Shira Hanau
By Shira Hanau
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Fast Forward How a Jewish debate coach contributed to Ketanji Brown Jackson’s path to Supreme Court nomination
(JTA) — Among the students who benefited from Fran Berger’s coaching on the Miami Palmetto Senior High School debate team are dozens of lawyers, surgeons, judges and no small number of Ivy League graduates. Now the Jewish debate coach, who died at the age of 61 in 2008, can also be credited with teaching and…
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Fast Forward Roblox, popular kids’ computer game, removes virtual Nazi gas chambers
(JTA) — Roblox, a collaborative computer gaming platform for children as young as 7, has faced serious criticism over the years for failing to properly moderate its content — with antisemitism and racism rife, according to multiple reports. Now the platform says it has removed a virtual Nazi concentration camp featuring gas chambers that users…
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Fast Forward Antisemitic flyers distributed in Colleyville, Texas, site of recent synagogue hostage crisis
(JTA) — Residents of Colleyville, Texas, the community where a rabbi and three of his congregants were held hostage for 12 hours at the local synagogue last month, woke up over the weekend to find antisemitic flyers on their driveways and yards. The flyers, which were strewn about the town in plastic zip-top bags with…
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Fast Forward Bernie Madoff’s sister and brother-in-law found dead in apparent murder-suicide
(JTA) — The sister and brother-in-law of Bernie Madoff, the hedge fund manager who ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that counted a number of major Jewish nonprofits among its victims, died in an apparent murder-suicide. Sondra Wiener, 87, and Marvin Wiener, 90, were found dead at their home in Boynton Beach, Florida Thursday. The…
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Fast Forward Kathryn Kates, actress who played the babka baker on ‘Seinfeld,’ dies at 73
(JTA) — When it came to babka, actress Kathryn Kates, who died last month at 73, preferred chocolate, according to The New York Times. But when Jerry and Elaine finally got to her bakery counter on “Seinfeld,” the only babka Kates had to offer was cinnamon. And that was a problem. “There’s chocolate and there’s…
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Fast Forward A parent was arrested after saying he would ‘burn’ down his son’s Jewish day school over mask policy
(JTA) — A parent of a child at a Jewish day school in North Miami Beach was arrested after saying he wanted to “burn this school to the f***|ing ground” in a group chat for parents opposed to the school’s mask policy, according to CBS Miami. Mark Polyakov’s son was a student at Scheck Hillel…
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Fast Forward Archives of the Bay Area’s Jewish newspaper going back to 1895 are now available online
(JTA) — On Sue Fishkoff’s first day as editor of J. The Jewish News of Northern California in 2011, she knew she needed to do something about the archives. At the time, the newspaper’s archives — which stretch all the way back to 1900 — were still housed in bound volumes stacked carelessly in the…
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Fast Forward Ivan Reitman, ‘Ghostbusters’ director and son of Auschwitz survivor, dies at 75
(JTA) — Ivan Reitman, a Hollywood director and producer who was born in Czechoslovakia and went on to helm “Ghostbusters” and other beloved American blockbuster comedies, died Saturday at 75. Reitman died in his sleep at his home in Montecito, California, according to the Associated Press. Reitman’s first major commercial success came in 1978 when…
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