A Reuben sandwich from Katz's Deli in New York. (Tamsin Slater/Flickr)
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — At a time when more than three-quarters of American Jews say they do not keep kosher, should we be shocked when Jews gather together and eat non-kosher food? American Jews have always gone beyond the restrictions of Jewish dietary laws, eating non-kosher (treif or trefa)… Read more »
One year ago, the Trump administration announced a highly controversial ban against refugee resettlement in the U.S. For seven months the White House declared that the most vulnerable people on our planet (refugees) – 75 percent of whom are women and children – would not find safe harbor on… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — I have three children. Three healthy, wonderful, grown-up children. I have a wonderful husband. And I have a father, a brother and sister-in-law, and other friends and relatives whom I love. Sounds good, no? It is good. It’s very good. Yet I often say that… Read more »
(JTA) — Free exercise of religion in America is a foundational civil right and one of our nation’s greatest strengths. But as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled decades ago, the free exercise of religion cannot infringe on the rights of others: It must be balanced with other civil rights.… Read more »
The Reconstructionist movement's new logo (Courtesy of Reconstructing Judaism)
The line is from a remarkably poignant scene in the 2004 film “Garden State,” in which Zach Braff’s character explains to his love interest, played by Natalie Portman, a few things that most non-Orthodox American Jews know about large suburban synagogues. “The Jews I know,” Braff continues, “they go… Read more »
(Tabitha Kaylee Hawk/Flickr Commons)
(JTA) — Like a lot of other Jewish men, I have been quietly keeping a scorecard of the number of Jewish men in the #MeToo headlines. Harvey Weinstein, Dustin Hoffman, Jeffrey Tambor, Mark Halperin, Leon Wieseltier, James Toback, Israel Horowitz, Al Franken, James Levine, Jeremy Priven, Woody Allen, Brett Ratner, Michael Oreskes, Bruce Weber — all have been accused in… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Arab-Israeli conflict is entering a phase more likely to lead to resolution than any that preceded it. The mindless mantra “there is no alternative to the two-state solution” is giving way to reality. The Palestinian Authority has never been a partner for peace. A 23rd… Read more »
Lisa Eisen (Courtesy of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation)
(JTA) — #MeToo. #GamAni. The stories are numerous and painful. They span decades and reach every corner of the Jewish community. Enough is enough. The time is now for us to finally and fully address sexual harassment in Jewish institutional life. When it comes to sexual harassment, Jewish teachings are… Read more »
(L-R): Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin in 1994 after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in the Oslo Accords. in the year 2525 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Several recent political measures in Israel — including announcements by Israel’s parliament, attorney general and ruling party — have significantly begun to undermine the possibility of achieving a two-state solution. Let me be clear: When discussing why the peace process has been stalled for so many years, one has… Read more »
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preaches in 1960 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
On Easter Sunday in 1959, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. rose in the pulpit of his Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, to deliver a sermon that focused on his just-completed visit, with his wife, Coretta, to Jerusalem and its holy sites. King’s trip that month to… Read more »
Rabbi David Kaufman and his wife Julie, attend the White House Hanukkah party in Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 2017. (Courtesy of Kaufman)
DES MOINES, Iowa (JTA) — A Jewish woman walks into the post office to buy Hanukkah stamps for her holiday cards. The person behind the counter asks, “What denominations?” The Jewish woman responds, “Oy! Are we so polarized? Some Orthodox, some Conservative and some Reform.” Yes, we are so… Read more »
Jerusalem is seen here from the Mount of Olives. (Flickr Commons/Dan)
(JTA) — E.B. White famously wrote that there are “roughly three New Yorks”: the one of the native New Yorker, the one of the commuter, and the New York of the “person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.” To which… Read more »
(Lior Zaltzman)
NEW YORK (JTA) — In a recent talk at Temple Emanuel here, former first lady Michelle Obama spoke about how women live with tiny cuts that build up over time, cuts that we endure without noticing, even as we bleed. That is what it is to be a girl… Read more »
A patron at a Jerusalem pub watches as President Donald Trump recognizes the city as Israel's capital, Dec. 6, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
(JTA) — President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his announcement that he will move the embassy there from Tel Aviv will have a number of consequences for Israelis, Palestinians and the wider region. For Israel, it has finally received from an American president… Read more »
(Illustration: Lior Zaltzman/JTA)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Did The New York Times just normalize an American neo-Nazi? That’s the charge being flung at The Newspaper of Record over its Saturday profile of Tony Hovater, 29, a “polite,” “low key” Ohio man who is a “committed foot soldier” who helped start one of… Read more »
An aerial view of Michigan Stadium as the sun rises on the University of Michigan campus. (University of Michigan/Flickr)
(JTA) — The BDS debacle at the University of Michigan proved once again that Jews can be their own worst enemies. Since 2002, the University of Michigan’s Central Student Government (CSG) has, on 10 occasions, rejected resolutions to support the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction the State… Read more »
A screenshot from Google Images shows several prominent Jews accused of sexual harassment in the past month. (Google Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — “Is So-and-So Jewish? How Jewish is she? Find out if she’s Jewish.” I often joke that JTA reporters and anti-Semitic bloggers write the same stories, only with different headlines. We proudly search down Jewish celebrities to show the diverse ways that Jews are contributing to… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets Liberians upon arriving at the airport in Monrovia, June 4, 2017. (Prime Ministry of Israel/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Jewish month that began this week, Cheshvan, has traditionally been dubbed “mar,” or bitter, because it alone among the months is devoid of any holidays. It is time for the Jewish people, and the Jewish calendar, to drop mar from Cheshvan, since it is blessed… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — When I read the headline of Jenny Listman’s Medium piece — “When I was nineteen years old, Elie Wiesel grabbed my ass” — I decided not to click on it. It wasn’t because of any judgment I passed on her or the veracity of her… Read more »
The UNESCO headquarters in Paris (Wikimedia Commons)
(JTA) — Here we go again: The issue of how and why the United States should engage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is back in the news. The announcement by the Trump administration that the U.S. will be pulling out of UNESCO over its biased… Read more »
