(JTA) — Emma Saltzberg knew she might invite criticism by competing on “Jeopardy!” From her years of experience in progressive Jewish groups, including IfNotNow, a group founded in 2014 to galvanize American Jews to oppose Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, she knew that her appearance on one of the most popular TV shows in the United…
(JTA) — Like most Israelis, Yonatan Winetraub loves hummus, and its protein-packed base legume: the chickpea. But unlike most, Winetraub also has the ability to send chickpeas into space. Winetraub, 35, is one of the three founders of SpaceIL, an Israeli nonprofit best known for attempting to land a spaceship on the moon — the…
Two congregants who worship at a Michigan synagogue targeted every Shabbat by anti-Jewish and anti-Israel protesters are planning to appeal a court ruling requiring them to pay the protesters $159,000 in attorneys fees. The congregants had sued the protesters, who have been showing up weekly for 18 years across the street from Beth Israel Congregation…
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Mel Mermelstein, a Holocaust survivor who won a five-year court battle forcing a right-wing Holocaust-denying organization to retract its claim and pay hefty damages, died Jan. 28 at the age of 95 from complications of COVID-19. Weeks later, tributes to Mermelstein are continuing to arrive at the family home in Long…
(JTA) — Police in Orange County, Florida, arrested three men accused of violence and theft during a neo-Nazi rally in Orlando that made national headlines. Local media identified the men as Joshua Terrell, 46; Jason Brown, 47; and Burt Colucci, 45. Terrell and Colucci are charged with battery, but officials said that charge could later…
(JTA) — Kuwait has banned the upcoming blockbuster film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile” because Israeli Gal Gadot stars in it. The Al-Qabas newspaper reported that the decision was made in response to complaints about Gadot on social media, and a spokesperson for the Gulf country’s information ministry confirmed the ban to…
(JTA) — Activists on the Jewish left celebrated over the weekend as Emma Saltzberg, a Jewish activist who helped co-found the Jewish anti-occupation group IfNotNow, extended a “Jeopardy!” winning streak that has some comparing her to the game show’s most successful contestants. Saltzberg has taken the lead for three episodes in a row and currently…
(JTA) — (New York Jewish Week via JTA) – Steadfast listeners of “Borscht Beat” — a weekly FM radio show featuring Jewish music, old and new — will be thrilled to hear of host Aaron Bendich’s latest project: a new Jewish record label of the same name. On his hour-long radio program, the 27-year-old plays…
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the rabbi taken hostage in his Texas synagogue during Shabbat prayer services, is expected to testify before a House committee Tuesday on the need for increased security funding for synagogues and other vulnerable nonprofits. Cytron-Walker credited security training he received with helping to save his and his congregants’ lives last month. After…
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — A federal investigation has been launched into complaints by Jewish students at Brooklyn College that they have been subjected to “severe and persistent harassment” in the Mental Health Counseling master’s program. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights last week informed the Louis D. Brandeis Center for…
In his new memoir, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman — nominated by former President Donald Trump — takes aim at Democrats from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to pro-Israel Rep. Ted Deutch. But those politicians say Friedman’s recollections in the book, scheduled for release Tuesday, are wrong. Friedman writes of dressing down Deutch after…
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