Judaism
(REVIEW) Born to Jewish parents who converted to Catholicism, Tamara Rosa Hurwitz married prominent lawyer Tadeusz Łempicki and adopted the feminine version of his last name, Łempicka. They lived in St. Petersburg, Russia, until the Russian Revolution of 1917 forced them to flee the country. The couple moved to Paris, where Łempicka studied under Maurice Denis and André Lhote, both important figures of cubism and fauvism.
Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire deal — pausing a brutal 15-month war in the hard-hit Gaza Strip with an eye towards ending one of the deadliest Middle Eastern conflicts in modern history. The provisional deal came weeks after negotiations in the Qatari capital Doha involving mediators from Qatar and Egypt, working with Israeli and U.S. officials.
(ANALYSIS) President Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100, was eulogized last Thursday at his state funeral in Washington, D.C. in a Scripture-filled service recalling a lifetime of good deeds and spirituality. Overlooked in all the tributes to the 39th U.S. president and born again evangelical Baptist was Carter’s role in 1979 from preventing the demolition of the mausoleum of Chassidic Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in Uman.
(ANALYSIS) Could it possibly have been coincidence? The very day Congress certified Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president, the Vatican announced the transfer of San Diego’s Cardinal Robert McElroy to become the politically significant archbishop of Washington, D.C. There’s no doubt Pope Francis wants McElroy to keep an eye on Trump.
(OPINION) It is seldom that one enters a film that resonates with one own’s life. For me, “The Brutalist” is such a film. It combines the themes of the Holocaust, Israel, immigration, capitalism, architecture, and the struggles to make sense of it all. The film depicts a successful Bauhaus-trained Hungarian architect who reaches the shores of America after his incarceration in concentration camps.
The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center stood for over a century, its campus a sanctuary of faith and history in a community nestled just beyond the urban sprawl of Los Angeles. By Tuesday night, it was one of more than 1,000 buildings reduced to ash.
(OPINION) David Brooks grew up Jewish, but as a kid also attended a Christian school and camp. As an adult, he kept kosher and sent his kids to Jewish schools, “but all that proximity still didn’t make me a believer.” His essay on his journey from agnosticism to faith is just beautiful.
An inscribed marble slab featuring the Ten Commandments sold for $5.04 million at Sotheby’s auction house in New York. The stone — written in archaic Samaritan Hebrew script — is the oldest known text of the Decalogue of its kind and estimated to have been carved sometime between the period spanning 300 and 800 C.E.
While the global median score on the Government Restrictions Index (based on several factors) held steady in 2022 at 3.0 out of 10, the number of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government religious restrictions rose to 59, which accounts for 30% of the 198 countries and territories Pew Research Center studied.
Jake Retzlaff of Brigham Young University — yes, that’s the school affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — will represent the matzo maker under a name, image and likeness contract that runs through the end of the school year. Manischewitz would not reveal the financial terms of the sponsorship.
(REVIEW) Yishai Sarid’s novel “The Third Temple” was prescient when it debuted in Israel in 2015. Nearly 10 years later, Yardenne Greenspan’s English translation warns of the danger of the right-wing messianic movement and its ambition redraw the map of Israel and resume the biblical rhythms of life in the land.
(ANALYSIS) Few questions have intrigued humanity more than the mystery of free will. Are we truly in control of our lives or are we following a script written by something greater? The debate over free will has raged for centuries, touching philosophy, science and religion. Which brings us to another age-old question: Can a belief in free will coexist with religious doctrine?
Pete Hegseth wears his Christian pride on his sleeve — literally. The Minnesota National Guard veteran, TV host and now nominee for U.S. secretary of defense has a slew of religiously inspired tattoos that have drawn attention as Hegseth's public vetting for a senior position in President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet has begun.
(ANALYSIS) In 2023, 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes were documented in 35 European countries. This included 232 personal attacks, such as harassment, threats and physical violence. At least 2,000 Christian places of worship were damaged. Attacks took place throughout the continent, including Germany, the United Kingdom and especially France.
As President-elect Donald Trump huddles with his transition team to shape his new cabinet, several influential figures who played a key role in his campaign’s outreach to Arab American voters in Michigan are pushing for him to adopt a more favorable stance toward Palestinians in a post-war effort for regional peace.
Members of the small Jewish community in Amsterdam confronted the city’s deputy mayor Friday morning, demanding answers for its failure to prevent violent attacks on Israeli soccer fans the night before that international Jewish organizations and leaders condemned as a pogrom. Videos showed men running through the streets beating Israelis and shooting fireworks at them.
Donald Trump's fans and critics alike have compared him to some of history's most famous rulers: Cyrus the Great, Adolf Hitler, King David and more. But a celebrity pastor named Jonathan Cahn wants his evangelical followers to think of the Republican candidate as a present-day manifestation of a far more obscure leader: the biblical king Jehu.
Fueled by donations from two conservative billionaires, the leading Republican Jewish political action committee is pouring millions of dollars into a swing-state advertising blitz supporting former President Donald Trump in the final weeks of the campaign.
The role of Jewish delis in American politics took a turn that gave some of its Jewish voters indigestion. Some Jewish Democrats said they would never again eat at Hymie’s Deli, a popular spot in the Philadelphia’s suburbs for nearly 70 years, after an ad for former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was filmed there.
While many Jews don’t celebrate Halloween, that doesn’t mean we don’t have our own share of spooky, scary skeletons scattered throughout our day.
(INTERVIEW) For the first time since 2009, the New York Yankees have made it to the World Series, where they will play an erstwhile favorite team of New York Jews, the Los Angeles Dodgers, formerly of Brooklyn. The fabled New York history of America’s pastime deserves another look as the Yankees and Dodgers face off in the 2024 World Series, a bicoastal series that will showcase the best of baseball.
The election is not only coming on the heels of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, but nine days after the sixth anniversary of the Tree of Life massacre, where a gunman murdered 11 Jews. The election has further divided the community, with disagreements over Israel’s response and whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris is best suited to handle the fallout.
(ANALYSIS) One year ago, on the last day of the celebratory Feast of Sukkot, the unthinkable happened, and a living hell was unleashed on Israel. That was Oct. 7, a day that will live in infamy in the decades to come, a day that has still not ended for the hostages and the families of the victims.
Without any physical distinction from their neighbors and without any open religious congregations of their own, many Jews in Zimbabwe couldn’t resist the lure of joining mainstream society in which they lived. This assimilation trend by younger members of the Lemba community prompted soul searching by some, resulting in a decision to retrace the way back to their original Jewish faith.
(OPINION) I am neither a political pundit nor a pollster. And I am simply raising questions rather than making assertions, let alone dogmatic assertions. What if Trump wins the national election and taking Pennsylvania was a key to that victory? (Again, this is not a prediction; these are questions). What if choosing Gov. Shapiro for Vice President would have secured Pennsylvania for Harris? And what if he was not chosen because of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish sentiments?
To understand why Jews love the New York Mets so much requires a Talmudic understanding of New York City history, sports history and Jewish psychology. It’s also about the DNA of baseball and Brooklyn in the 1950s; being called “amazin’” when you’re actually the worst team around, and disappointing fans so often that reveling in your losses becomes a badge of honor.
The website, AtoneNet, posted the responses — no names attached — for public perusal, and before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, published a pamphlet compiling them. Printed out and tucked inside a holiday prayer book, the community’s confessions gave the liturgy — and the act of repentance — a 21st-century refresh and personalized feel.
Hank Greenberg was also Jewish, and he is often called America’s first Jewish sports superstar. As Greenberg wrote in his autobiography, that was not an easy honor to bear. Greenberg played during a time of rising antisemitism, and the cruel taunts he suffered from players and fans lasted throughout his career. Here's a look back at the man known as the "The Hebrew Hammer."
The Israel-Hamas war has dominated public debate, influenced elections and seeped into every aspect of life for a year. And people have learned to succinctly display their position through various visual cues, whether on T-shirts or placards held at marches. Not all of these are new. The keffiyeh and Palestinian flag have long been mainstays in protests, as have the Star of David and Israel’s colors. Over the past year, however, new symbols have also emerged to show solidarity.
In Israel after the 1967 War, Tamar’s sister-in-law, Hadas, is killed in a terror attack. In reality, Hadas was dating a Palestinian man, Daoud — a taboo in wartime Israel — and her death was a crime of passion. In the book, only Tamar knows the truth, and she keeps it a secret. Tamar immigrates to the U.S. with her husband and kids. When Tamar’s teenage daughter falls in love with the son of a Palestinian family, Tamar fears that history will repeat.