49 Reasons Why 2016 Wasn't as Bad as You Think
No options but jail or death; look askance at a cop at your own peril; we’re failing our kids, our young adults, our own humanity. These are but some of the messages Anna Deavere Smith channeled in her indelible show, “Notes From the Field.” Melding journalism, anthropology and performance, Smith stitched a riveting investigation of…
‘Next Thing,” the latest album from Frankie Cosmos, is a masterclass in “Less is more.” The album has 15 songs but runs for only 28 minutes. These 28 minutes, however, have significantly more depth than their run-time suggests. Lead singer Greta Kline (daughter of actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates) uses bare bones synths and…
It’s been almost six months since Seth Rich was gunned down on a dark Washington street. His father, Joel Rich, still says Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, every day. The rabbi says he shouldn’t stop until he’s ready. But Joel and Mary Rich are grieving for their son, a 27-year-old staffer at the…
Read the Original Story This year saw the Supreme Court issue its most consequential abortion rights decision of the last quarter century. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt the court ruled that the restrictive plethora of laws and rules that some states were issuing to regulate abortion—purportedly to ensure the health and safety of women—were…
Read the Original Articles Here President-Elect Donald Trump’s appointment of David Friedman, a supporter of the radical right-wing settler movement in Israel, as his ambassador to the Jewish state has given a huge shot in the arm to exclusively Jewish settlements in the West Bank whose expansion up to now Washington has opposed as illegitimate…
Read the Original Stories Here From Madagascar to Zimbabwe, Jews, would-be Jews and thousands of Africans who are simply Jewish-curious are turning up. The phenomenon is continent-wide. but nowhere is the story more amazing than in Nigeria, where the Igbo—at 30 million people, one of the country’s major ethnic groups—have long seen themselves as descended…
Read the Original Story Here Does the Palestinian Authority subsidize terrorists? And if so, do American funds, which help to keep the P.A. afloat, effectively do so, too? That’s a question that has been kicking around for years, in particular within right-wing circles, where activists have long lambasted both America and Israel for failing to…
Read the Original Article Here College campuses today can whiplash many young Jews with two seemingly contradictory big ideas: the importance of openness, equality and non-discrimination; and the importance of taking pride in and asserting the values that stem from one’s own cultural background. An investigation by the Forward in September demonstrated that the tension…
Read Original Stories Here The national movement that has emerged from the killing of Michael Brown, a black teenager, by Ferguson, Missouri police in August 2014, has grown to become a force that no national politician can ignore. Many Jewish activists have rallied to this cause. But this year, the movement’s Jewish supporters faced an…
Read the Original Stories Here Standing Rock, the North Dakota encampment where thousands of Native Americans and their supporters this year staged a stand against Big Oil, attracted many Jews in 2016. One, 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky, almost lost her arm; an explosion that activists said came from a stun grenade tossed by local law enforcement…
Israel fears that the United States and France want to advance another move on the Israeli-Palestinian issue before President Obama leaves office on January 20. A senior official in Jerusalem said that during Sunday’s security cabinet meeting, ministers were presented with an assessment that during the international foreign ministers’ meeting scheduled for January 15 in…
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