After George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers sparked nationwide protests at the end of May, almost every major American Jewish organization released a statement condemning racism and expressing solidarity with the black community. In the ensuing weeks, some Jewish leaders have advocated for specific policy reforms: Hundreds have signed a letter…
White nationalist Richard Spencer comes from money, but he’s having financial trouble because of a lawsuit filed against him for his role as a leader of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. “I’m in a very difficult situation in terms of getting funds,” as a result of being booted off a number of…
“I experience racism in the Jewish community on a regular basis,” said Rabbi Sandra Lawson, one of four North Carolina rabbis behind an urgent call for American Jews to take action against police violence. “As a black queer woman, I don’t see a lot of people who look like me.” Long before Lawson was ordained,…
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed why city police have kicked dozens of Hasidic families out of Brooklyn parks over the past several weeks, even as protesters taking to the streets over the police killing of George Floyd have been allowed to gather in public, decisions that drew fierce criticism from the Orthodox…
Generation Z and Millennials, born between the early 1980s and the early 2010s, are having tough conversations with their parents, siblings, children and friends as America reckons, once again, with issues of police violence, privilege and white supremacy. They use FaceTime, Zoom, text message, email and the kitchen table. They talk about articles, news clips,…
The rapper Ice Cube courted controversy on Twitter Wednesday after tweeting out a series of memes linking Judaism to occult worship and implying that modern-day Jews are not descended from ancient Israelites. Related story: We need to talk about Ice Cube’s anti-Semitism allegations Ice Cube has tweeted hundreds of images and messages in support of…
A member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called Tuesday for his colleagues in the group to condemn the tweets of another member, seizing on the national outrage over racism and police brutality to spotlight a longstanding concern. Ken Bob, president of the progressive pro-Israel group Ameinu, started the campaign against…
Jewish protesters are putting their own spin on the signs they carry to Black Lives Matters rallies across the country. In Brooklyn, home to the largest Jewish community in the United States, signs have included religious and secular tropes, generally sharing a common theme— invoking Jewish identity. Here are just a few of the images…
BOSTON (JTA) – As a young girl, Sylvia Glenn enjoyed making chalk drawings on the sidewalk outside her family’s Brooklyn apartment. As an adult, that creative impulse led to a degree in art, professional work at national magazines (including Life) and a lifelong passion for the arts that she pursued well into her 90s. Glenn…
By her junior year of high school, Bella Saunders already knew that she wanted to take time off before college and apply her “skills, passions and Judaism” to a non-academic setting. But when the coronavirus pandemic disrupted her senior year at Atholton High School in Columbia, Md., the 17-year-old Saunders became even more certain of…
Of all the quarantine-created phenomena – Zoom cocktails, Zoom seders, Zoom dating – here’s one you may not have heard of yet: Jewish Geography Zoom Racing. The seventh episode, which has racked up a respectable 3,000-plus views ran on Facebook Live last weekend. In it, two competitors go head-to-head. Sometimes they know each other, sometimes…
