When YIVO was founded in Vilna in 1925, its mission was to study a living people. The Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut was meant to be a national university for Jews scattered across Eastern Europe and, increasingly, the world. Its scholars studied Yiddish language and literature, but also Jewish sociology, psychology, history and contemporary life. YIVO was […]
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(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via (JR)) When celebrity chef and Bay Area food ambassador Samin Nosrat appeared this week at San Francisco’s JCC alongside two Israeli chefs, it was nearly three years since she pledged not to buy or promote Israeli food. The Chez Panisse alum and author of 2017’s smash hit “Salt […]
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Pro-Palestinian protests commemorating the third anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel were competing for attention with other domestic issues across Europe. Demonstrations of solidarity with Palestinians on Wednesday faced arrests or restrictions in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands. In France and Spain, they were overshadowed by mass protests over education and housing. Turnout […]
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Naomi Ragen, the New York-born Israeli novelist and playwright known for her portrayals of Orthodox Jewish women in crisis, says the cancellation of a planned Chicago revival of one of her plays represents a “return to McCarthyism” in the American cultural scene. Ragen, 77, has revealed that plans by a Jewish arts company in Chicago […]
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The head of the Jewish Greens said she may leave the Green Party of England and Wales after it adopted a policy that defines Zionism as racism and calls for a single democratic state “in all of historic Palestine.” Vivien Lichtenstein, a 29-year member of the Greens who worked on Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives since the […]
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”They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat.” Alan King’s joke about Jewish holidays gets to the essence of Jewish persistence in the face of horror. He might have added “Let’s sing.” Music has accompanied the Jewish people for millennia through periods of joy and sorrow. Moses and the Israelites praised God for His […]
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In 2015, while visiting Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, James Beard Award-winning chef Alon Shaya came face-to-face with a World War II artifact that moved him deeply. It was a red cloth triangle — cut from a Nazi flag — embroidered with the names of a few dozen female prisoners at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. […]
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Police in the Ontario town where a gunman charged the Sons of Jacob synagogue on Yom Kippur are investigating antisemitic flyers distributed around the synagogue’s neighborhood. In an Oct. 1 press release, Belleville police encouraged those with tips or video evidence to contact police. “We recognize that incidents such as this can cause concern within […]
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From artists and actors to technologists to politicians advancing visions for the future, Time magazine has recognized Jewish figures on its list of “the world’s most influential rising stars.” The magazine launched the Time100 Next list in 2019 to highlight people whose influence is still taking shape. This year’s list reflected shifts in popular culture, […]
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TEL AVIV – The Omani pilot who allegedly tried to hijack and crash a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv has drawn new attention to his native country. Oman, which has sometimes been dubbed the “Switzerland of the Middle East,” has long sought to balance its relations with the West and Iran. Its strategic location, […]
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