World News

KIBBUTZ GEZER, Israel (JTA) — Bill James, the influential baseball writer, historian and statistician, once described the great Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly in only four words: “100% ballplayer, 0% bulls—.” The same can be said of Alon Leichman, by all accounts the first athlete born and raised in Israel to make it to the major…

(JTA) — Yes, Lionel Messi will forever be the face of Argentina’s long-awaited World Cup championship on Sunday. But the voice of the victory belongs to the Argentinean Jewish sportscaster who cried as he announced the win. Andres Cantor, a prominent soccer announcer, responded to Argentina’s game-winning penalty shot with his signature elongated “Gooooooool!” In…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the onetime standard-bearer for outreach to the non-Jewish world whose influence has waned, is loosening its financial and organizational ties to the Jewish Federations of North America in a bid to reassert its traditional role. The decision announced Monday to go it alone, announced in a…

(JTA) — The email landed like a batch of soggy latkes last week: Hanukkah candle-lighting would not be permitted at the annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. “We recognize the sacrifice many of you will make to attend the conference during the holiday of Chanukah. We apologize that the conference hotel will not…

(JTA) — A group of educators dedicated to solidarity between Christians and Jews is urging churches to take action against the growing prevalence of antisemitism in the United States — and to reflect on how their own practices may be fueling hatred against Jews. “We implore all churches to redouble their efforts to denounce antisemitism…

(JTA) — The weekday minyan at my synagogue has been moved from the sanctuary to its airy social hall. And whenever I attend I have the same lofty thought: This would make a great pickleball court. Pickleball, the subject of countless breathless articles calling it the fastest growing sport in America, is essentially tennis for…

(JTA) — Donald Trump earned vigorous applause while addressing a haredi Orthodox education group’s conference on Friday, weeks after earning criticism across the political spectrum of the Jewish community for dining with two prominent antisemitic figures. As he often does at Jewish events, the former president listed the Israel-related policy moves he made during office,…

(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — The functional headquarters and nerve center of the nation’s most prolific antisemitic propaganda group have moved from California’s Bay Area to Florida. Jon Minadeo Jr., the leader of Goyim TV, announced the move in videos and social media posts this week, explaining that he had grown increasingly…

(New York Jewish Week) — Hanukkah, the winter holiday that commemorates the triumph of Judah Maccabee and the miracle of long-lasting oil, has plenty of heroes to celebrate. But in one Brooklyn family’s home, the hero is the “Hanukkah Fairy” — or at least the mom behind it.  Starting some 25 years ago, Gail Nalven Fuchs…

(JTA) — Just a few years into her comedy career, Lisa Geduldig was invited to perform standup at the Peking Garden Club near Northampton, Massachusetts. She went to the gig assuming it was a comedy club. It wasn’t. “I just had the most ironic experience,” Geduldig remembers telling a Jewish summer camp friend on the…