World News
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Conservative rabbinical school Ziegler stops admissions, signaling broader overhaul
The Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies will not be admitting new students in the upcoming academic year, it told current and prospective students this month, as a new university president plots a dramatic overhaul of the Conservative seminary in Los Angeles. Ziegler’s admissions office informed applicants earlier this month that the decision was part of…
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This Jewish family’s toy company challenged Trump’s tariffs. The Supreme Court agreed.
(JTA) — Stephen Woldenberg was in a meeting with his father last Friday, refreshing the Supreme Court’s website, when the news finally came through: Their company had prevailed in its legal challenge to the Trump administration’s tariffs. “It’s all a bit surreal, I’ll be honest,” said Woldenberg. “It’s very gratifying, though, to see that our…
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A compelling horror series from Israel — even if you don’t like horror movies
In general, I steer clear of genre entertainment. For me, films awash in horror and the paranormal are gory, frightening and in the end relentlessly dull — a lethal combination. But to my surprise, The Malevolent Bride, an Israeli horror series now streaming on Chaiflicks, is so compelling and has such page-turning momentum that I had…
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Why was Tucker Carlson pushing for DNA testing for Jews? What to know about the ‘Khazar’ theory that antisemites can’t shake.
(JTA) — During Tucker Carlson’s interview last week with Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, both men made considerable waves with their takes on history and theology. Huckabee sparked a diplomatic row by citing the Bible to argue that Israel had a divine right to claim all of the Middle East — even though…
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What the Epstein files show about Jeffrey Epstein’s Jewish world
(JTA) — Sometime in the early 2010s, Jeffrey Epstein walked into Dr. Steven Kaplan’s office for a root canal. The procedure took some time and required multiple visits. The two men got to chatting. “He was just another guy, that’s it,” Kaplan recalled to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The subject of Judaism came up. “I…
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This 12-year-old is enchanting people with her Yiddish singing. Her klezmer musician dad explains why.
In the summer of 2020, when the world was in lockdown, I couldn’t stop watching a video that featured two young children — Dinah Slepovitch and Pinya Minkin — singing a Yiddish folk song about eating potatoes every day, which felt a lot like life during COVID-19, even as it evoked what poor Eastern European…
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Embracing go-bags and gallows humor, Israelis live in limbo as Trump teases war with Iran
(JTA) — TEL AVIV — Natalie Silverlieb’s go-bag looks a little different from the last time she ran to the bomb shelter with Iranian missiles incoming. Since last summer, she has had a baby, so she now has packed diapers and wipes alongside passports and water. But apart from that, she hasn’t done much else to…
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Poland’s Jewish museum director returns, 7 years after being pushed out by nationalist politics
(JTA) — The first director of Poland’s leading Jewish museum, squeezed out seven years ago by a nationalist government, is returning to the helm in a symbolic reversal. Dariusz Stola steered the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw from its founding in 2014 to become a breakthrough in Poland’s recognition of…
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NYC synagogue protest bill tasks police with developing a protection plan. Mamdani still hasn’t committed to sign
The New York City Council has ditched a proposal for a strict up to 100-foot buffer zone for protests outside houses of worship and instead aims to direct the NYPD to develop a plan outlining how it would protect congregants from constitutionally protected protests. The changes come in the face of reservations from Mayor Zohran…
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After Minneapolis, a Youtuber comes for Jewish ‘welfare queens’
Overt antisemitism among online influencers — the folks who often make a very comfortable living from podcasting, live streaming and clip farming — has started to break into the real world. A notable recent example comes via Tyler Oliveira, a YouTuber who rose to fame with stunts like trying to absorb a swimming pool’s worth…
