World News
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Why I don’t love ‘Jew hate’ as a substitute for ‘antisemitism’
(JTA) — I read a lot about antisemitism — as a professor researching prejudice, as a former fellow at a Holocaust memorial center, as a blogger for The Times of Israel, as the son of a Jewish father who was so grateful to get to live in the United States and as the father of…
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FBI arrests Michigan man it says was planning attack on East Lansing synagogue
(JTA) — A Michigan man who praised mass shooters had outlined a plan to attack an East Lansing synagogue, according to FBI investigators who arrested the man on Friday. Seann Pietila, 19, discussed his plans to stage a mass shooting in private messages on Instagram, according to documents filed last week when he was charged…
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A new book made me appreciate Jewish Sunday schools — and the volunteer women who have powered them
(JTA) — As a kid I went to Sunday school at our Reform synagogue. I didn’t hate it as much as my peers did, but let’s just say there were literally dozens of other things I would have preferred to do on a weekend morning. As a Jewish adult, I had a vague understanding that…
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Putin: My Jewish friends say Zelensky is ‘not Jewish’
(JTA) — Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that other Jews think Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not Jewish, despite his having “Jewish blood.” “I have a lot of Jewish friends,” Putin said on Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “They say that Zelensky is not Jewish, that he is a disgrace to the…
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Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers leaker whom ‘everyone assumed’ was Jewish, dies at 92
(JTA) — Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst whose leak of the classified “Pentagon Papers” exposed American deceit about the Vietnam War, led to a landmark Supreme Court on press freedoms and inspired a White House backlash that cascaded into the Watergate scandal, died Friday at age 92. Ellsberg had announced in March that he had…
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The Jewish Sport Report: Israel enters the lacrosse world championship ranked 7th in the world
This article was sent as a newsletter. Sign up for our weekly Jewish sports newsletter here. Good afternoon, and happy early Father’s Day to all the dads and grandfathers out there. One summer in high school, my father and I went on a baseball road trip, visiting a number of ballparks across the eastern United…
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South Africa’s chief rabbi exhorts his president to press Putin on Evan Gershkovich
(JTA) — South Africa’s president has taken heat for not cutting off ties with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine — but his country’s chief rabbi sees an opportunity in the relationship to lobby for an imprisoned Jew. South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein wants his country’s president to advocate for Evan Gershkovich, the Wall…
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Teens consider Jewish stake in abortion battle one year after Dobbs decision
This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives. (JTA) — One year after the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson reversed the federal guarantee of women’s abortion rights, a group of young activists are…
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‘My Friend Anne Frank’ tells the incredible story of how Anne’s best friend survived the Holocaust
(JTA) — One spring morning in 1934, two little girls followed their mothers to a corner grocery store in Amsterdam. The mothers, hearing each other speak German to their daughters, discovered they were both Jewish refugees who had recently fled Nazi Germany. The two girls peeked shyly at each other from behind their mothers’ skirts,…
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We have seen the Jewish future, and it is all about choice
There was a young lady of title Who insisted on wearing a sheitel. She didn’t care much For kashrut and such, “But the sheitel,” said she, “now that’s vital!” (JTA) — As the old limerick suggests, there has long been a tradition of picking and choosing Jewish observance in America, whether it involved keeping kosher…
