Philissa Cramer
By Philissa Cramer
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Fast Forward Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish are besties who dance the hora in new film ‘Here Today’
(JTA) — Comedian Billy Crystal and actress Tiffany Haddish are so close that Crystal read a Torah portion at Haddish’s 2019 bat mitzvah ceremony in Los Angeles. Now the two Jewish celebrities are taking their friendship to the big screen in a buddy comedy called “Here Today.” The first trailer for the movie, out May…
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Fast Forward Kentucky becomes first US state to adopt IHRA anti-Semitism definition
(JTA) — For the first time, a U.S. state has officially adopted a definition of anti-Semitism that has ignited debates worldwide over the extent to which criticism of Israel should be considered anti-Semitic. Lawmakers in Kentucky voted to adopt the definition developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association, known as IHRA, on Wednesday as part…
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Fast Forward Is Bonne Maman an anti-Nazi jam? The internet wants to think so.
(JTA) — The heartwarming story has been hard to miss: A law professor is shopping at his local grocery store when sees an elderly woman struggling to get her favorite jam from a high shelf. Why is it her favorite? “I am a Holocaust survivor,” she says. “During the war, the family that owns the…
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Fast Forward The viral cat lawyer once drew national attention for his prosecution of a Jewish smoke shop owner
(JTA) — Rod Ponton, a small-town attorney from Texas, captured America’s attention this week after he showed up to a virtual courtroom looking like a fluffy white cat, thanks to a Zoom filter he couldn’t figure out how to disable. It wasn’t the first time Ponton has made the national news. In 2014, he drew…
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Fast Forward Karen Lewis, Jewish union chief who made Chicago’s teachers into a national force, is dead at 67
(JTA) — Karen Lewis, the firebrand former president of Chicago’s teachers union, has died at 67 after a long battle with brain cancer. Lewis, a convert to Judaism who said she was attracted to the religion’s embrace of questions, ran the Chicago Teachers Union from 2010 to 2018. Under her leadership, the union became a…
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Fast Forward Jewish man leaves $2M to French mountain town that hid him from Nazis
(JTA) — A man who died in December reportedly left a significant gift for the French town that shielded his family and thousands of others from the Nazis during World War II. Eric Schwam, who died at 90 on Christmas Day, willed his estate to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, the mountain town where his Jewish family hid…
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News TikTok’s comic ‘Jew Who Loves Trees’ wants you to take Tu b’Shvat very, very seriously
(JTA) — Tobin Mitnick may be a comic actor, but his interest in trees is no joke. Mitnick has been documenting his love affair with trees since September on TikTok, the viral video app, where he goes by the mantle “A Jew Who Loves Trees.” He’s racked up more than 110,000 followers there by posting…
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Fast Forward Jon Ossoff had a totem of his American Jewish heritage in his pocket when he joined the Senate
(JTA) — New Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff already had one artifact from American Jewish history on display when he was sworn into the Senate: the book of scripture on which he took his oath of office. But the 33-year-old said on Twitter Wednesday night that he had been carrying another item that reflected his American…
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Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
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Opinion I’m an Israeli who lives in New York. Here’s why I’m voting for Mamdani
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Sports It’s so cool that Sandy Koufax was there for that
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News How Mamdani built bridges to Jewish New Yorkers, from Williamsburg to Park Slope
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Opinion The three profound Jewish lessons of Mamdani’s astonishing victory
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News Mamdani’s victory divides Jewish leaders one more way: Whether to say congratulations
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Fast Forward In a first, a ballot initiative to divest from Israel has won at the ballot box in Boston suburb
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Fast Forward In NJ governor’s race, Mikie Sherrill fends off GOP candidate whose aide spurned ‘money from Jews’
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