Stewart Ain, an award-winning veteran journalist, covers the Jewish community. Follow him on Twitter @AinStewart or email stewartain@gmail.com.
Stewart Ain
By Stewart Ain
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News Faux pets help Holocaust survivors stave off loneliness
Gerda Weissfeld’s faux poodle sat in her lap and barked as she pet him. “You’re a good boy,” Weissfeld, 102, told the beige-and-white puppy as he continued to bark, seemingly in response to her touch. “He is an intelligent doggy. I call him Peter,” she said. “Sometimes you think he’s real.” Weissfeld, Great Neck, L.I.,…
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News Whatever happened to that John Hopkins teaching assistant who wanted to punish ‘Zionist students?’
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has reportedly concluded its investigation into the actions of a teaching assistant who asked in a tweet last Nov. 15 if she could lower the grade of “Zionist students” because of their support for “ethnic cleansing.” But the university has not disclosed its findings nor replied to those asking what…
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Fast Forward Orthodox woman’s lawsuit against social work school can go forward
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a suit against The City University of New York and its trustees filed by an Orthodox Jewish woman who claims that she was denied admission to the university’s social work school because of her religious background. The applicant, Faigy Rachel Weiss of Brooklyn, plausibly alleges that university officials…
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News Jewish camps for kids with cancer take extraordinary precautions this summer to protect campers’ health
As the pandemic subsides, Jewish camps across the nation are taking precautions against COVID-19, and have opened for a mostly normal summer. But camps that serve children with chronic diseases and disabilities, who may be particularly vulnerable to COVID, have had to be extraordinarily careful to protect their campers — even if it means postponing…
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News David Mermelstein, Holocaust survivor who fought Nazi-era insurance companies, dies at 92
David Mermelstein, a survivor of Auschwitz who devoted much of his life to helping fellow survivors and educating children about the Holocaust, died July 6 in Miami at the age of 92. Mermelstein regularly spoke to elementary, middle and high school students in Miami-Dade County. In addition, he participated in special mentor programs at Miami-Dade…
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News A Jewish comedian tees off — and now the feds are after him
It’s not a laughing matter. Jake Adams’ plan was to draw a lot of attention to himself, help his stand-up comedy career and have a good time to boot. But it ended up going terribly wrong and now he is facing federal charges, and the ensuing bad publicity has cost him a social media job…
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News From Torah heists to hurricane-proof scrolls, synagogues encounter bumps on way to Torah ownership
For the past nine years, Rabbi Mitchell Nesenoff has been asking synagogues if they would donate one of their Torahs to him for use in his congregation, Temple Adat Yisrael in Lagos, Nigeria. None agreed. “When you represent a synagogue in Nigeria, people don’t believe you,” he said. “Nigeria has a terrible reputation because of…
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News ‘A small community in the hinterlands’: Meet the Jews of Tokyo
The Olympic Games begin in Tokyo July 23, but no international spectators will be permitted. It’s an unfortunate turn of events for the city’s Jewish community, said Jerry Rosenberg, a former president of the Jewish Community of Japan, an egalitarian synagogue in Tokyo. In fact, Rosenberg said the 100-family congregation “had big plans” for the…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Fast Forward Rep. Ritchie Torres, outspoken pro-Israel advocate, is dropping hints that he could run for NY governor
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Fast Forward Ursula Haverbeck, infamous German Holocaust denier known as ‘Nazi grandma,’ dies at 96
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Fast Forward A Jewish museum in Tulsa held a funeral for remains of Holocaust victims it kept for years
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Sports Texas A&M’s Sam Salz cherishes his first taste of DI college football — and the opportunity to inspire fellow Orthodox Jews
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