Chuck Schumer is a hard act to follow. The 70-year-old Senate Majority Leader imbues all he does with his scrappy Brooklyn Jewish upbringing. Kristen Gillibrand, the junior senator from upstate New York who was raised Catholic, has a much more nuanced relationship with her state’s Jewish citizens. In an interview after the inauguration of Joe…
Jessica Colvin recalled her two sons’ devastation last year when Camp Tawonga, an overnight JCC camp in California, announced that it would not open due to the pandemic. “The day I told them camp was canceled was probably the hardest day of their spring,” Colvin said. “There was a lot of a hope it was…
The co-manager of Andrew Yang’s campaign to become mayor of New York City made controversial comments about Israel in 2012 that could complicate the candidate’s recent outreach efforts to the Orthodox communities of Brooklyn and other Jewish voters. Yang, who recent polls show is the current frontrunner in the crowded June primaries of the NYC…
Jonathan Kempner, a 69-year-old Maryland resident, hasn’t seen his daughter in nearly a year. The day he became eligible for a vaccine — Jan. 25 — he sat at his computer, ready to click on all eight possible registration links the moment the clock struck 12:01 a.m. None worked. Early that morning (“I’m not a…
The bobsled/skeleton track in Germany is about 2 ½ miles from Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s vacation home. When Jared Firestone of Hollywood, Florida, competed on that track last season as a member of the Israeli team, he made sure to wear a helmet he had specially emblazoned with the Star of David. “It was important for…
After 131 years, Quaker Oats announced this week that it will replace Aunt Jemima’s familiar name and face on all of its products with the logo for “Pearl Milling Company,” a homage to the St. Louis company which first invented the product. Aunt Jemima became one of the world’s most prominent racist stereotypes thanks, in…
When New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio released a list of 33 neighborhoods that would be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccine appointments and sites, Brooklyn’s main Orthodox neighborhoods were not on it, prompting renewed accusations that he has treated those communities unfairly in regard to the pandemic. Borough Park, Williamsburg and Crown Heights – neighborhoods…
BERLIN (JTA) — There’s a swastika drawn inside of a high school bathroom stall. Dima Liebermann, the protagonist of the German short film “Masel Tov Cocktail,” uses a marker to alter the hate symbol, giving it eyes and wings. “Nice owl,” a woman smoking in the stall with Dima says. “Nazi owl,” he replies with…
The red-Starbucks-cup, jingles-in-pharmacies, wrapping-paper-raffle holiday season may have ended on Jan. 1, but for the more than five million Americans of Asian descent who celebrate Lunar New Year, the stretch of holidays isn’t quite over. For many, one of the most important holidays of 2021 falls on Friday, Feb. 12 — a coincidence some have…
This piece was originally published in Jewish&, a publication of Be’chol Lashon. Growing up in San Francisco, Rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin and her siblings went to Hebrew school to learn about Jewish traditions, and to Chinese school and summer camps in the city’s Chinatown. The senior rabbi at Temple Sinai in Oakland rarely experienced the feelings…
This article is adapted from The Branch, a monthly podcast exploring individual relationships between Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians. The Branch is produced by Hadassah and created by Dina Kraft, a journalist based in Tel Aviv. Sign up here to listen to episodes and be notified when new episodes are published. The workday for…
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