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The Federation Rubber-Stamped His Donations. Then He Tried To Give To IfNotNow.
At the beginning of this year, like he did every year, Alan Sussman asked the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle to donate some of his family fund’s money to a charity of his choice. This time, though, things went awry. That’s because the group Sussman wanted to support was IfNotNow, the left-wing Jewish group that…
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Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Debut Novel Is Extremely Jewish
In mid-June, Allison Benedikt, the executive editor of Slate, was attending a book reading to celebrate Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut novel, “Fleishman Is in Trouble.” Since its publication, the book, which tells the story of a messy divorce on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has hit the New York Times bestseller list and received glowing reviews for…
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This Innocent-Seeming Group Is Actually A Major White Nationalist Organization
“Hundreds of illegal immigrants from the Congo are showing up on the streets of Texas. Jewish organizations have instructed them on how to fly to Ecuador & how to travel to the U.S. and how to claim asylum.” Those words appeared in an online chat room for members of the “American Identity Movement.” That’s the…
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Instead Of ‘Netflix And Chill,’ They Log On To Their Synagogues
Rabbi Rachel Cowan, the mother of the “Jewish healing” movement, was hailed throughout the Jewish world for giving new life to the ancient practice of visiting a sickly person to pray over them. And in the moment she needed such prayer most desperately, it came in force — via the internet. Last year, Cowan’s friends…
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Why Don’t More Jews Like Bernie Sanders?
The first sign of trouble might have been in May, when a poll showed him doing far worse among his fellow Jews than with Democratic voters in general. Or it could have been in July, when the Forward found that Jews formed a smaller part of his major donor base than nearly every other candidate….
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Will Jeffrey Epstein Get A Jewish Burial, Despite His Crimes And Sins?
Updated 9:40 a.m. When a Jew dies, it swiftly sets in motion a succession of ancient customs, often carried out by the local community. The body is guarded until burial. A special group — called a “holy society” in Hebrew — prepares the body for burial in a custom called the tahara, the purification. Prayers…
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ADL’s Top Security Expert Says We Need A ‘Wholesale Rethink’ On How To Stop White Nationalism
George Selim knows more about fighting domestic terrorism than almost anyone – and four days after a white nationalist gunman killed 22 people in an El Paso Walmart, he said the United States is doing it wrong. These days, Selim is a senior vice president at the Anti-Defamation League in charge of their education and…
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Pittsburgh’s Survivors Brace Themselves For The Saddest Day Of The Jewish Year
For Jews, the saddest day of the year is almost here. It’s a holiday called Tisha B’Av; it happens this weekend, and it compresses every Jewish tragedy into one searing day of fasting and mourning. The First and Second Temples were both destroyed on “Tisha,” or the ninth, of the Hebrew month of Av, according…
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Jewish Charities Took Epstein’s Money For Years. So What Should They Do Now?
In 2008, Jeffrey Epstein, a financier and philanthropist, pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor and registered as a sex offender. In 2017, one of the biggest Jewish charities in America accepted a $50,000 donation from him. In 2019, Epstein was accused of new sex trafficking charges. Now what? That charity, UJA-Federation of New…
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AOC Has A Lot To Say About Israel, Antisemitism And Her Possible Sephardic Roots
(JTA) — Despite the president calling her an anti-Israel Jew-hater, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t actually said a ton about Israel and the Jews. Until now, that is. In a lengthy radio interview Tuesday, AOC expounded on a huge range of Jewish topics — from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to anti-Semitism to Jewish social justice activism to…
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Epstein Ties Trigger Debate Over Ethics Of Wexner Foundation’s Importance
A fraught email exchange posted to Facebook has highlighted one New York yeshiva’s initial attempts to discuss a difficult question: What do Jewish organizations do about the Wexner Foundation? The Wexner Foundation was created by Les Wexner, the real estate mogul who funneled $200 million to the sex trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein. It has been…
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