A Ukrainian Jewish soccer player who planned to take his talents to Israel
(JTA) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s direct and emotional appeal to the world’s Jews on Wednesday marked something of a departure for him. Before and during Russia’s war on his country, Zelenskyy had spoken plainly to civilians on both sides of the conflict, but he hadn’t directly addressed those outside the country. And for his…
(JTA) — (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Thirty-five New York politicians have signed onto a letter from The Blue Card, a nonprofit helping Holocaust survivors, asking Optimum Cable to drop Russian TV stations that the letter says are spreading “pro-Putin propaganda.” “We were shocked to learn that Optimum TV’s Russian cable package includes…
(JTA) — Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Jewish Ukrainian president under siege, said he was moved by pictures of Israelis standing in solidarity with his country during the Russian invasion — but not so much the Israeli leadership. “I saw a beautiful picture today,” he said in remarks translated into Hebrew by YNet, the Israeli news outlet…
(JTA) — Keira Knightley is lending her voice to an animated film on the story of Charlotte Salomon, a German-Jewish painter who produced hundreds of works in hiding during World War II before being deported to Auschwitz. “Charlotte,” set for release in theaters on April 22, follows Salomon from her early years growing up in…
(JTA) — Until just a few months ago, David Cherkaskyi was finishing a degree in cybersecurity, praying at his Chabad synagogue and posting selfies from his travels across the Jewish world. Now, he’s standing by in his hometown of Dnipro, Ukraine, “ready to kill Russian soldiers.” The 20-year-old Hasidic Jew and his father Asher are…
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — As “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” tries to make abundantly clear, stand-up comedy is a New York Jewish thing. The show is set in an era when Jewish comics were defining the art form in Manhattan night clubs and Catskill Mountain resorts: Lenny Bruce, Joan Rivers, Woody Allen, Elaine…
(JTA) — Jewish women mate for life. Jewish scientists invented the gas that Hitler used to kill them — and the abortion pill, and that might make them the same thing. Which is why Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. Or something. Kentucky state Rep. Danny Bentley, a Republican, floated all these canards in…
(JTA) — Before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, the Hillel chapter in Kharkiv was preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary this spring. In fact, just one week ago, the group working with Jewish students and young adults was advertising a Saturday evening game night. Now, its home has been destroyed, and Hillel International, the network of…
The Russian missile that hit Babyn Yar Tuesday damaged a Jewish cemetery and a Soviet-era sports complex but not a new synagogue or the “field of remembrance,” Natan Sharansky, chairman of the advisory board for the site’s memorial center, said in an interview Wednesday. The field honors the more than 33,000 Jewish victims of a…
The top State Department official on antisemitism told American Jewish leaders Wednesday that he is worried about religious sites in Ukraine. “Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion now may include destruction to religious and cultural sites in Ukraine,” said Aaron Keyak, the deputy envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, on a Zoom call hosted by the…
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