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Chicago’s Orthodox Neighborhood Is Kvelling — About Their New Gay, Black Mayor
The Jewish community in Chicago is one of the biggest in the country, and until recently, the mayor was Jewish, but leaders in the city’s largest Orthodox neighborhood said that a mayor hadn’t come to meet them there for decades – until June 15, that is. Lori Lightfoot, who took office last month, is the…
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This Great, Flawed Man Created A Jewish Boarding School — And Doomed It, Too
Chico had a vision. A wealthy aviation reinsurance magnate and a devoted Jew, Maurice “Chico” Sabbah took great pride in seeing the children of his Jewish community in Greensboro, North Carolina, become leaders of the faith. So he hatched a plan to make Greensboro — Jewish population, 3,000 — an international destination in elite Jewish…
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Sanders Breaks With AOC Over ‘Concentration Camps’ As Debate Rages On
What is a concentration camp? Is describing detention camps for immigrants together with the phrase “Never again” acceptable? Do these references trivialize the mass slaughter that took place in the Nazi-era death camps? The use of these words by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in reference to the “brutalizing” of illegal immigrants in detention centers on the…
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The Ocasio-Cortez Concentration Camp Debate, Explained
NEW YORK (JTA) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised a ruckus when she said detention centers holding undocumented immigrants on the southern border are “concentration camps.” “The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are,” the freshman New York Democrat said Monday night in an Instagram Live video. “If…
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IfNotNow Made An Impact With Its Birthright Protests. Now It’s Stopping Them.
Birthright Israel has sent 650,000 young Jews to Israel over the past two decades, and few have complained about their free trip to the Jewish state. But last summer, something strange started happening. Members of IfNotNow, the Jewish organization that raises awareness about Palestinian suffering and American complicity in it, would go on the trips…
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A Unique Jewish Boarding School Closes Abruptly, And Alumni Mourn
The American Hebrew Academy, a prestigious and ambitious Jewish boarding school in North Carolina, abruptly announced its closure Tuesday morning, surprising its students and leaving its faculty without jobs. The closure was announced in an email signed by both the AHA’s chief executive and the chairwoman of the board. The email was notification to most…
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This Rabbi Would Prefer That You Compost His Body, Not Bury It
When Rabbi Ted Falcon dies, plant a fig tree over his remains. Sorry, with his remains: Falcon wants his body to be composted. “I’m just trying to apply the principle of returning dust to dust,” he said. “How do you do that in the most productive way?” In May, Washington became the first state to…
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A New Black-Jewish Caucus Aims For Solidarity — But Will Israel Get In The Way?
Congress has hundreds of caucuses, collections of politicians with common interests in everything under the sun –- the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Medicare for All Caucus, the Chicken Caucus. On Monday, a new, bipartisan caucus was announced, one that hopes to rebuild a historic alliance that has lately seen some tensions: the Congressional Caucus on…
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Jews Of Color Have Been Consistently Undercounted By The American Jewish Establishment. Until Now.
Which demographic group of the American Jewish community has more members: Jews of color, or the Orthodox? They’re actually around the same size — 12-15% of American Jews, or about 1 million people — according to a new study released last week. The study aimed to correct the widespread misconception that American Jews are almost…
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How South Florida’s Alter Kockers Helped Legalize Medical Marijuana
Like many South Florida Jewish seniors, 92-year-old Ricki Marks didn’t need any persuading to support legalizing medical marijuana. Marks, a resident of a Palm Beach Gardens assisted living facility who brags that “I still have all my marbles,” voted for legalization twice, once in 2014 when it narrowly lost in a statewide referendum, and again…
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This Tiny Jewish School Builds Recruits For American, Israeli Militaries
At least one student from every graduating class at Carmel Academy has enlisted in the military. That wouldn’t be so remarkable if Carmel were a public school, or a large private school in an area with relatively high enlistment rates. But Carmel is a Jewish day school in Connecticut with 200 total graduates, 13 of…
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