Exactly 100 years ago, on Jan. 4, 1926, legendary American Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin married Ellin Mackay, a Roman Catholic heiress, in a civil ceremony in Manhattan’s City Hall. What some considered a misalliance of prominent figures from different worlds was the subject of much comment, as much for their class differences as their religious […]
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This article was produced as part of the New York Jewish Week’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around New York City to report on issues that affect their lives. On a freezing December day in Chicago, an elderly woman sat in a chair in a small downtown auditorium, speaking in measured […]
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This article was produced as part of (JR)’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives. I grew up speaking Russian to my family — at home, on the streets in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and at the Italian grocery store in Tottenville, Staten […]
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Jewish actress Odessa A’zion appeared to push back this week on social media claims labeling her as a “Zionist,” after controversy swirled online over her political opinions. The speculation about the 25-year-old actress’s political leanings first surfaced last week after users on X posted a screenshot of her modeling an Israeli Defense Forces shirt on […]
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Israel became the first country to formally recognize Somaliland, a self-declared sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, in a decision that was immediately condemned by Somalia and other nations. “The Prime Minister announced today the official recognition of the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state,” wrote Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in a […]
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Sid Caesar once dominated American television so completely that it was hard to imagine Saturday nights without him. In the early 1950s, his live sketch-comedy program “Your Show of Shows” drew tens of millions of viewers. That show and its other iterations — “The Admiral Broadway Revue,” “Caesar’s Hour” and “Sid Caesar Invites You” — […]
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British police ended an investigation into the British punk band Bob Vylan, months after the rap duo led thousands of Glastonbury music festival attendees in chants of “Death, death to the IDF.” “We have concluded, after reviewing all the evidence, that it does not meet the criminal threshold outlined by the CPS for any person […]
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It’s not just a myth that Jews head to Chinese restaurants on Christmas. It’s science! Sort of. A new report from the financial services company Coventry Direct claims to have quantified the trend. The report analyzed search data for “Chinese food near me” during the week of Christmas from 2020 to 2024, and found that […]
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“I want to change the way I wear my shoes,” Brooklyn-based Yiddishist and musician Ira Khonen Temple sings on the first track on their debut album, “Strange Tongue/Mistame Loshn.” “But I don’t wanna change the way I say ‘hello,’” Temple continues. “I wanna say it in my fruity voice and hear the birds around rejoice.” […]
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The self-appointed chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia, Rabbi Jacob Herzog, said he had been denied entry to the Gulf nation. “With profound regret, I announce that I was barred from entering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia upon arrival, despite holding a valid entry visa, and despite having spent a significant portion of the past years […]
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