World News

(JTA) — For the past several years, life was good for Lalam Hangshing as president of the Bnei Menashe Council, the governing body for Jewish communities in the Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram.  While living at his parents’ house, he and his wife enjoyed the clean air and beautiful scenery of Manipur, a state…

(JTA) — A biopic of Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister who helmed Israel during the Yom Kippur War, is set to hit screens just one month shy of the conflict’s 50th anniversary. “Golda,” directed by Oscar-winning Israeli filmmaker Guy Nativ and starring Oscar-winning actor Helen Mirren, will begin playing in theaters on Aug. 24.…

PITTSBURGH (JTA) — The gunman who committed the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history is guilty of all charges he faced, according to the verdict delivered by a federal jury on Friday morning. Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, was charged on 63 counts in total. Those…

(JTA) — Ben Helfgott, one of two known Holocaust survivors to go on to compete in the Olympics, died Friday at 93. Helfgott survived the Holocaust as a teenager, and he went on to become a champion weightlifter and a champion of Holocaust education. He was knighted in 2018. “Sir Ben Helfgott was one of…

BERLIN (JTA) — As a teenager in Berlin, Adelle was honored when a rabbi began showing interest in her spiritual development. Rabbi Reuven Yaacobov’s offer of personal instruction was an appealing prospect to the Russian-speaking immigrant with no documentation of her Jewish heritage. Over time, Yaacobov’s private lessons escalated to phone calls and text messages and,…

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The White House recently released a detailed strategy for combating antisemitism, complete with more than 100 action items. One thing not on the list? Comedy. That’s where Jewish celebrities such as Howie Mandel, Rachel Bloom and Michael Rapaport came in on Wednesday night at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, at…

PITTSBURGH (JTA) — After 11 days of graphic and emotionally fraught testimony in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial, and a 90-minute closing argument that included gruesome photos and the replay of harrowing 911 calls, it was time for the defense to speak. A lawyer for Robert Bowers, accused of being the gunman who murdered 11…

(New York Jewish Week) — Broadway actor Oliver Prose and I met on a bench outside of the iconic Bow Bridge in Central Park in the middle of a sunny afternoon. He’s nearly six months into his Broadway debut in “New York, New York” — and two days fresh off a performance at the Tony…

(JTA) — Days after Israel’s under-20 soccer team shocked the world with a third-place finish in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, another one of the country’s national teams is looking for international glory — this time in a sport played by few in Israel. The 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship begins on Wednesday in San…

(JTA) — Rabbi Adam Miller was exiting a school board meeting in his city of Naples, Florida, when two men approached him in the parking lot. “Your prophet is not real, and Judaism is not a real religion,” they yelled at him, according to the subsequent police report. The rabbi recounted other colorful epithets, too:…