(ESSAY) In the Bay Area, a writer visits a backyard feast to celebrate the end of Passover. The main event of Mimouna is the homemade treats. White tablecloths are meticulously arranged with pink and green marzipan cookies representing spring, dried fruits and muffleta, a silken, thin crepe doused in honey and butter.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The manosphere is a catchall term for websites, forums, blogs and influencers promoting hypermasculinity, from the belief that women and feminism are the cause of men’s problems to calls to legalize rape. Groups within it — including pickup artists, men’s rights groups and “involuntary celibate” or “incel” communities — portray themselves as victims of modernity.
Read MoreThe meeting is being held during an election cycle in which rejecting AIPAC support has become a defining issue in Democratic races. It also comes amid concerns from some Jewish Democrats — including ones critical of AIPAC — that the group’s emergence as a bogeyman in American politics is inappropriate or even antisemitic.
Read More(ESSAY) When Passover arrives each spring, Jewish families around the world gather at their tables to retell a story passed down for thousands of years. At ritual dinners known as Seders, they recount the Exodus, the biblical story of the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt — asking questions, singing songs and explaining the meaning behind symbolic foods like matzo.
Read More(REVIEW) “The House of David” Season Two improves on its strengths while refining its flaws, delivering a compelling biblical epic about power, faith and leadership. Despite some uneven pacing and character development, it offers a timely, countercultural vision of heroism grounded in moral responsibility.
Read More(REVIEW) In 1954, the Oscar-winning composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold staged a European homecoming with a new operetta. How this came to pass — and how his planned comeback failed to materialize — is even more convoluted than the piece’s farcical plot. Korngold, a Jewish refugee from Vienna, first came to Hollywood to adapt Felix Mendelssohn’s music for Max Reinhardt’s 1935 film of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) One of the books I’ve read in the last couple of years that has really stuck with me is Jonathan Haidt’s “The Righteous Mind.” It’s a distillation of a lot of his work on how people manage to puzzle their way through tricky moral situations. For instance, he discusses the classic Heinz dilemma.
Read MoreOvert antisemitism among online influencers has started to break into the real world. A notable recent example comes via Tyler Oliveira, a YouTuber who rose to fame with stunts like trying to absorb a swimming pool’s worth of water with paper towels before pivoting to “documentaries” that often purport to expose conservative bugaboos — and who has filmed two recent videos focused on Jews.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Respondents were first asked the standard question: “What is your present religion, if any?” They were given about a dozen response options, ranging from Protestant to Catholic to Jewish to agnostic. After answering that question, respondents were given a follow-up battery that asked: “Aside from religion, do you consider yourself to be any of the following in any way (for example, ethnically, culturally, or because of your family’s background)?”
Read MoreAs Holocaust survivors age, organizations are turning to AI-powered avatars to preserve their testimony. An interactive version of survivor Sonia Warshawski, created with StoryFile, allows students to ask questions about her life and experiences. Supporters call it the future of Holocaust education, while critics question its ethical and emotional limits.
Read MoreThis year’s Winter Olympic Games are filled with Jewish athletes. They can be found on the hockey rink, on the slopes, sliding on bobsleds and in the figure skating competitions. Despite a robust representation in Milan-Cortina, the stereotype that Jews are bad at sports has not fully vanished.
Read MoreFormer Miss California Carrie Prejean Boller was removed from the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission after rejecting Zionism during an antisemitism hearing. A recent Catholic convert, she argued the modern state of Israel holds no biblical significance, reflecting a broader shift among some American Christians away from traditional Zionist support.
Read MoreKamryn Lute’s Olympic ritual doesn’t start on the ice. It begins with a text to her mom: “Dear God,” she types. “Please help me do my best.” Kamryn, 21, is the only member of Team USA’s speedskating squad to have had a bat mitzvah — or a beloved pug who shared her Hebrew name, Elisheva.
Read MoreThe recent rise in antisemitism is making Jewish Americans feel unsafe, causing many to change the way they live their day-to-day lives. The American Jewish Committee said Jews living in the United States felt less safe last year compared to 2024 amid a growing number of high-profile antisemitism incidents.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When we’re asked, “Are you religious?” There are a number of different ways someone might justify an affirmative answer. It could be that they attend a house of worship regularly or pray frequently. It could be that they hold specific beliefs about Jesus Christ or Muhammad. Those would be behavior and belief measures of religion. But there’s a third dimension that often gets overlooked: Belonging.
Read MoreA new ad from Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate will beam to millions, part of his years-long, multimillion dollar initiative to combat the Oldest Hatred. The campaign has given us two previous Super Bowl spots: One in which MLK’s speechwriter Clarence B. Jones urged us to speak against silence and, last year, as a counterpoint, one where Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady yelled at each other.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Nothing will ever truly replace the voices of the survivors, but I believe teachers and communities can carry on his work by making history feel local and personal. As everything around us seems to show each day, little could be more important than the lessons of these people, their sources and the Holocaust.
Read MoreDuring the Holocaust, concealment was a condition of survival under persecution. Survivors’ testimony illuminates both the ingenuity required to endure such pressure and the emotional costs of erasing parts of oneself. In a moment of rising nationalism, antisemitism and mass displacement, their stories carry renewed urgency.
Read More(ANALYSIS) You’ve probably heard of Thomas Aquinas, a prominent medieval scholar who combined Christian theology and Greek philosophy. However, you may not be familiar with the renowned Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides, whose ideas significantly influenced Aquinas’s thought.
Read MoreA majority of New York voters believe that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s harsh criticism of Israel is a legitimate policy disagreement and that elected officials should challenge U.S. support for Israel, even if it upsets some voters, a new poll found. Views differ sharply among Jewish New Yorkers.
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