“I have come here to apologize to my family, to the government, and to the American people.” These words — spoken last week by Michael Cohen before the House Oversight Committee — sound like the supplication of a humbled man, even a remorseful one. They may sway the hearts and minds of members of Congress…
In January the New York state legislature passed its most permissive abortion law yet. The bill expands access to late term abortions and allows medical staff other than doctors to perform abortions. Its supporters see the bill as a legal bulwark against the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case which established a…
It only takes two milliliters of spit — less than half a teaspoon — to map your DNA. But, as it turns out, that’s kind of a lot of spit. Last week, JScreen, a non-profit Jewish genetic testing service, visited Yeshiva University, hundreds of mostly Orthodox students came through to summon enough spit to ship…
Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday that he planned to file charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The charges cannot officially go forward until a hearing where Netanyahu can contest the accusations, which might not happen until long after the April 9 elections. Netanyahu has denied the…
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked earlier this month to bring into his government a disciple of the racist rabbi Meir Kahane, American Jewish groups sprang into action in an unprecedented way. The surprise? Centrist groups like AIPAC – which almost never make public statements criticizing Israeli politics or policies – did exactly that….
A rabbi in Youngstown, Ohio who is running for the Green Party’s presidential nomination was fired Wednesday under disputed circumstances. Rabbi Dario Hunter said he was dismissed because of comments he made to the news site Cleveland.com in an article about his presidential run, in which he said the U.S. should stop providing aid to…
Allison Borsuk-Georgandas became a foster mother on Super Bowl Sunday, 2017. She was hosting her family for the game when foster care workers arrived with a 20-month-old boy who needed a loving home — right away. The family sprang into action: Borsuk-Georgandas’ nieces, then 3 and 8, played with him. Her brother tossed a ball…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Myron Kaliski knew he was taking a risk when he announced on Facebook that he inherited emotional suffering from his abusive Holocaust survivor father. “My father never really left the camps … and in a sense, neither have I,” Kaliski wrote. “When I didn’t do things to…
When arguments about Israel became the central issue in a mundane election for low-level California Democratic Party posts last month, things got weird. There were secret votes, bruised feelings, a cameo by Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign co-chair – and a preview of how the shifting Democratic discourse on Israel could make for a difficult year…
How does a Republican win a citywide race in Democrat-dominated New York City? Court the Orthodox Jews. At least, that’s the argument that supporters of New York City Council member Eric Ulrich are making in next week’s special election for Public Advocate, in which 17 candidates are vying in a nonpartisan election to spend the…
On a recent Thursday afternoon in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, Orthodox Jewish men of all ages were rushing towards 770 Eastern Parkway, the headquarters of the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement, for prayers. On their way, a few paused to speak about their frustration over a spike in assaults on Orthodox Jews in the neighborhood…
