Pondering the state of American Jewry
A Columbus, Ohio man has been charged with a hate crime in a federal district court after harassing his Jewish neighbors. The 65-year-old man, Douglas G. Schifer, came before US District Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Preston Deavers on a misdemeanor count of criminal interference with right to fair housing, carrying a potential sentence of up …
Abdullah “Dulla Mulla,” a Yemeni YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok star, visited a kosher grocery in a suburb of Detroit and badgered shoppers, sticking his phone in their faces and asking them to read what it says. The photo they were shown depicted a PA flag emblazoned with the words “Free Palestine.” Dulla Mulla recorded the reactions …
Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, who came from a long line of multiple Hasidic dynasties, has died, aged 90, of COVID-19. The famed Pittsburgh psychiatrist was considered a leading authority on addiction, and authored more than 60 books. Twerski, who never lost his strong Milwaukee accent, though he lived in Pittsburgh for many years, was …
A couple and their four young children, ages 1 to 8, were out together on the Upper West Side of New York, browsing the windows of a Barnes and Noble bookstore, just minding their own business, when they were confronted by an antisemite. Interestingly, the male half of the couple was the editor of the …
Menachem Zivotofsky, age 18, just became the first U.S. citizen born in Jerusalem, to be permitted to list on his passport, his country of birth as “Israel.” So ends a lengthy saga that began when the young man was born, in 2002. Before this past Friday, American born in Jerusalem could not show Israel as …
Tree of Life was a surprising attack, but now it seems Jews are attacked weekly, and sometimes daily. The latest antisemitic attacks are on a rabbi in San Diego, just outside his synagogue on October 10, and five days later, a man dressed in “Orthodox garb” in Williamsburg. It certainly isn’t helping the situation when …
Jewish progressives and Democrats have come out against the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court, because they believe she stands in opposition to the staunch progressive principles of predecessor Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) Executive Director Halie Soifer said that aside from the fact that there will …
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Rosh Hashanah of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer. While traditional Jews do not blow the shofar when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, Reform Rabbi Matt Soffer of Durham, North Carolina, blew the shofar minus one blast, to signify that the Supreme Court was now minus one justice. Actor Mandy Patinkin, …
Three people, a 20-year-old man, a 23-year-old woman and a 16-year-old, all from Beachwood, Ohio have been arrested for painting swastikas and other antisemitic imagery and graffiti back in July on several Jewishly-owned businesses in University Heights, a Cleveland suburb. Bo Briele Truitt, 23, arrested two weeks ago, has been charged with ethnic intimidation, inducing …
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) took a giant leap forward for the Arab people when they agreed to normalize relations with Israel. The two countries share a common enemy—Iran—and Trump was able to persuade the UAE to let bygones be bygones. But Joe Biden was quick to take the credit for the accord: “The coming …