The Jewish festival of Passover recalls the biblical story of the Israelites enslaved by Egypt and their miraculous escape. During a ritual feast known as a Seder, families celebrate this ancient story of deliverance, with each new generation reminded to never take freedom for granted. Every year, a written guide known as a “Haggadah” is read at the Seder table.
Read MoreThe number of Jews immigrating to Israel has dropped 43 percent in the six months since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. From April to September 2023, 23,073 people moved to Israel under the Law of Return. From October 2023 to March 2024, the number dropped to 12,977.
Read MoreColumbia University’s president canceled all in-person classes and urged faculty and students who do not live on campus to stay away, after a weekend of anti-Israel protests swelled and included threatening messages to the school’s large Jewish student population. The extraordinary move was announced in an early-morning Monday email.
Read MoreJewish students concerned about their safety amid a new wave of anti-war protests at Columbia University received mixed messages on Sunday about staying on campus during the holiday of Passover. Rabbi Elie Buechler, who leads the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Columbia and Barnard, advised students to return home until it is safe for them to be on campus again.
Read More(OPINION) Is the conflict between Israel and Iran about to explode? Are we on the edge of World War III, if not Armageddon? The answer to all these questions is the same: not likely. But in saying this I do not claim supernatural, prophetic insight.
Read MoreEvery year at Passover we are commanded to imagine ourselves leaving Egypt — Joel Silverstein painted himself into the picture. In “The Brighton Beach Bible” — an art book with narrative commentary — Silverstein envisions the boardwalks and abandoned attractions of his childhood in Brooklyn as the staging ground for the Exodus and 40 years in the wilderness.
Read MoreSunday is the start of the Israeli workweek, but schools and many government offices were closed for the day. This cosmopolitan city’s typically crowded light rail was sparse and remarkably silent, with the few passengers glued to their smartphones looking for answers nobody could seem to find.
Read MoreAmid what many consider an increasingly hostile climate for Jewish students on campus, Hillel has updated its college guide, including a new feature that indicates whether students at a particular school have held a vote to boycott Israel.
Read MoreWhen Jews gather around their Passover seder tables on April 22, most will read in the hagaddah prayerbook a simple tale of four children who are tasked with learning of the Jewish exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt: The wise child, the wicked child, the simple child, and the child who does not know how to ask.
Read More(ANALYSIS) “Judaism Is About Love” is a new book that thoroughly and poetically shatters the misconception that the God of the Hebrew Bible is about law, while the God of the New Testament is about love. As a result, it creates healthy parameters for disagreement between Jewish and Christian believers.
Read MoreHoosier Jews for Choice and four others can proceed in a class action challenge to Indiana’s abortion ban, claiming it violates their individual rights under the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), an appeals court has ruled.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Fourteen of the NBA’s 30 franchise owners are Jewish. Two of them absolutely despise each other. And it has nothing to do with basketball. Instead, it’s about … mortgages? The rivalry between Mat Ishbia, owner of the Phoenix Suns, and Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, dates to long before Ishbia bought the Suns in 2022.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Sen. Joe Lieberman died on March 27 at age 82, ending a career defined as much by his life as an Orthodox Jew as by his attempts to remain a centrist as Democrats kept moving to the cultural left. While voting with his party on issues such as abortion, gun control and gay rights, he was a strong supporter of religious liberty — including for conservatives who frequently clashed with his party.
Read MoreMany Americans particularly sense that discrimination against Muslims and Jews has risen since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The vast majority of U.S. Muslims and Jews agree: 7 in 10 Muslims and 9 in 10 Jews surveyed said they have felt an increase in discrimination against their respective groups since the war began last October.
Read MoreAs Christians approach Easter, Baptists sheltered in the remnants of Gaza Baptist Church are so worn out they “no longer have the energy to suffer,” a leader there told the Christian Mission to Gaza. At the same time, Israel Defense Forces have decreased their attacks on Gaza in recent days.
Read MoreWhen Rabbi Daniel Cohen was writing his book about courage, he couldn’t think of a better subject for a chapter than his congregant, Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman, who died Wednesday at 82, eventually wrote the foreword for the book, “What Will They Say About You When You’re Gone?”
Read MoreThe Purim festivities in Israel this year were tinged with a schizophrenic twinning of glee and despair. Adding to the dismal mood was intermittent rain and a drizzle of rockets from Lebanon. Many celebrants experienced cognitive dissonance in marking the foiling of a genocidal plan in ancient Persia while a bloody war is raging today in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Ultra-Orthodox resistance to conscription is nothing new. But the forcefulness of this declaration is new, especially coming in the midst of a war. And Yosef is not any random rabbi. He is the son of Ovadia Yosef, who was the spiritual leader of the Shas Party: an important partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious governing coalition.
Read MoreComparable to I.M. Pei’s iconic pyramid that transformed the entrance to the Louvre, the glass-and-steel structure is a minimalist, less-is-more architectural triumph that redefines the orientation of the museum's galleries and just about everything else in this historic cultural hub. Located in a sprawling structure that once served as a palace and fort.
Read MoreFast food aficionados and practicing Catholics alike are often familiar with the Filet-O-Fish story and how the sandwich was born as a result of Lent. Catholics aren’t the only religious group chain restaurants cater to because of faith and dietary restrictions. Here’s a look at some of the biggest menu options from around the world.
Read More
