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…
(JTA) — A young Orthodox Jewish couple and their baby were slashed by a knife-wielding man near a New York City park. The father fought off the attacker and suffered injuries to his head that needed 12 stitches, according to the local news site BoroPark24. The mother suffered injuries to her lip and the baby…
(JTA) — Rabbi Michael Cook, who identified and then fulfilled a need for Jewish rabbis to navigate a culture steeped in New Testament learning, has died. Cook died March 30 at 79, said a statement from Hebrew Union College that did not name a cause. Cook for decades taught a required course on the New…
(JTA) — Amid the ongoing civil war in Yemen, 13 Jews have immigrated to Egypt, leaving the country’s once vibrant community of at least 50,000 with a population of fewer than 10. Some reports claimed that the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control part of Yemen, forced the Jews to leave. The Times of Israel reported…
Some critics of indicted former tax collector Joel Micah Greenberg — and there are many — are confused about whether or not he is Jewish. Lynn Moira Dictor is not. “Everyone thinks that with a name like Joel Micah Greenberg that he’s a member of the Tribe, but he’s not,” said Dictor, a liberal Democrat…
There is a possible solution to Salmonella contamination in your kosher hummus: Shrimp and crabs. On Monday, Sabra, the world’s leading hummuseria, issued a voluntary recall on some containers of its Classic Hummus, a certified kosher product, for possible Salmonella contamination. According to a statement by Sabra and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), approximately…
If you weren’t already interested in learning Yiddish, Duolingo may have given you another reason, — free bagels! That’s right, in honor of the launch of a new Yiddish course on the popular language-learning platform, Duolingo is offering to pay for your bagel order at a handful of stores around the country when the course…
(JTA) — PBS has decided to postpone airing the documentary “Til Kingdom Come,” which examines the close relationship between American evangelicals and Israel, in the light of accusations that the film misleadingly spliced together two separate parts of a speech by former President Donald Trump. The film, which was directed by the Russian-Israeli documentary filmmaker…
Israel’s national baseball team will be training in New York state ahead of the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics this summer, Israel’s Association of Baseball announced. The team is partnering with the New York Boulders, a Frontier League team who play in Rockland County, New York. “The Boulders have graciously welcomed Team Israel to make use of…
President Joe Biden made an appearance at the White House Passover celebration on Thursday, telling the nearly 10,000 virtual attendees one way in which this year’s seder is different from all others: “Not only ‘next year in Jerusalem,’ but ‘next year in person!’” “As we seek to rebuild from a time of struggle and loss,…
(JTA) — There’s never been a great, definitive American movie about a bar mitzvah. And after “Donny’s Bar Mitzvah,” a new movie that arrived this week on Amazon Prime and iTunes, there still hasn’t been. The film, directed by Jonathan Kaufman (referred to in the media notes as “Jonny Comebacks”), is an indie comedy set…
