BEIT EL, West Bank (JTA) — I watched the news of the terrible Jersey City shooting last week with both horror and a sense of deja vu. Sadly, violent attacks against Jews, wherever we live, have become all too common. We can no longer assume our communal spaces and houses… Read more »
Opinion
In face of hate crimes, let 2020 be a year of respect, kindness and courage
Soon it will be 2020. For some, the thrill of a New Year starting is tempered by concerns for what may be: an increase in hate incidents and/or crimes and an increase in hate speech both online and on the streets. Since the start of 2019, ADL Arizona has… Read more »
What ZOA’s legal victory at UNC means for Jewish students across country
Those who care about Jewish college students should be celebrating a landmark legal victory in the fight against campus anti-Semitism. The victory stems from a civil rights complaint filed against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by our organization, the Zionist Organization of America. Triggered by the… Read more »
Apology to fellow survivors
When I spoke to the reporter for the profile about me (“At 95, Tucsonan Bill Kugelman still charming, vigorous,” AJP 10/11/19), I misspoke in stating that others didn’t feel the boot of the Nazis during World War II. Anyone of the Jewish faith that lived under the Nazis, their… Read more »
Spiritual experience shared
As someone who grew up in Tucson and remembers the joy of seeing the “mousecars” as a kid, the story of Truly Nolen (“From ‘Antcars’ to ‘Mousecars,’ Tucson’s Truly Nolen delivers smiles worldwide,” AJP, 10/25/19) indeed brought a smile. But it might help readers to clarify a point of… Read more »
Leave the Holocaust out of your self-promotion, political agenda and profit-seeking
NEW YORK (JTA) — Here we go again: Just this week, two more cases of the abuse of Holocaust imagery have surfaced and created an international stir. In November, Russian figure skater Anton Shulepov wore an Auschwitz-themed costume during his free skating performance at the Grand Prix of Figure… Read more »
This Holocaust-themed figure skating costume is just the sport’s latest to cause scandal
CALDWELL, N.J. (JTA) — Figure skating costumes have a long and sometimes ridiculous history. Until about the 1930s, women were expected to compete in ponderous and weighty skirts, making it hard to move freely, let alone tackle a triple lutz. That all started to change largely for two reasons. The… Read more »
I’m a proud British Jew troubled by Corbyn’s anti-Semitism problem — but I’m still voting for Labour
LONDON, England (JTA) — I am a secular Jew and a lifelong British Labour Party voter — two allegiances that once intersected very comfortably. As so many of us do, I inherited my politics. Every time Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher was reelected, my mother and her friends held a… Read more »
Sacha Baron Cohen: It’s time to regulate ‘the greatest propaganda machine in history’ — social media
NEW YORK (JTA) — The following is Sacha Baron Cohen’s keynote address at Anti-Defamation League’s 2019 Never Is Now Summit on Anti-Semitism and Hate, held in New York City on Nov. 21, 2019. It is reprinted here with permission from the ADL. Thank you, , for… Read more »
My son’s Orthodox Jewish school is 85 percent Muslim. That’s OK with me
My heart jumped when I saw the phone number of my oldest son’s school on the screen. “Hello?” “Is this Dr. Skinazi?” “Yes.” “Don’t worry, Lucas is fine. Only — I just wanted to let you know that there was a little anti-Semitic incident at school today.” Breathe in,… Read more »
As the children of survivors, the Rohingya genocide reminds us of the Holocaust
(JTA) — She was 16 years old and alone in a refugee camp in a foreign country when we met her. Sobbing, she told us how she hoped that her brother might be somewhere in this camp, “camp number 18.” She had heard that he might be alive — if… Read more »
Shlicha’s view: After 24 years, Israel still grappling with Rabin assassination
Next week, on Nov. 4, Israel will mark 24 years since the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin, a leader, politician, and army commander, was killed by a Jewish assassin as he was walking down the stairs from the stage at what is now called Rabin Square… Read more »
As an Israeli journalist in Germany, I wasn’t surprised by the Halle synagogue shooting
COLOGNE, Germany (JTA) — When the breaking news from Halle started to pour in on Oct. 9, the Jewish community around the world was still in the midst of commemorating the holiest day of the year in Judaism, Yom Kippur. Equipped with a rifle, ammunition and other military gear, the… Read more »
A year after disaster, Pittsburgh is so much more than a site of tragedy
PITTSBURGH (JTA) —As we approach the one year since the worst anti-Semitic attack in American history, I am grateful for the outpouring of support for the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Over the last year, people across the world have stood shoulder to shoulder with all of us in the 412.… Read more »
Mayim Bialik: Everything I’ll never know because my father died
Abba, are you there? You died 4 1/2 years ago, but I still forget sometimes. I was driving in sixth gear the other day. I went to exit the freeway and, on the off-ramp, I downshifted enough that I was able to shift directly into fourth. You taught me… Read more »
Alex Borstein’s speech at the Emmys was a perfect display of Jewish pride
Whether you watched the Emmys on Sunday night or not, chances are you’ve been privy since the broadcast to what was likely the Jewiest moment of the show: Alex Borstein’s acceptance speech for her award as best supporting actress in a comedy. Borstein, who won for the second straight… Read more »
What we can still learn from the Lubavitcher Rebbe about climate change
PENN YAN, N.Y. (JTA) – With refineries recently ablaze in Saudi Arabia, you might be forgiven if you forget that in the Amazon and Indonesia, forests are ablaze as well. Yet these two conflagrations are not unconnected. As ever, ecological crises and geopolitical crises are deeply intertwined – and… Read more »
What working as a prosecutor has taught me about Yom Kippur and forgiveness
Editor’s note: The author is an active prosecutor in a major U.S. city. Due to the nature of their work, they must write anonymously. The court officer calls out the calendar number and reads the docket into the record. The defendant, accompanied by his attorney, enters the well. The… Read more »
By chilling out on Rosh Hashanah, I made my Judaism truly meaningful
MONTREAL (JTA) — Picking through gefilte fish in the kosher department, searching for the freshest packages, I think of my Grandma Fanny. She made her gefilte fish from scratch, lovingly combining the cod, whitefish, pike and whatever other secret ingredients she threw in that made it so good. “This… Read more »
My congregation prays at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. Here’s how we are coping this Rosh Hashanah.
PITTSBURGH (JTA) — Our sages teach us that kol hatchalot kashot, all beginnings are difficult. This phrase feels especially resonant this Rosh Hashanah. The man who blew the shofar last year at my Pittsburgh synagogue, New Light, is not here to blow it now. He was murdered on Oct. 27… Read more »