Pondering the state of American Jewry
IDF reserve soldiers took part in a protest outside the United Nations office in Geneva on Tuesday dressed as Hamas terrorists complete with “Palestinian” flags and ski masks. The protest, organized by the Shurat HaDin Law Center, is the right-wing legal association’s opening salvo against the UNHRC Pillay Commission of inquiry into alleged Israeli war …
Gal Gadot has done Israel proud with her rocket-like climb to the top of Hollywood stardom. It’s not just that she’s a great actress, but that she is a warm and likeably human being. She makes Israel—and the Jews in general—look good. That’s important at a time of rising antisemitism and the overwhelming demonization of …
Jacob Steinmetz, a 17-year-old Orthodox Jew from Long Island, is expected to be chosen in the Major League Baseball draft this Sunday. Steinmetz already won a scholarship to Fordham University and is 181 in his draft class. But can he make it in the big leagues as a Shomer Shabbos, Shomer Kashrus Yid? A graduate …
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 …
Chanuka is a time of light and miracles, so perhaps it should be no surprise that archaeologists just found a 2000-year-old lantern from the Hasmonean period in the City of David, in Jerusalem. The candle holder, preserved in its entirety, dates back to the Second Temple era. According to Israel Hayom, Antiquities Authority Director of …
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, …
A dining establishment and prepared food takeout place in Canada, Foodbenders, was already in the news after an Instagram post with the hashtag #zionistsnotwelcome. Now the owner of the restaurant, Kimberly Hawkins, is being sued by prominent designer Shai DeLuca, the subject of two defamatory Instagram posts by the Toronto eatery accusing DeLuca of being …
Threats against Jewish students at Monument Valley Regional Middle School have been ruled “no threat to safety” by school officials, according to a report by the Berkshire Eagle. The report cited parents of students in the school, who detailed several threats and incidents. Parents said one student told Jewish students that he was going to …
Fred Behrend had a bar mitzvah in 1939, after his family fled to Cuba from Nazi Germany. The family left with nothing, so guests brought their own food. Exactly 80 years later, on the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 93-year-old Behrend will celebrate his bar mitzvah once again in Voorhees, N.J. at Congregation Beth El. …
Israel’s Minister for the Interior, Ariyeh Deri, decided not to allow the two Democratic representatives, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to enter Israel, on legal grounds. Israel’s No Entry law bars BDS activists from entering the country. After the decision was made, Tlaib appealed to Deri to visit her grandmother. On humanitarian grounds, Deri agreed, …