(JTA) — Parts of Brooklyn that had high COVID test positivity rates in early October, including some with large Orthodox Jewish communities, will face fewer restrictions after seeing the rates fall. The neighborhoods labeled “red zones” last month have been reduced to “orange,” the middle level for restrictions. One of the neighborhoods is Midwood, which…
(JTA) — Two conservative Jewish organizations known for their support of President Donald Trump’s Israel policies will not call Joe Biden “president-elect” until legal challenges are settled, reflecting a consolidation of right-wing backing for Trump’s refusal to concede. “We will be referring to ‘President-elect’ Biden when the states certify the election and the courts have…
Progressives are coming out swinging against the prospective appointment of Rahm Emanuel to President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Monday that appointing Emanuel to the cabinet would “signal… a hostile approach to the grass-roots and the progressive wing of the party,” reported The New York Times. Emanuel is being considered for transportation…
Parler, a social networking site that bills itself as “the free speech social network” has hit the top of both Apple and Google app store download charts in the wake of Joe Biden’s electoral victory, called by news media on Saturday. Though exact numbers are not clear, the site’s founder posted on the site that…
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s Jewish son-in-law, has joined the growing chorus urging the president to concede defeat in his reelection bid, CNN’s White House correspondent, Kaitlin Collins, reported. Some news — Jared Kushner has approached President Trump about conceding the election, per two sources. — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 8, 2020 That puts him…
Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Jewish day-school-educated and kosher-keeping attorney general, found himself in the spotlight last week when he became a symbol of opposition to the president’s baseless claims of election fraud. Shapiro was a frequent guest on news shows, explaining the ballot counting process in Pennsylvania and reassuring the country that he had seen no…
(JTA) — Al Gross, the Jewish doctor whose challenge to Alaska’s Republican senator attracted deep support from across the United States, is lagging badly in early vote counts. But with nearly half of ballots yet to be tallied, Gross is declining to concede, saying that he believes his campaign will ultimately prevail. “The dynamics of…
The announcement by several national publications on Saturday that Joe Biden was the presumptive winner of the 2020 presidential election triggered a joyful, Jewish-inflected gathering at Grand Army Plaza, a civil war memorial that has served as a site of protest in recent months. The spontaneous party drew drew Sen. Charles Schumer, a shofar-blowing rabbi…
Jon Ossoff, the Jewish candidate for Georgia’s Senate seat, is set to enter a runoff race with his opponent, incumbent David Perdue. The two will face off again in a special election scheduled for Jan. 5. An Ossoff win would help the Democrats strengthen their Senate minority, and maybe even help them get to the…
Jon Ossoff, the Jewish Senate candidate running as a Democrat for one of Georgia’s seats, is headed toward a runoff with his opponent, Republican incumbent David Perdue. Though some ballots remain to be counted, it appears neither Ossoff nor Perdue will clear the 50% threshold of the vote to win the race outright. Over the…
(JTA) — The remains of a Jewish poet were reburied in Belarus under a crucifix in a ceremony that featured prayers by priests. The reburial of Shmuel Yefimovich Plavnik, better known by his pen name Zmitrok Byaduli, took place on Tuesday at a Christian cemetery in Minsk, promoting critics to complain that it erased the…
