Donald Trump’s transformation from real estate mogul and reality TV star to president reads like a strange American fairytale. Dogged by controversy, with no political experience, Trump is now the most powerful person in the world. To some, his triumph was so unlikely that there was only one way to explain in — God played…
A colleague burst into my office in Jerusalem on Sunday morning with the shocking news: “Did you hear that Alan Mintz died last night in New York?” I had to ask her to repeat what she had said. “Are you sure?” I stammered. “I just heard the news from one of his friends,” she replied….
Despite some speculation, rap superstar Kendrick Lamar does not belong to the Hebrew Israelite organization of which his cousin is a member, according to the group’s leader. “He is not committed to IUIC. So, just be aware of that,” Bishop Nathanyel, the founder and leader of Israel United In Christ, a New York-based Israelite group,…
NEW YORK (JTA) — Soon after Nechama Levy moved to Brooklyn five years ago, she opened a bicycle repair shop. The spacious, high-ceilinged store was just down the street from a new pub with exposed brick walls. Like many who have moved recently to the rapidly gentrifying borough, Levy, 33, was drawn to the area’s relatively…
Among the Jewish festivals, Shavuot has been the most sadly neglected by secular Jews, either because it falls outside the standard Hebrew school year or, after Passover, many of us just have serious holiday fatigue. This is a shame, because Shavuot has some nice features, namely encouragement of consumption of cheesecake and all-night study sessions….
When Israel is put in danger, American Jewish and pro-Israel groups usually churn out press statements and op-eds in great gushes. But when The New York Times reported this week that President Trump had revealed highly classified Israeli intelligence to top Russian officials, the Jewish communal outrage machine failed to engage. The usual fuel was…
The murder of a 27-year-old Jewish Democratic staffer is now being used to distract attention from criticism of President Trump. Massive coverage in conservative media outlets and websites, and a organized campaign to promote the news on social media, have taken a widely debunked story from the realm of obscure conspiracy into front-page news headlines,…
President Donald Trump about to embark on his first Middle East trip. News that he may have shared valuable Israeli intelligence with Russian officials has raised questions about the future of Israeli-American information sharing. Pro-Israel advocates in the Jewish world feel they are needed and sense an opportunity to influence policy. But the White House…
In a rare show of unity, Jewish students supportive of Israel at Northwestern University came together from different viewpoints Monday night to protest a convicted terrorist’s appearance on campus. The protesters—about 100 students—included members of J Street U, the student arm of the dovish Israel lobby; Wildcats for Israel, a group more closely aligned with…
When a 167-year-old synagogue burned to cinders Sunday, lingering hopes of preserving the old Jewish Lower East Side burned with it. Beth Hamedrash Hagadol had survived a century and half as the most visible monument to a Jewish community that has its spiritual roots on the crowded blocks between the Bowery and the East River….
One hundred and twenty years of Jewish history on Manhattan’s Lower East Side came to a tragic ending on Sunday night, as fire destroyed Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, one of the oldest synagogues in New York. For hours, smoke billowed above the neighborhood, once the heart of Jewish life in the city, and residents gathered to…
