Posts in Jewish
‘Once Upon A Mattress’ — Which Started At A Jewish Summer Camp — Returns To Broadway

The show is a revival of the 1959 original, composed by Mary Rodgers and written by Marshall Barer, Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller. The new version, directed by Lear deBessonet, features an updated book by Amy Sherman-Palladino — perhaps best known in these pages for creating "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — that preserves the comedy and spunk of the original while updating the script to be more modern and gender-inclusive.

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During Ongoing War In The Middle East, Christians Struggle Spiritually And Financially

In the midst of a conflict on three fronts — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran — Israeli troops congregate on street corners, in cafes and around government buildings. Many are between 18 and 20 years old, recent draftees of the mandatory military service required of Israeli citizens. 

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Why Gaza Remains A Big Challenge For Democrats This Election Season

As millions prepare to watch the Democratic National Convention this week, tens of thousands of protesters are converging on Chicago to rally against the ongoing war in Gaza. Inside the United Center arena, at least 30 party delegates are expected to voice their opposition to the administration’s policies on the conflict.

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Judge Rules UCLA Discriminated Against Jews During Gaza War Protests

The University of California at Los Angeles blocked Jewish students from portions of campus when protests erupted in response to the Israel-Hamas War, a district judge has ruled, citing their faith as the sole factor.

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Columbia President Minouche Shafik Resigns Following Pro-Palestinian Protests

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday, bowing to pressure from university faculty and students and public officials who widely criticized her handling of pro-Palestinian campus protests last school year.

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A Jewish Baseball Event So Rare That It’s Only Happened 3 Times Before

The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Philadelphia Phillies 11-1 in Phoenix, but Jewish fans might care less about the outcome than about a rare phenomenon in baseball history — an all-Jewish battery. Phillies Jewish pitcher Max Lazar made his major-league debut in the bottom of the 7th inning, throwing to Jewish catcher Garrett Stubbs, and got Kevin Newman to fly out to right field to end the inning. He returned in the 8th inning and retired all three batters, including Joc Pederson, who struck out.

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Harris, Walz And Shapiro: Election Faith Factors To Consider

(ANALYSIS) This extraordinary political year displays an increasingly multicultural America. Starting with Harris, she'd be the first Asian American to be president, the first with Hindu roots as signified by her name, the first female and first female African American. Despite Donald Trump’s feigned racial perplexity, her dual Black identity is equally obvious since she chose to attend Howard University and has been a member of San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church for three decades.  

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Zealotry Is Dividing Israel: A Groundbreaking Film Shows It’s Not The First Time

Gidi Dar did not set out to be a prophet. When he began work on his film Legend of Destruction, in 2016, he was simply drawn to a collection of Talmudic stories about Jewish zealots revolting against their Roman rulers in the first century, a rebellion that triggered the destruction of the Temple. Then, during the seven years the film spent in production, things began to shift in Israeli society.

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Is Israel On The Verge Of The Gog-Magog War?

(OPINION) There is no question that the nation of Israel could be facing an unprecedented attack coming from all sides: Iran from the east, Hezbollah from the north, the Houthis from the south, and Hamas (what is left of it) from the west. In fact, by the time you read this article, that attack may have already been launched. But is Israel on the verge of an apocalyptic war prophesied in the Bible? In my view, the answer is clearly no.

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Netanyahu Delivers Forceful Defense Of Israel: Highlights From What He Said

(ANALYSIS) Wednesday marked the fourth time that Prime Minister Netanyahu has addressed a joint session of Congress, the most of any world leader in history. His staunchest critics have claimed that the real reason for his visit to the States was “to enlist domestic American support to keep waging the war” rather than to end the war and bring home the hostages.

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Why GOP Jews Are More Jazzed About Trump This Time

(ANALYSIS) Republican Jews at their party’s national convention this week describe their enthusiasm for Trump as more robust than it has ever been. “Trump is not only going to unite America, he’s going to bring together Jews in the Republican Party in a way that has never happened before,” Florida’s Paul Packer said.

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Human Rights Watch, A Critic Of Israel, Details Oct. 7 Attacks

Human Rights Watch issued a report Wednesday detailing war crimes and other violence committed by Palestinian armed groups against Israeli civilians during the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel. The document, titled “I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind,” reached several notable conclusions, including that Palestinian civilians were not responsible for major atrocities during the attack.

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Pro-Gaza Candidates Make A Dent In Labour’s UK Election Landslide

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas is having reverberations across the globe. This was the case during last week’s elections in the United Kingdom. While the headlines heralded the Labour‘s landslide victory, some of the party’s losses resulted in gains for independent candidates who made Gaza a major campaign issue.  

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‘The Most Important Tattoo I Ever Did’: Artists Volunteer To Ink Israel’s Oct. 7 Survivors

The artists who gathered in Tel Aviv Thursday to offer free tattoos to survivors of Oct. 7 know their work is rooted in trauma. They want it to be a source of strength. Twenty tattooists are volunteering with HEALING INK, a project of a nonprofit that enlists artists to counter anti-Israel sentiment. The group plans a second session in Jerusalem on Sunday, and expects about 100 people to get tattoos.

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Fourth Of July Food Fight: Is Your Hot Dog Tradition Kosher?

(ANALYSIS) When it comes to hot dogs, there’s always a nagging question in the back of my mind (and possibly yours): What are they made of, exactly? That’s why, even though I don’t keep kosher, on the rare occasion that I do eat a hot dog, I prefer a kosher brand. But now, thanks to Joey Chestnut’s endorsement of Impossible Foods’ vegan hot dog, I’m wondering if I should forsake my usual go-to, Hebrew National, for meatless.

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Complexities Abound In Unending Ten Commandments Disputes

(ANALYSIS) A Louisiana bill signed into law on June 19 requires displays of the Bible’s revered Ten Commandments in all public classrooms, even at the university level. Religious and nonreligious citizens immediately joined national lobbies in a federal court complaint that the law must be overturned for violating the U.S. Constitution’s ban on “establishment of religion” by the government. 

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Religious Freedom: New Report Paints A Grim Global Picture

Millions continue to suffer religious persecution globally, with wars and civil conflicts exacerbating already existing ills in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the U.S. State Department documented in its 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom. The report attempts to present an overview of persecution by governments, extremists and members of society, relying on information from government officials, religious groups, nongovernmental organizations, journalists, human rights monitors, academia and the media.

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Google Is Answering Searches With AI: What Does It Mean For Holocaust History?

What if, when you Googled a question about Holocaust history, instead of being taken to, say, Wikipedia or a news article, you were just given a few bullet points written by artificial intelligence? This is the sort of thing a new UNESCO report, “AI and the Holocaust: Rewriting History?” warns about. 

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