Within seconds of getting off the bus a bag of chocolate milk came flying at me. I caught it, bit it open, recited the shehakol blessing — that was the point, to make a blessing on this holy ground — and sucked down the whole thing. I looked at my friends in awe: What was…
The Mount Hermon tragedy Thursday, in which at least 45 people were killed during a Lag Ba’Omer celebration in Israel, is an unusual event in modern Jewish history. While large crowds and religious fervor often make for a dangerous combination, the lack of many organized pilgrimages in Judaism means that Jews have rarely been caught…
Editor’s note: Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews were killed in a stampede on April 29, 2021, while celebrating Lag B’Omer in the city of Meron in northern Israel. As details of the horrific incident are still unfolding, we are republishing this 2017 article with background on the festival. What is Lag B’Omer? Lag B’Omer is one…
(JTA) – The odds are long that David Cohen can become the first Jewish jockey to win a Kentucky Derby. Cohen’s horse, Keepmeinmind, is a 50-1 shot in the early line for Saturday’s Triple Crown race at Churchill Downs in Louisville. But don’t bet against the 36-year-old rider, who has won some 1,560 races and…
If you had to stand outside through 40 years of Chicago winters, you wouldn’t look so good either. That’s why a beloved piece of Chicago public art, the Chicago Jewish Mural, just underwent a major, much-needed renovation. Four decades ago, artists, friends and activists, Cynthia Weiss and Miriam Socoloff, created a glass mosaic mural that…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — When Walter Bingham moved to Israel following a long career as a host on British radio, he applied for a job at Kol Israel, one of the country’s leading broadcasters. He came in for an interview but was rejected: At 80 years old, Bingham was told, he was past the station’s mandatory…
LONDON (JTA) — Two of London’s most prestigious Jewish schools are in turmoil after they were implicated on a website for Brits to share their stories of sexual abuse. The website, Everyone’s Invited, launched in March after the disappearance and murder of Sarah Everard launched a national conversation about the safety of women. Among the…
THE CITY filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city Department of Education after the agency refused to provide documents related to its investigation of the content and quality of instruction at Jewish religious schools in Brooklyn. The DOE launched its probe of the yeshivas in mid-2015 in response to complaints from former students and advocates…
The graffiti messages scrawled around Miami in March, on the eve of Passover and Holocaust Remembrance Day, were shocking: “The Jews are the Problem” “Zionism is Satanism.” Most ominously in this city filled with Cubans and other Latin Americans who fled communist governments, was this one: “Communism is Judaism.” The phrase echoed a trend towards…
Six years ago, the Jewish American community was evenly divided over a key issue that would help define President Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy. A survey conducted by the Jewish Journal in July 2015 showed that 49% of American Jews supported the nuclear deal with Iran while 31% were opposed. The debate tore apart even…
A senior leader of the Reform movement whose rabbinic privileges were briefly suspended two decades ago for “personal relationships” that violated ethical codes in fact engaged in “sexually predatory” behavior with at least three women, including one who was a minor when the misconduct began, an independent investigation by Manhattan’s Central Synagogue has found. Rabbi…
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