Ron Kampeas is the former Washington bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Ron Kampeas
By Ron Kampeas
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News The next major Jewish action is on behalf of Uighurs
(JTA) — When Rayhan Asat attended a Passover seder last month, its contours seemed familiar and different at once — especially the tradition of leaving a seat empty at the table. It reminded Asat, a lawyer, of leaving a seat empty for her brother, Ekpar, at her graduation from Harvard Law School in 2016. Ekpar,…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Michael Cook, who helped Jews navigate the New Testament, dies at 79
(JTA) — Rabbi Michael Cook, who identified and then fulfilled a need for Jewish rabbis to navigate a culture steeped in New Testament learning, has died. Cook died March 30 at 79, said a statement from Hebrew Union College that did not name a cause. Cook for decades taught a required course on the New…
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Fast Forward Steven Spielberg to donate his Genesis Prize winnings to racial justice organizations
(JTA) — Steven Spielberg is donating his Genesis Prize earnings to Jewish and non-Jewish groups working to promote racial and economic justice. The prize’s foundation on Thursday announced that the film director would double the $1 million prize with his own money and split it among 10 organizations, including Black Voters Matter and the Jews…
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News Israel’s first Black Cabinet member knows the aliyah struggle. It’s why she kept immigration open during COVID.
(JTA) — To immigrate to Israel from Ethiopia, Pnina Tamano-Shata’s family had to trek on foot through the desert to Sudan in the middle of a famine. Later, the truck bringing her mother and two of her sisters to the airfield broke down. It wasn’t until the plane doors closed that Tamano-Shata realized that they…
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Fast Forward Doug Emhoff wanted to tout the benefits of the stimulus package for small businesses. He chose a Jewish bagel joint.
(JTA) — Doug Emhoff, the Jewish husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, is on a swing through Western states with his wife to promote the benefits of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package that the Biden administration just squeezed through Congress. There was a stop at a food bank in Las Vegas and at businesses in…
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News No AIPAC conference? No problem. We’re meeting for coffee on Zoom.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — For years, the annual AIPAC conference has culminated with thousands of Israel supporters knocking on their congressional representatives’ doors here to deliver three policy requests. Last year, the conference in early March ended with anxiety about whether COVID-19 had spread after some of the country’s first cases were detected among attendees. And…
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Fast Forward Trump showed off photos of naked women at a shiva, report says
(JTA) — Donald Trump showed off photos of naked women posing with him on a yacht to mourners at the shiva for an associate’s mother, The New Yorker reported. Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of the Trump organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, recalled the incident in a profile of Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan…
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Fast Forward Netanyahu calls Pelosi to discuss Israel’s COVID response as some Democrats offer criticism
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House of Representatives speaker, spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s COVID-19 response at a time that Israel is under pressure to extend its vaccination program to Palestinians in the West Bank. “Today, I spoke with [the Israeli prime minister] to reaffirm the unbreakable bond between…
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