Philissa Cramer
By Philissa Cramer
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Fast Forward Texas official reminds teachers that state law requires “opposing views” when Holocaust is taught
(JTA) — Teachers in a Texas school district were told last week that a new state law requiring them to present multiple perspectives about “widely debated and currently controversial” issues meant they needed to make “opposing” views on the Holocaust available to students. NBC News obtained an audio recording of the official, the Carroll Independent…
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Fast Forward These Jewish NYC schoolteachers want a religious exemption from the city’s vaccine mandate
(JTA) — When Rivka Taub Rivera decided to apply for a religious exemption to New York City’s vaccine mandate for teachers, she didn’t turn to the rabbis of Borough Park, the Orthodox neighborhood in Brooklyn where she lives. Instead, she asked Michoel Green, a Chabad rabbi who has openly opposed vaccination, to submit the required…
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Fast Forward Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and his partner had a very Jewish wedding this week after 18 years together
(JTA) — As his fellow Jews around the world prepared to annul their vows during Yom Kippur, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis got busy making some new ones — by marrying his partner of 18 years. Polis announced his marriage to Marlon Reis, with whom he has two children, in social media posts late Wednesday afternoon,…
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Fast Forward A wildly popular fidget toy was created by an Israeli classmate of Anne Frank to look like breasts
(JTA) — If you know any young children or fidgety adults, chances are you’ve seen, heard, or coveted a handheld piece of dimpled silicone known as a “pop-it.” The must-have toy was originally created in the 1970s by an Israeli couple with a penchant for playthings, according to a BBC report that calls the pop-it…
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News These New Yorkers were annoyed by anti-vaccine Holocaust comparisons. So they wrote a song.
(JTA) — It was a quiet Shabbat afternoon when the frustration that had been building up inside Michal Schick spilled out in a song. For months, Schick had been keeping a tally in her head — and sometimes on Twitter, where the New York City screenwriter is active — of pandemic-related Holocaust comparisons that, to her…
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Fast Forward New Jersey condo to resume Shabbat elevator service after settling with residents who sued
(JTA) — (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — The elevators at Fort Lee, New Jersey, condo building will again stop on every floor during Shabbat after the condo board settled with Orthodox Jewish residents who sued over the service’s cancelation. Dozens of residents charged in a June lawsuit that The Colony was discriminating against…
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News Is it safe to attend Rosh Hashanah services? Should kids? Your COVID-19 High Holiday questions, answered.
(JTA) — For the second year, COVID-19 has made it so Jews who want to attend High Holidays services must undergo a complicated risk calculation. Is it safe to go to synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Should I bring my children? Is the shofar — the horn whose blasts punctuate the holy days — a potential…
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Fast Forward Yeshiva student shot and killed during late-night crime spree in Denver
(JTA) — A 19-year-old student at an Orthodox yeshiva in Denver was shot and killed while standing outside his school building early Wednesday morning, according to reports in the local and Orthodox media. The shooting came shortly after two attempted carjackings near Yeshiva Toras Chaim. “At this time, it does not appear that it was…
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