Taglit-Birthright will be canceling all its remaining trips to Israel this summer as of Wednesday, now that all passengers arriving in the country from the United States will be required to quarantine. A spokesperson for Birthright, which provides free, 10-day trips to Israel, said that 42 trips had been canceled because of the new seven-day…
(JTA) — Roberta Kaplan, the feminist lawyer who is prominent in New York’s Jewish community, is quitting “Time’s Up,” the group that has championed victims of sexual harassment, because of her role in advising an accused harasser, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. In her letter Monday, first obtained by The New York Times, Kaplan said…
(JTA) — In their fifth Olympic appearance, Sue Bird and teammate Diana Taurasi made history: They won their fifth gold medal, the only basketball players — men’s or women’s — ever to achieve that feat. Bird and Taurasi helped the U.S. women’s basketball win their seventh consecutive gold medal, defeating Japan 90-75 on Sunday, the…
(JTA) — Ted Cruz has “chutzpah” — on the tip of his tongue. The Republican Texas senator’s frequent use of the Yiddish word for gumption caught the ear of Trevor Noah, host of “The Daily Show,” the nightly comedic take on the news. On Thursday night, Noah’s show aired a compilation of clips of Cruz…
(JTA) — In 2016, Beatie Deutsch placed sixth in the Jerusalem half marathon. Watching Deutsch, an Israeli born in America, you would have never guessed that she had taken up running only four months earlier. The following year she ran the Tel Aviv Marathon while seven months pregnant with her fifth child (really!). Even while…
(JTA) — Linoy Ashram won the gold medal in the rhythmic gymnastics contest at the Tokyo Olympics Saturday, narrowly beating out her Russian competitor to become the first Israeli woman to win an Olympic gold medal. The medal was Israel’s second gold at the Tokyo games and third in any Olympic contest. Ashram’s winning score,…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Michael Herzog, a brigadier general who has a longtime relationship with an influential Washington think tank, will be the next ambassador to the United States, according to Israeli media reports. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have settled on Herzog, the brother of President Isaac Herzog, for the role,…
VIDIN, Bulgaria (JTA) — For 40 years, the central synagogue in this port city has resembled the town’s Jewish population — barely existent and rapidly aging. The synagogue, which was built in the 19th century, is quite literally a shell of its former self. Vines creep up the side of the stone walls and the…
(JTA) — After failing to make the indoor volleyball team for the 2016 Olympics, Alix Klineman decided she would switch her sport to beach volleyball. She explained, “I looked at the beach as a new opportunity and a chance to chase my dreams without anybody having to give me approval or put me on a roster.”…
(JTA) — For Chabad-Lubavitch, major events aren’t over until they take a group photograph. The tradition, covering the international Hasidic movement, creates much more than a souvenir. It has also generated a visual record of Chabad’s growth from a small group in the 18th century in what was then the Russian empire to a global…
President Joe Biden has picked Chanan Weissman as the administration’s liaison to the American Jewish community, a position he held in the Obama administration and one of the highest profile jobs at the intersection of American Jewry and government, sources familiar with the decision confirmed. Weissman, 37, currently a staffer on the National Security Council,…
