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ANALYSIS Draymond Green says his trip to Israel wasn’t about politics. Here’s why Israel’s critics won’t accept that.

Draymond Green, right, shown before a playoff game between his Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center in Houston, May 28, 2018. (Bob Levey/Getty Images)

NBA star Draymond Green on his recent visit to Israel got to meet the nation’s president and take some shooting practice — with guns, not basketballs — on a military base. Green’s visit, particularly his jovial use of Israeli military weaponry, prompted criticism from notable figures on the American… Read more »

Sacha Baron Cohen’s newest character is an Israeli gunslinger taking aim at pro-Israel conservatives

Sacha Baron Cohen at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., May 23, 2016. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sacha Baron Cohen is back, and he is taking aim at a strain of “pro-Israel” thought that has both delighted and unsettled many American Jews: the unconditional love engendered by the country among deeply conservative Americans. In “Who is America?,” a show that made its debut… Read more »

Taste of Judaism returns to Temple Emanu-El for 19th year

Editor’s note: The dates for the classes at Miller-Golf Links Library have been changed to Aug. 2, 9, and 16. Temple Emanu-El is heading into its 19th year of holding free Taste of Judaism classes. Taste of Judaism is a  three-class introduction to the basics of Jewish spirituality, values,… Read more »

Rabbi’s Corner: In modern times, is peace and harmony possible?

Benzion Shemtov

Many times we wonder: What is happening with the tranquility of this world? Where has it gone? Do peace and harmony reside in the spiritual realms while our world is destined to live with hardships and troubles? The fifth Chabad Rebbe lived in the early 1900s. One of his… Read more »

PJ Library offers prizes for summer reading program

PJ Library invites kids up to age 8 to join the “Dive into Reading This Summer” program, which runs through July 31. Kids need to read nine books and complete nine activities from the PJ Library calendar, such as “eat some challah” and “compliment someone.” Print a calendar at… Read more »

Language classes at J can keep brain sharp

There are many benefits to learning a foreign language, such as boosting brain power, enhanced memory, and even stalling the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s. A 2012 study by Swedish and German researchers shows that the language centers of the brain actually grow as a result of learning a… Read more »

Handmaker, Brandeis to team on art talks

Handmaker will host a series of six art talks by docents from the Tucson Museum of Art beginning this fall. The talks, organized by Ellie Eigen and the Tucson chapter of the Brandeis National Committee, are open to those who have signed up for the series through the BNC,… Read more »

Germany increases funding for Shoah survivors

Germany has agreed to increase its funding for social welfare services for Holocaust survivors by $88 million. The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany in its announcement Tuesday said the increase brings global allocations by Germany for 2019 to $564 million. The Claims Conference and representatives of the… Read more »

Museum seeks former Intrepid crew members

Aug. 16 will mark the 75th anniversary of the commissioning of the USS Intrepid, the World War II-era Essex class aircraft carrier that is now home to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.  To mark the occasion, the museum is putting out a coast-to-coast… Read more »

OP-ED Conservative movement is closing its gender gap, but there is still work to be done

Amy Eilberg, the first woman ordained by the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary in 1987, speaks at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, December 2016. (Screenshot from Youtube)

(JTA) — As the Jewish world this year marks Israel’s 70th anniversary, we recall that two years before Israel’s independence, a momentous change came in the Conservative movement: Its then new prayer book, known as the Silverman siddur, no longer contained the traditional words “Shelo Asani Eisha” — thank you… Read more »

Filipino guest workers come to Israel — and decide to embrace Judaism

Ronaldo and Bernadette Lopez, who arrived in Israel in 2003, now run a Filipino restaurant and converted to Judaism in April. (Ben Sales)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — One of the biggest days of the year for Ronaldo and Bernadette Lopez is Christmas. They open up their Filipino restaurant in South Tel Aviv, and their friends bring their families, crowd the place and eat embutido, a rolled pork dish from their shared home… Read more »

An elite private academy in Rio is putting pressure on the city’s Jewish day schools

A view of a classroom at Liessin, Brazil's largest Jewish day school. (Courtesy of Liessin)

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – One of the hottest topics among Rio Jewish families today sits right across the street from both the city’s largest synagogue and the site of a future Holocaust memorial. It’s a non-Jewish day school, directed by a Cohen with the support of a Levy, that… Read more »

An all-female Orthodox ambulance corps gets a film of their own

Rachel Freier, center, is the protagonist of "93Queen." (Julieta Cervantes)

(JTA) — Like many heavily Orthodox sections of Brooklyn, Borough Park has been served for decades by an all-male volunteer ambulance corps called Hatzalah. The corps caters to a religious Jewish community with particular needs and customs — including one custom that can increase the tension for patients in already… Read more »

An Israeli wrestler calls himself ‘The Chutzpah,’ and Europe loves to hate him

Lior Brooks, left, during a match in Greece, Nov. 22, 2017. (Courtesy of ZMAK)

(JTA) — Like many Israelis visiting Europe, Lior Brooks is keenly aware of his compatriots’ reputation abroad for rudeness. The boorish stereotype is so well known that it has its own term there – “the ugly Israeli” – and been the subject of many an awareness-raising campaign. There’s even… Read more »

Grilled Eggplant with Chermoula recipe

(The Nosher via JTA) – From bulbous and egg-shaped to small and thin, the eggplant (or if you’re British like me, the aubergine) is a staple fruit within Sephardic Jewish cooking. Originating in India or perhaps even China, eggplant seeds are thought to have traveled along the Silk Road… Read more »

Relating Tisha b’Av to today’s environmental crises

Tisha b’Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) which we commemorate this year on July 21-22, reminds us that over 2,000 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the first of… Read more »