Uncategorized
Russia extends pretrial detention of journalist Evan Gershkovich until August
(JTA) — A Russian court extended the pretrial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich until at least Aug. 30.
Gershkovich, 31, the American son of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union, was arrested on an allegation of espionage on March 29 during a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg — claims that he, the United States government and the Wall Street Journal deny. His pretrial detention was initially scheduled to end on May 29 before it was extended on Tuesday.
Legal experts and American diplomats expected that Gershkovich’s detention could last for months, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tuesday’s court hearing was not announced in advance and was held behind closed doors. Russian authorities have not provided evidence to support their charges that Gershkovich allegedly obtained classified information on “the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
The U.S. government has declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release from Lefortovo prison, where he has been held since his arrest in March.
“Today our colleague, and distinguished journalist, Evan Gershkovich appeared for a pretrial hearing in a Moscow court,” the Wall Street Journal said in a statement. “While we expected there would be no change to Evan’s wrongful detention, we are deeply disappointed. The accusations are demonstrably false, and we continue to demand his immediate release.”
The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, was granted consular access to Gershkovich in April but the U.S. was denied consular access two other times, according to U.S. officials. His parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, who live in New Jersey, waited for more than an hour outside the courtroom before being allowed in Tuesday for their first sighting of their son since his arrest more than 50 days ago, according to the New York Times.
“We hope he is doing great and that he can be as strong as his mother,” Mikhail Gershkovich said.
Gershkovich is the first American journalist arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the end of the Cold War. His case has attracted support from Jews across the U.S. and the world — some of whom have advocated for his freedom by reviving practices used in the movement to free Jews in the Soviet Union. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in a Russian penal colony.
Gershkovich is one of multiple Jews imprisoned by Russia on security charges. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian Jewish dissident, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason in April. And earlier this month, the Russian Jewish theater director Evgenia Berkovich was imprisoned on the accusation that one of her plays justified terrorism. She is the granddaughter of Nina Katerly, a Russian writer and human rights activist.
“Zhenya obviously is not a prisoner of Zion,” Alexander Smukler, a former refusenik and prominent Russian-American Jewish activist, told the Jewish Standard, a New Jersey publication, referring to Berkovich. “She was not arrested for her Zionist ideas. But she is Jewish.”
He added, “I am calling on the Jewish leadership around the world to stand up for Zhenya Berkovich.”
—
The post Russia extends pretrial detention of journalist Evan Gershkovich until August appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Quiz: For America 250, how well do you know U.S. Jewish history?
The Forward produced The Great American Jewish History Quiz! using Claude, a generative artificial intelligence tool by Anthropic. All questions and answers were researched and written by Louis Keene, who prompted Claude to create the user interface and underlying code and to track statistics.
Questions or feedback? Send us an email: forwardquiz@forward.com.
The post Quiz: For America 250, how well do you know U.S. Jewish history? appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Mazel tov, Taylor and Travis: A rabbi’s imagined wedding speech under the celebrity chuppah
I have to admit, as a rabbi, I never imagined I’d be standing at a wedding bringing together two of America’s great religions: football and Taylor Swift.
And yet here we are. I’ve officiated weddings in synagogues, in backyards, on beaches. I was not prepared for Madison Square Garden.
Before I get to the blessings, I need to share a little Torah with you. Don’t worry: I’ll keep it short. Half this room is Swifties and half is Chiefs fans, and the only thing you agree on is that you didn’t come here for a sermon.
The very first matchmaking story in the Torah involves a man named Eliezer, sent by the patriarch Abraham on a mission: find a wife for Abraham’s son Isaac. Eliezer travels far, he arrives at a well, and he devises a test. A test that looked past beauty, past pedigree, past fame, past achievement.
The test is simple: When a stranger arrives tired and thirsty, what do you do?
Rebecca does more than just offer water to Eliezer. She sees his camels are also thirsty, and without being asked, she waters every single one. Ten camels. Anyone who has ever watered a camel knows this is not a small thing.
And the Torah stops to tell us: this is the wife for Isaac.
The Torah could have stopped to admire her talent or her beauty. Instead, it stopped to admire her kindness. Because she saw need in the world and responded to it, just because that’s who she was.
Taylor and Travis, I think about that story when I think about the two of you. Because what we know about you isn’t just about the Grammys or the Super Bowls. It’s about the friendships. It’s about the family. It’s the way Travis’s eyes light up when he talks about his brother Jason. It’s the way Taylor has shown up, year after year, for her crew — the people who have been with her since the beginning, long before the sold-out stadiums.
These are people who know how to love. Eliezer traveled hundreds of miles looking for exactly that. Turns out it was worth the trip.
Red zones and red carpets
Now, because we have a professional athlete here, permit me a football analogy.
Every great quarterback needs protection from a tight end like Travis. Every championship team depends on its offensive line. The line doesn’t get the glory. They don’t score the touchdowns. But without them, nothing works.
Marriage is the same. Protect one another. Protect each other’s dignity. Protect each other’s dreams. Protect each other’s hearts. Be each other’s offensive line on the hard days.
And because we also have one of the greatest songwriters in history standing before me — someone who has written the soundtrack to a generation — permit me a music analogy as well.
Every beautiful song has both melody and rhythm. Sometimes one instrument leads. Sometimes another does. But what makes the song truly beautiful is that each makes room for the other. The goal is never the solo. The goal is the harmony.
Marriage is exactly the same. There will be seasons when one of you carries more. Seasons when one of you needs extra support. Seasons of celebration and seasons of challenge. The goal is to reflect each other’s light. The goal is to create something together that neither of you could have created alone.
So, Taylor and Travis, here is my blessing for you: May you always remember what drew you to each other, the soul beneath the spotlight. May you protect each other fiercely and gently, in the stadiums and in the quiet rooms where no one is watching. May you make room for one another — to lead and to follow, season by season, era by era.
And may the love you build together — the real love, the private love, the love that has absolutely nothing to do with cameras or crowds — be the greatest thing either of you ever creates.
Mazel tov.
The post Mazel tov, Taylor and Travis: A rabbi’s imagined wedding speech under the celebrity chuppah appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
The 50 most interesting Jews in American history you’ve probably never heard of
The United States is turning 250 years old. You know the stories of many of the Jews who have helped to shape the country’s history and culture, including such luminaries as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Philip Roth and Barbra Streisand.
But behind the American Jewish names we know and revere are the stories of many other American Jews who influenced the nation — and whose lives reflected the country’s efforts to realize its founding promises — who have found less purchase in history’s spotlight. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of this country’s founding, we’ve collected 50 of those stories here.
Among their number are scientists, athletes, lawmakers, clergymen and a couple genuine American characters — the type of people who, no matter where they were born, ended up living lives that speak to the best of what the U.S. has to offer its citizens.
As one of our honorees, the author Edna Ferber, wrote: “America — rather, the United States — seems to me to be the Jew among the nations. It is resourceful, adaptable, maligned, envied, feared, imposed upon. It is warmhearted, overfriendly; quick-witted, lavish, colorful; given to extravagant speech and gestures. Its people are travelers and wanderers by nature, moving, shifting, restless; swarming in Fords, in ocean liners; craving entertainment; volatile. The schnuckle among the nations of the world.”
The post The 50 most interesting Jews in American history you’ve probably never heard of appeared first on The Forward.
