(JTA) — In the middle of a racy viral Instagram video that preceded his firing from a broadcasting gig at ESPN, NBA legend Paul Pierce spent over a minute lauding the Jewish ritual of a sit-down Shabbat dinner. Pierce is not Jewish, but during the live-streamed video from his house over the weekend — the…
(JTA) — Jewish residents of a Paris suburb chased and overpowered a man whom witnesses said tried to stab three Jews, then handed him over to police. The suspect, a 35-year-old from Pakistan, approached the men from behind near a synagogue in Sarcelles on Wednesday evening, Le Parisien reported. The men were wearing yarmulkes. René…
(JTA) — Yale will launch beginner Yiddish classes in the fall that will allow students to fulfill their language requirements, according to the Yale Daily News. Yiddish studies now offered at the Ivy League university focus on reading for translation and research purposes rather than on spoken Yiddish. The courses did not count toward its…
(JTA) — The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, the U.S. military’s elite language school in Monterey, California, is dropping Hebrew from its roster of languages due to low demand. Natela Cutter, a spokeswoman for the institute, said Tuesday that the current class underway would be the last in Monterey, but the language would still…
An eastern Queens Council candidate is calling for community-based initiatives and cross-ethnic solidarity to deal with the recent spike in antisemitic incidents and anti-Asian hate crimes. Jaslin Kaur, a South Asian candidate in the 23rd Council District, released a detailed plan, titled “Standing up to antisemitism and hate violence,” that seeks to move away from…
The world’s largest Jewish film festival will get even larger this year. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the Miami Jewish Film Festival will be a hybrid live and virtual event this year. This new format will enable a potentially nationwide audience the opportunity to view some of the festival’s 145 selected films online for free. Miamians…
Amid ongoing calls from Jewish students and alumni for the date to be moved, the University of Pennsylvania has said it will not be altering the date of its planned commencement ceremony, which currently falls on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. As of Tuesday morning, more than 1,600 individuals had signed a petition asking that…
As was expected, President Reuven Rivlin tasked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming Israel’s next government. On Monday evening, after the end of the consultations, the possibility was raised that Lapid and Bennett could jointly request that Rivlin postpone his decision until Wednesday. Lapid was the first to say no. Despite Netanyahu’s empty accusations and…
George Soros donated $500 million to Bard College last week, building on previous donations to the school with what college officials said was the largest single gift ever made to an American institution of higher education. “This is the most historic moment since the college’s founding in 1860,” said Bard College President Leon Botstein in…
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive firebrand from New York, shared her views on solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comparing it to the fight against the federal government’s abusive treatment of detained children at the southern border. “The value of human rights is really the path to peace here,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a conversation with Rabbi Michael…
Two dozen international liberal Jewish organizations sent a letter to the chairman of the Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemeth Leisrael Sunday threatening a boycott if the agency moves ahead with its plans to purchase land in the West Bank. “If this decision is not rejected and reversed by the Board of JNF-KKL, we pledge to lend…
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