Tagged HEADLINES

(JTA) – When Samuel Green talks about Israel’s West bank security barrier with the Birthright groups he guides, he first explains the Israeli view that the barrier was built to prevent Palestinian terrorists from breaching Israeli territory and that Israelis generally feel it has saved lives. But then he’ll… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Cantor Philip Sherman gives me a call after having finished two circumcisions before noon on Tuesday. That’s a light day, he explains. On Thursday, he will be performing circumcisions for four baby boys; on Friday, he’ll do five. Sherman, 62, is a mohel (in… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) – There’s nothing more comforting than a slice of babka and a glass of milk to break a long fast on. In my family, it’s pretty much all we eat. But I don’t always make babka, and I do always make challah, especially during the… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — David Kustoff, running for re-election in Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District, had three things in his favor: incumbency, a solid Republican district and President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Kustoff was not taking anything for granted, though: In the Republican primary on Thursday, he faced a challenger, George Flinn,… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) —  “The Cakemaker” has been one of the more successful indie films on the international festival circuit over the past year. Its recipe: a secret gay Israeli-German love affair, a tragic death and another secret affair — between a straight woman and a gay man. The… Read more »

Editor’s note: The following is from a press release from the City of Kingman: “Every city has resident voices that challenge respect and dignity for others. They are wrong and unfortunate.  That was no exception on the July 22 ‘Who Is America?’ show on Showtime in which an actor… Read more »

(JTA) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she hopes to remain on the court for another five years. “I’m now 85,” Ginsburg said, according to CNN. “My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so think I have about at least five… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) –  Greek Jews are no strangers to moussaka, the rich casserole traditionally made from eggplant and lamb and thickly layered with bechamel. But because kosher laws prohibit the consumption of milk and meat together, Jewish versions of the dish tend to either skip the bechamel… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The heavy stone that fell out of the Western Wall and came crashing down on a platform set aside for egalitarian prayer has been removed for examination and restoration, but the conversation about the reason for its sudden sky dive — including hints of divine intervention… Read more »

Pitch for Hope competition calls on youth in UK, US, and Israel to propose creative ideas for curbing racism and anti-Semitism in sports   NEW YORK — Chelsea Football Club and The World Jewish Congress on July 9 launched the international Pitch for Hope competition, the first stage of a three-pronged joint… Read more »

Last week, Facebook CEO  Mark Zuckerberg said his platform would not remove content denying the Holocaust, but that the content would be less likely to show up in someone’s news feed. The Lawfare Project filed takedown notices this week against Facebook posts denying the Holocaust and containing anti-Semitic material,… Read more »

(JTA) – Once a must-read for young fashonistas, Teen Vogue in 2016 expanded its coverage, shifting the magazine more aggressively into “covering politics, feminism, identity and activism” from an apparently liberal lens. Now, among articles on makeup, celebrities and clothing trends, Teen Vogue would like to give Israel a… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s new production of “Fiddler on the Roof” enacts a familiar story in an unfamiliar language. The actors sing about joy and hardship, and argue about the importance of tradition, in the language their characters would have spoken in the Old… Read more »

(JTA) — Despite a career of more than two decades kvetching incessantly about life’s absurd little annoyances, comedian and actor Orny Adams insists he’s an optimist who’s always been an early riser, eager to tackle anything that confronts him. “When I wake up,” he says, “I find myself to… Read more »

(JTA) — As he waited to be interrogated by the Israel Police for conducting a non-Orthodox wedding, Rabbi Dov Haiyun began a Facebook post with three words: “Iran is here.” Haiyun awoke at 5:30 a.m. Thursday at his home in Haifa to a knock on the door from two… Read more »

(JTA) — Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to give everyone in the world a voice. But what happens when some of those wishing a voice are Holocaust deniers? That question was posed to the Facebook founder in an interview Wednesday with Recode, a tech news site, about the social… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Knesset passed controversial legislation making Israel the “nation-state of the Jewish people,” angering groups in Israel and the Diaspora. The so-called Nationality Law enshrines in Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Law that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. It passed early Thursday morning after hours… Read more »

(Kveller via JTA) — Summer is known for being a lazy, carefree time — but for anxious moms like me, summer can be seriously scary. There’s a host of hidden dangers to worry about, from sunburn to tick bites to water accidents. During the school year, I’m a pretty… Read more »

(JTA) — Yitzhak Melamed was accosted by an anti-Semite and then beaten by German police while in the city of Bonn for a lecture last week. The attacks left the Jewish professor’s face bleeding, his glasses broken — and his will untouched. In October, Melamed will return to Germany.… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Growing up in Imperial Japan during World War II, Isaac Shapiro’s best friend was a member of the Hitler Youth. The friend wore the organization’s brown shirt uniform to their international school every day, but not because he wanted to — he was German and Japan… Read more »