “American Idol” on steroids. Welcome to the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual pageant in which all of Europe (and some of its neighbors) send national representatives to  compete for the best forgettable pop song and most unforgettable outfits.… Read more »

(JTA) — A Jewish couple in Pittsburgh named their baby girl after Lori Gilbert-Kaye, who was killed in the attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue. Judah and Chaya Cowen welcomed Noa Lea — Gilbert-Kaye’s Hebrew name was Leah — on May 3. She is the couple’s fifth child.… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Israel won the right to host this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the event was anticipated as a golden opportunity to showcase a side of the nation rarely seen in global coverage of the “conflict.” Then the rockets began to fall. Over the weekend, Hamas… Read more »

POWAY, Calif. (JTA) — “Those who are standing can remain standing,” Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein joked, a nod to the standing-room-only crowd that had packed Chabad of Poway for Friday night services. For many of those who filled the sanctuary, showing up was an act of faith, of solidarity, of… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Performers scheduled to take the stage next week at the Eurovision Song Contest have begun rehearsing the contest’s venue in Tel Aviv despite the threat of rockets. Among the countries whose performers have held rehearsals onstage at the Tel Aviv Expo on Saturday and Sunday are… Read more »