The famously agitated Jewish comedian Lewis Black is returning to Broadway. (Clay McBride)
(JTA) — Remember Pixar’s 2015 film “Inside Out?” It was about an 11-year-old girl, Riley, and the five primary emotions raging inside her: Joy and Sadness, Fear and Disgust. And Lewis Black. Sorry. We meant there was Anger. It’s an easy mistake to make. From railing against AT&T (“it’s a… Read more »
Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, right, at the Republican Jewish Coalition spring leadership meeting in Las Vegas, April 25, 2015. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
(JTA) — With the presidential race heating up, a number of progressive Jewish commentators have portrayed the Republicans’ vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, as a conservative extremist opposed to Jewish beliefs and values. As officers of the only statewide, grassroots Jewish and Israel advocacy organization in Indiana —… Read more »
Then-Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, left, speaks with Rabbi Jack Moline and Moline's son Max at the Virginia Statehouse. (Courtesy of Jack Moline)
(JTA) — American Jewish voters have naturally voted for Democratic candidates because it has meant voting to support strong social justice and a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. Hillary Clinton and her vice presidential choice, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, will continue Democratic action on economic and educational opportunities, retirement security… Read more »
Florida State Sen. Dwight Bullard, wearing a Palestinian kaffiyeh, or headscarf, at the Democratic National Convention, July 2016. (Ben Sales)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Pro-Israel activists in the Miami area plan to protest a Florida state senator active in the Black Lives Matter movement who visited the West Bank as the guest of a group that backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Organizers of the protest against Dwight Bullard said… Read more »
The cover of a new Russian translation of the Talmud (Courtesy of Knizhniki publishing house)
(JTA) — A century ago, passages from the Talmud were translated into Russian to be used as evidence in the anti-Semitic show trial of Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Jew charged with — and eventually acquitted of – murdering a Christian boy. The prosecution in that 1915 trial, which was decried… Read more »
Blake Yospa and Rachel Leeds in Annapolis, Md. (Courtesy of Blake Yospa and Rachel Leeds)
(JTA) — In the two-part finale of the third season of “Broad City,” the show’s main characters, Abbi and Ilana, embark on a “Birthmark” trip — a thinly veiled allusion to the famed Birthright Israel trip that sends Jews aged 18 to 26 on free 10-day trips to… Read more »
Daniel Radcliffe in a scene from "Imperium." (Lionsgate Premiere)
(JTA) — In his new film, “Imperium,” Daniel Radcliffe plays FBI agent Nate Foster, who goes undercover to take down skinheads planning to set off a dirty bomb. The film, which opens Friday, is taut and exciting. It is also a movie the former “Harry Potter” star doesn’t want his… Read more »
New York City Mayor David Dinkins, fourth from right, looks on while a Hasidic Jew and a black man argue during riots in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1991. (Anthony Pescatore/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Much has changed in Crown Heights in the past 25 years, since the accidental death of a black boy touched off three days of rioting in which black youths attacked religious Jews in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Many called it a riot. Some Jews call the events of… Read more »
A statue of Stepan Bandera in Lviv, Ukraine, September 2014. (Courtesy of Andrey Syasko)
(JTA) — When Vladimir Putin grabbed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, the Russian president claimed it was to protect minorities from anti-Semitic fascists whom Putin maintained were behind the revolution that year that ousted his ally in Kiev, former President Viktor Yanukovych. But a physicist named Josef Zissels, who heads one… Read more »
Aly Raisman competing in the floor exercise at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, Oct. 24, 2015. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Aly Raisman won the Olympic silver medal in the women’s gymnastics all-around in Rio de Janeiro. The Jewish competitor from Needham, Massachusetts, finished second behind her American teammate Simon Biles on Thursday. Raisman, 22, is the U.S. squad’s captain and was a key part of its gold medal… Read more »
Members of Congregation Anshei Israel’s “off the beaten path” Israel mission in June harvested leeks for Leket Israel, an organization that distributes surplus food to the needy. (L-R): Aaron Leonard, Rabbi Robert Eisen, Ron Gray, Margo Gray, Katherine Leonard, Ann Anovitz, Michelle Sigafus, Eugene Kellogg, Michael Schoenholz, Paul Hoffman. Seated, Aurora Kellogg (Courtesy Rabbi Robert Eisen)
Congregation Anshei Israel’s 11-day mission to Israel in June was no ordinary tourist trip. Instead of focusing on history and popular sites, the itinerary delved into the culture, problems, agriculture and technology of modern Israel. Rabbi Robert Eisen says that this is the fourth time he has taken congregation… Read more »
Madyssen Zarin, left, with her twin sister, Rachael, and mother, Patricia (Korene Charnofsky Cohen)
Update: Nefesh B’Nefesh provided this photo of “soon to be IDF soldiers” arriving in Israel Aug. 17. We’re pretty sure we spotted Madyssen Zarin on the far right. Madyssen Zarin is not someone who sits and watches the world go by. She is leaping into the future by making… Read more »
Rabbi Moshe Schonbrun, who recently came to Tucson as rabbi for Jewish Arizonans on Campus at the University of Arizona, says after he and his wife, Esti, were married, they decided to put all of their efforts into maximizing their positive impact on the Jewish community. After meeting the… Read more »
A Dallas police officer wipes his face at the funeral for slain Dallas police officer Michael Smith at The Watermark Church in Dallas, Texas, July 14, 2016. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(JTA) — As the fast day of Tisha b‘Av approaches, the summer heat and humidity is rising. That got me thinking: Does the solemn day have the stuff to raise our consciousness as well? Tisha b‘Av — this year it begins on the evening of Saturday, August 13 — marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples,… Read more »
Donald Trump speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee 2016 Policy Conference at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC, March 21, 2016. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) – On behalf of Donald Trump, Republicans last week launched a get-out-the-vote campaign geared to Americans living in Israel. The initiative, which began Aug. 1, has unprecedented funding and local strategic support. The effort by Republicans Overseas Israel, the main group supporting the party here, reflects it leaders’ conviction… Read more »
Hillary Clinton, then the U.S. secretary of state, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger being interviewed by Charlie Rose at the State Department in Washington, D.C., April 20, 2011. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – If Hillary Clinton is indeed courting Henry Kissinger, what happens to her relationship with Bernie Sanders? Reports that the Democratic presidential nominee is actively pursuing endorsements from Kissinger, who like her is a former secretary of state, and other former Republican officials have raised alarms on… Read more »
Jonathan Greenblatt (Courtesy of the ADL)
NEW YORK (JTA) — For more than a century, the Anti-Defamation League has been known as a group that combats anti-Semitism. But one year after taking the group’s helm, Jonathan Greenblatt wants it to focus on more than just the Jews. Greenblatt’s predecessor as ADL national director, Abraham Foxman,… Read more »
Former members of the U.S. military carrying boxes with more than 100,000 signatures requesting that Sen. John McCain and other Republican leaders withdraw their endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump following a press conference in Washington, D.C., Aug. 4, 2016. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — “This condemnation is against you personally,” the Jewish War Veterans said earlier this week, concluding its message to Donald Trump. “You, Mr. Trump, deserve our contempt.” If the sign-off to the statement condemning the Republican nominee for his attacks on the Muslim parents of a soldier killed in action… Read more »
Shaul Bassi, the Merchant in Venice Project Director and coordinator of the Venice Ghetto 500 anniversary committee, on the Ghetto Nuovo bridge in Venice, Italy. (Ruth Ellen Gruber)
VENICE, Italy (JTA) – Last week, an international, multilingual cast performed Shakespeare’s controversial play, “The Merchant of Venice,” in the secluded main plaza of the city’s historic Jewish Ghetto. It was the first time the play was performed in the iconic location, where some of the action takes place. Enclosed by tall tenements and the… Read more »
Andrea Murez recalls Israelis telling her at the 2013 Maccabiah Games that she should swim for Israel -- and now she is. (Hillel Kuttler)
NETANYA, Israel (JTA) – Andrea Murez steps on the diving board, adjusts her goggles, swings her long arms and propels herself into the water at the Wingate Institute athletic complex here. Murez is training with a dozen other swimmers. She is the one preparing for the Summer Olympics a… Read more »
