“You want to try the Republican chili?” That’s the kind of invitation I got, repeatedly, from many of the 50 contestants at this year’s Dallas Kosher Chili Cookoff. And after trying the Republican Jewish Coalition’s surprisingly garlicky spoonful, I faced a Jewish institutional smorgasbord. Whose culinary sensibilities would I sample next — those of the…
A federal grand jury indicted a Houston man for calling in bomb threats to two city synagogues, a municipal courthouse and a private business. Dante Phearse, 33, was charged with two civil rights violations for “threat of force with an explosive device which allegedly obstructed members of the synagogues from enjoying the free exercise of…
Albert Schwartz, whose experience liberating a concentration camp in World War Two led him to join the fight to end discrimination in his home of El Paso, Texas, after the war, died over the weekend. He was 94. Schwartz, whose family ran a local department store, was a U.S. Army captain in the 104th Infantry…
Passover at the University of Texas at Austin this year will feature matzo with a hint of jalapeño. The Haggadahs will be in Hebrew, English and Spanish. The celebration will feature the sounds of a mariachi band, and the taste of guacamole will replace the more familiar maror and charoset. If past years are any…
Texas lawmakers sent notices to schools on Monday informing them that new legislation allows students and teachers to dress in festive garb and say “Merry Christmas” all they want without fear of punishment. The so-called “Merry Christmas Law” is backed by social conservatives who feel that seasonal religious festivities have come under attack because of…
Social conservatives on the Texas State Board of Education have delayed approval of a high school biology textbook, pending a review by experts, citing concerns about the book’s lessons on evolution. In the latest episode of a lengthy battle by evangelicals in Texas to insert Christian and Biblical teachings into public school textbooks, the board…
Right now in Texas, women are getting turned away from abortion clinics thanks the set of targeted regulations aimed at abortion providers once filibustered by Wendy Davis (pictured below), eventually upheld by a conservative appeals court. The scene on the ground is not a pleasant, or a fair one. The Austin Chronicle reported “tears” and…
Texas A&M is set to announce the creation of a branch campus in Israel. Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp are in Israel, where they will announce plans for Texas A&M Peace University in Nazareth on Wednesday, The New York Times reported. The newspaper said Texas A&M would become…
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