Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.
A self-professed “Lost Tribe King” from Togo is promising to lead a mass pilgrimage to Jerusalem this fall. He says he will bring Jewish kings and queens from Africa: hundreds of them, who will “scream Shema Yisrael at the Western Wall,” Francois Ayi told the blog Israel Rising, referring to the central Jewish prayer that…
Basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire, who announced his retirement from the NBA after 16 celebrated years, is moving to Israel to play professionally in for an Israeli team in Jerusalem. Stoudemire didn’t waste any time — he jumped on a flight to the Holy Land within days. One of his first stops once he landed? The…
Left-wing Jewish groups and individuals are embracing Black Lives Matter in response to a new platform associated with the Black Lives Matter movement that calls for divestment from Israel — and also describes the country as an “apartheid state” committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people. Jewish Voice for Peace said the group “endorses the Movement…
A new platform associated with the Black Lives Matter movement that describes Israel as an “apartheid state” committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people has triggered critical responses from Jewish organizations — even its allies. “[We] are extremely dismayed at the decision to refer to the Israeli occupation as genocide,” a statement from T’ruah: The Rabbinic…
Comedian Roseanne Barr, star of the 1990s hit television show Roseanne, is arranging a special Passover visit with the Temple Institute, the Israeli organization that wants to rebuild the Third Temple in Jerusalem — and she’s very excited about it. In a public exchange on Twitter, the Temple Institute invited Barr to tour their facilities….
Applications are now being accepted for a year-long course on New Age tantric sex, which include instruction on “total body orgasms,” “Prayer Sexing” and “Pleasure Dharma.” Classes begin in October and applicants who enroll before August 15 receive a generous discount. One of the course’s teachers? Controversial one-time rabbi Marc Gafni. Gafni, a New Age…
This week, basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire ended a celebrated 14-year career with the NBA. The six-time All-Star spent most of his career with the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks, before finishing with the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat. Now he’s moving on and up — to Jerusalem. Jews who move to Israel…
“Lost Tribe seeker” Michael Freund has criticized Pope Francis over the pontiff’s support for a Palestinian state, but the two met in Krakow on July 31 to speak about the relatively recent phenomenon of young Poles rediscovering Jewish family ties. “Francis and Freund discussed how a growing number of young Poles are rediscovering their Jewish…
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