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There’s a Grammy for Christian music. These musicians want Jewish music to get one, too.
(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — There is a Grammy Award for just about every kind of music — from pop to metal to New Age to Contemporary Christian — but there’s no Jewish category. Two Jewish musician friends hope to change that.
Joanie Leeds, a children’s musician and Grammy winner in New York City, and Mikey Pauker, a self-described “devotional rock” artist from California, are working on a formal proposal to add “best Jewish music album” to the list of Grammys awarded each year. They plan to submit their proposal to the Recording Academy, the body that governs the Grammys, by March 1.
In the past, albums of what is traditionally considered to be Jewish music have been nominated in a variety of categories, including best contemporary world music. The Klezmatics’ “Wonder Wheel” album won in that category in 2006, and some referred to the award as “the first Jewish Grammy.”
But musicians who produce albums of Jewish music often find themselves caught between categories, Leeds said. The global category is not a fit for American musicians, and categories for religious music, even if expanded, are also not an easy fit, she said.
“‘Jewish’ is complicated, because it’s not just a religion like Christianity,” Leeds said. “It’s also a culture.”
To strengthen their proposal, the pair consulted with rabbis and Jewish educators about what constitutes Jewish music.
“We’re doing our best to be as clear as possible and as inclusive as possible, because not everybody knows that Jewish music is diverse,” Pauker said. “It’s transdenominational, it’s based in spirituality, it’s based in culture and it’s not just Ashkenazi.”
Mikey Pauker, seen here performing in Berkeley, California, is one of the musicians behind a petition to add a Jewish music category to the Grammys. (Courtesy Pauker)
In their proposal, Pauker and Leeds make the case for a new category that will encompass Jewish religious music, such as cantorial music, nigguns and Mizrahi music, as well as secular music, such as klezmer, Yiddish, Ladino and Judeo-Arabic music. Albums with Christian themes, including those produced by Messianic Jews, would not be eligible.
“It needs to have some sort of Jewish content in it to make it Jewish music,” Leeds said. “If there’s a song in Israel about some guy meeting a girl at a bar, or whatever it’s about that has no grounds in text or liturgy or anything, then it wouldn’t be considered Jewish music.”
“Our goal is really to educate not just the Recording Academy about what Jewish music is, but also educating the public as to what Jewish music is,” she said.
The Recording Academy regularly adds and modifies Grammy categories. This year, it added five new ones, including best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media and best spoken-word poetry album.
Pauker said this is not the first time musicians have petitioned the Recording Academy to add a Jewish category. But this time, he said, he and Leeds can point to the consistent output of high-quality Jewish music in recent years. He noted that in the past two years alone, more than 100 albums were released that could have been nominated in such a category.
“We’re at a point in music history where we’re having a Jewish renaissance, and the market has arrived,” he said. “We have enough artists where we can get this done.” He added that the Recording Academy has been supportive of him and Leeds in their endeavor.
In an effort to raise awareness about their proposal, they have launched a petition on the Change.org website. By Friday, it had more than 1,800 signatures, including from non-Jewish musicians.
A petition to add a Jewish Grammys category garnered more than 1,800 signatures in its first week. (Screenshot from Change.org)
Among the signers is Sephardic singer and activist Sarah Aroeste. She said she supports the push to add a Jewish category at the Grammys because her albums, including 2021’s “Monastir,” do not fit cleanly into the other categories.
“Jewish music crosses so many musical boundaries, yet we get lost, or are ineligible, in existing categories,” she wrote. “As a Ladino musician specifically, I’ve always been put in the global music category. I am literally up against musical acts from all around the globe!”
She added: “Having our own category — much like other ethnic or religious groups have them — would highlight the breadth and diversity of Jewish music as a genre and would allow those Academy members knowledgeable about the music to be able to vote.”
Pauker, 37, lives in southern California and recently launched his own folk-rock-reggae-chant record label called Beautiful Way Records. He will help lead Shabbat services during Wilderness Torah’s upcoming Passover in the Desert festival.
Leeds, who is based in New York City, won a 2021 Grammy in the Best Children’s Music Album category for her ninth album, a compilation of secular children’s music called “All the Ladies” that included a song about Jewish Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She has also released multiple albums of Jewish kids’ music, including “Meshugana” and “Challah, Challah,” as well as a Christmas record called “Oy Vey” in collaboration with the rapper Fyütch.
Pauker said the two became close friends during the pandemic, when they spent many hours on the social media app Clubhouse discussing Judaism and music.
As the Recording Academy considers their proposal in the coming weeks, Pauker said he and Leeds will hold community conversations about trends in Jewish music.
“One of our hopes is this will launch hundreds of new artists, new records and collaborations that can really help push this genre forward,” he said.
This story originally appeared in J. The Jewish News of Northern California and is reprinted with permission. Jackie Hajdenberg added reporting for JTA.
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US Presses Syria to Shift From Chinese Telecom Systems
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends the Ministry of Awqaf conference titled “Unity of Islamic Discourse” at the Conference Palace in Damascus, Syria, Feb. 16, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
The United States has warned Syria against relying on Chinese technology in its telecommunications sector, arguing it conflicts with US interests and threatens US national security, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The message was conveyed during an unreported meeting between a US State Department team and Syrian Communications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Washington has been coordinating closely with Damascus since 2024, when Syria‘s now President Ahmed al-Sharaa ousted longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, who had a strategic partnership with China.
Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology to support its telecommunications towers and the infrastructure of local internet service providers, according to a Syrian businessman involved in the procurement talks.
“The US side asked for clarity on the ministry’s plans regarding Chinese telecom equipment,” said another source briefed on the talks.
But Syrian officials said infrastructure development projects were time-critical and that Damascus was seeking greater vendor diversity, the source added.
SYRIAN OFFICIALS CITE US EXPORT CONTROLS AS TELECOMS BARRIER
Syria is open to partnering with US firms but the matter was urgent and export controls and “over-compliance” remained an issue, according to person familiar with the meeting in San Francisco.
A US diplomat familiar with the discussions told Reuters that the US State Department “clearly urged Syrians to use American technology or technology from allied countries in the telecoms sector.”
It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so.
Responding to Reuters questions, a US State Department spokesperson said: “We urge countries to prioritize national security and privacy over lower-priced equipment and services in all critical infrastructure procurement. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
The spokesperson added that Chinese intelligence and security services “can legally compel Chinese citizens and companies to share sensitive data or grant unauthorized access to their customers’ systems” and promises by Chinese companies to protect customers’ privacy were “entirely inconsistent with China’s own laws and well-established practices.”
China has repeatedly rejected allegations of it using technology for spying purposes.
The Syrian Ministry of telecommunications told Reuters any decisions related to equipment and infrastructure are made “in accordance with national technical and security standards, ensuring data protection and service continuity.”
The ministry said it is also prioritizing the diversification of partnerships and technology sources to serve the national interest.
Syria‘s telecom infrastructure has relied heavily on Chinese technology due to US sanctions imposed on successive Assad governments over the civil war that grew from a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011.
Huawei technology accounts for more than 50% of the infrastructure of Syriatel and MTN, the country’s only telecom operators, according to a senior source at one of the companies and documents reviewed by Reuters. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Syria is seeking to develop its private telecommunications sector, devastated by 14 years of war, by attracting foreign investment.
In early February, Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom operator, STC, announced it would invest $800 million to “strengthen telecommunications infrastructure and connect Syria regionally and internationally through a fiber-optic network extending over 4,500 kilometers.”
The ministry of telecommunications says that US restrictions “hinder the availability of many American technologies and services in the Syrian market,” emphasizing that it welcomes expanding cooperation with US companies when these restrictions are lifted.
Syria has inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, with network coverage weak outside city centers and connection speeds in many areas barely exceeding a few kilobits per second.
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Israeli Cybersecurity Startup Wiz Hosts $3 Million ABBA-Themed Purim Party Ahead of Google Acquisition
In this photo illustration, a Google logo is seen displayed on a smartphone with a WIZ logo in the background. Photo: Avishek Das / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
The Israeli-founded cybersecurity startup Wiz was set to host a Purim party on Thursday night in Tel Aviv inspired by the famous pop group ABBA at the cost of $3.2 million, according to Israeli media reports,
Wiz hosts a Purim celebration every year, but this year’s gathering at Pavilion 2 at Expo Tel Aviv might be its last as an independent company, since it is on the verge of completing a $32 billion all-cash deal with Google. The cloud security platform headquartered in New York announced in March of last year that it signed a deal to be acquired by Google, and Wiz will join Google Cloud after closing. The agreement marks Google’s biggest deal ever, and approvals have already been secured in the United States and the European Union. The deal is expected to close this year, pending regulatory approvals in Australia, South Africa, Turkey, and Israel.
More than 20 Israeli artists were expected to perform a cover of an ABBA classic at Wiz’s Purim party this year, CTech reported. Sources familiar with the event told the Israeli publication that the lineup of performers would include Osher Cohen, Eden Golan, Sarit Hadad, Odeya, Ivri Lider, Eden Ben Zaken, Dana International, Shiri Maimon, Ninet, Harel Skaat, and Harel Moyal. The celebration is reportedly the most expensive party in Israel’s high-tech sector.
Wiz’s Purim celebration last year paid tribute to Madonna and featured a lineup of some of Israel’s biggest singers – including Rita, Omer Adam, Noa Kirel, Static, and Noga Erez — as well as more than 100 dancers and performers.
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US, Iran Make Progress in Talks, Will Meet Again Soon, Mediator Says
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi meets with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 26, 2026. Photo: Oman News Agency/Handout via REUTERS
The United States and Iran made progress in talks on Thursday aimed at resolving a longstanding nuclear dispute and averting new US strikes, mediator Oman said, amid Washington’s large-scale military buildup in the Middle East.
The two sides plan to resume negotiations soon after consultations in their countries’ capitals, with technical-level discussions scheduled to take place next week in Vienna, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said in a post on X after the day’s talks ended in Switzerland.
Any substantial move toward an elusive agreement between longtime foes Washington and Tehran could reduce the imminent prospects for US President Donald Trump to carry out a threatened attack on Iran that many fear could escalate into a wider war.
The Omani minister’s upbeat assessment followed indirect talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Geneva, with one session in the morning and the second in the afternoon.
“We have finished the day after significant progress in the negotiation between the United States and Iran,” Badr Albusaidi said.
Describing the talks as some of the most serious that Iran has had with the US, Araqchi told Iranian state television: “We reached agreement on some issues, and there are differences regarding some other issues.”
“It was decided that the next round of negotiations will take place soon, in less than a week,” he said, adding the Iranians had clearly expressed their demand for sanctions relief.
There was no immediate comment from US negotiating team on the outcome of the talks.
The discussions about the decades-long dispute over Iran‘s nuclear work come as fears grow of a Middle East conflagration. Trump has repeatedly threatened action if there is no deal and the US military has amassed its forces in waters near the Islamic Republic.
‘INTENSE AND SERIOUS’ TALKS
A senior Iranian official told Reuters earlier on Thursday that the US and Iran could reach a framework for a deal if Washington separated “nuclear and non-nuclear issues.”
The Trump administration has insisted that Iran‘s missile program and other issues must be part of the negotiations.
After the morning session, Badr Albusaidi said the two sides had exchanged “creative and positive ideas.”
But a senior Iranian official said at the time that some gaps still had to be narrowed.
Washington, which believes Tehran seeks the ability to build a nuclear bomb, wants Iran to give up all uranium enrichment, a process that makes fuel for atomic power plants but that can also yield material for a warhead.
Iran has long denied wanting a bomb and said earlier on Thursday it would show flexibility at the talks. Reuters reported on Sunday that Tehran was offering undefined new concessions in return for removal of sanctions and recognition of its right to enrich uranium.
However, the United States also wants to expand talks to other issues including Iran‘s arsenal of ballistic missiles and its support for armed terrorist groups in the region.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Iran‘s refusal to discuss its ballistic missile program was a “big problem” which would have to be addressed eventually. The missiles were “designed solely to strike America” and pose a threat to regional stability, he said.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told Press TV on Thursday that the negotiations would focus solely on nuclear topics and the lifting of sanctions, and said Tehran was going into them with “seriousness and flexibility.”
Ali Vaez, Iran project director at International Crisis Group, cautioned that if there was no breakthrough in the current round of talks, the risk of conflict could rise significantly in the coming days.
“This week they have been working on a text and the US team is willing to return to the negotiating table to try to finalize an outline or a framework of an agreement. I think it is a positive thing,” he said.