In March, a friend of mine posted an article that appeared in these pages about Orthodox Jewish families who hired drivers to take their undocumented workers to Florida for Passover. The families subjected the workers to long and arduous journeys, risking their deportation so that they could have help for the holiday. The friend who…
The Synagogue Vegan Challenge was simple. Five synagogues. $25,000, distributed equally between them. A commitment to giving a year’s worth of vegan programming. Funding was provided by VegFund, a program that provides grants vegan activists of all sorts. The money, as per the Q&A on the site, is designated only for the purchasing of vegan…
The Orthodox Union has a branding problem. This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke at their Advocacy Center’s annual Leadership Mission, amid protests over the policy, which Sessions created and presides over, of separating masses of children from their parents at the United States border. At the OU conference, Sessions enthusiastically endorsed the Supreme Court’s…
In addition to his scientific research, Albert Einstein also famously advocated for civil rights — but a series of travel diaries recently published in English for the first time revealed that the physicist held racist and xenophobic views, CNN reported. The writings record Einstein’s experiences in the Middle East and Asia between October 1922 and…
For the first time in its 132-year history, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America will have a female provost. Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz will assume the position in July. She previously served for 25 years as the dean of the seminary’s Albert A. List College, the undergraduate dual-degree program with Barnard College and Columbia University,…
ReJews is a nonprofit organization that bills itself as the face of recycling in the Jewish world. Environmental consciousness is rarely seen as a uniquely Jewish concern, sidelined for the more flashy causes of Arab-Israeli coexistence, religious rights, concerns about assimilation and the like. But recycling is important, according to Henry Goodelman, ReJews founder, and…
In our quest for tolerance, religious spaces often take the lead in showcasing voices of change. But sometimes, those who claim to work for tolerance are themselves agents of hatred. Synagogues should never be bullied into hosting organizations that promote divisiveness and demonization — especially groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which…
Central Park’s annual SummerStage Festival, typically the domain of Americana artists like Rhiannon Giddens, rap veterans including Public Enemy, indie rock legends such as the Feelies, latter-day folkies like the Indigo Girls, jazz artists including McCoy Tyner and Roy Haynes, and Afropop stars such as King Sunny Adé, took on a decidedly Ashkenazic tinge last…
The aluminum chairs — off-kilter and whimsically rugged, as if Chagall had ventured into furniture-making — soar above the women’s balcony, held aloft by two golden birds. Sunlight, softened through stained glass, bounces off the pair’s upturned legs. The sculpture, by Kiki Smith, a renowned sculptor and printmaker, is called “Homecoming.” It’s easy to think,…
It’s been just over a year since Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the author behind the viral “Modern Love” column “You May Want To Marry My Husband,” passed away from Ovarian cancer. She was 51. It’s the first yartzeit, the anniversary of passing, of Krouse Rosenthal, a beloved children’s book writer and memoirist who introduced the world…
100% of profits support our journalism
