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Sofia Richie, Lionel Richie’s daughter, marries Jewish music executive after converting to Judaism
(JTA) — Sofia Richie, a model and the daughter of musician Lionel Richie, married Jewish music executive Elliot Grainge on Saturday, less than a month after she said she completed her conversion to Judaism.
Earlier this month, Richie had posted on Instagram that Nathan Lam, a prominent Los Angeles cantor, had been “helping me along this journey of converting to Judaism.”
Pronouncing her conversion complete on April 3, she posted on Instagram, “It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.”
Richie, 24, and Grainge, 29, tied the knot at a hotel in Antibes, France, where they were married by Rabbi Thomas Solomon, a British rabbi, according to a report in Vogue magazine. They also held a private ceremony to sign the ketubah, the Jewish wedding contract.
In photos, the couple can be seen standing with their parents under a lush chuppah, with Grainge wearing a white kippah and tallit. “It was very important to Elliot’s family and to me, now that I’ve converted, that it be a traditional Jewish ceremony,” Richie told Vogue.
The couple has been together since 2021. Grainge, who grew up in England and runs an independent rap and pop music label, is the son of Lucian Grainge, the CEO of Universal Music Group, one of the world’s biggest music companies, and a self-proclaimed “nice Jewish boy.”
Elliot Grainge told JewishBoston.com in 2013 that Take That, a British pop group that had several chart-topping hits in the 1990s and 2000s, performed at his bar mitzvah.
Richie, whose adoptive sister Nicole is a celebrity in her own right as a TV personality, grew up attending the Oaks Christian School in Los Angeles. Her father Lionel, 73, became one of the best-selling pop artists of all time through a career starting in the 1970s as a member of The Commodores.
Lam, formerly a celebrity voice coach and a senior cantor at the city’s Stephen Wise Temple — a Reform congregation that is one of Southern California’s largest — has been accused of carrying on a series of inappropriate sexual relationships with congregants and mentees. Since last year he has been a cantor at the Temple of the Arts in Beverly Hills, a Reform congregation that operates in a theater owned by billionaire and prominent Democratic donor Haim Saban.
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The post Sofia Richie, Lionel Richie’s daughter, marries Jewish music executive after converting to Judaism appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.