For a trip through New York City’s Jewish history and a glimpse of its present and future, there’s no better seven-block stretch than Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. The neighborhood was once the epicenter of Jewish life in America. Starting with a wave of Jewish immigration from the Russian Empire in the 1880s […]
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When the president of El Salvador came to the White House this week, he rejected a U.S. Supreme Court order to “facilitate” the return of a man locked inside one of his country’s notorious detention facilities. “How can I smuggle the terrorist into the United States?” Nayib Bukele said at the meeting, echoing a White […]
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PHOENIX, Arizona — On one particularly sleepy Passover morning a few years back, one of my kids turned to me and said, “Abba, where is everybody?” Looking out at the empty pews, I said, “Not in Manhattan.” In my Orthodox congregation on the Upper West Side, the overwhelming majority of our members typically observe Passover […]
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Half a century ago, in the fall of 1969, Michael Tilson Thomas — a promising, young conductor and scion of Yiddish theater royalty — lifted his baton for his New York debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he had recently been appointed assistant conductor and pianist. In one of those rare unscripted moments, Tilson […]
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Former Israeli hostage Noa Argamani and Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt were included along with over a dozen Jews in Time Magazine’s 100 “Most Influential” list this year. Their inclusion — in the “Leaders” and “Titans” sections of the annual list — points to the ongoing significance of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel […]
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“I’m preparing a tea so we can talk with leisure,” Sasson Gabay says over the phone from Israel. The Israeli film and TV star, now 77, wants to get comfortable so he can talk about one of his favorite characters from his 50-year career: Nuhem Shtisel. If that surname sounds familiar, yes — it’s a […]
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Three dozen members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews have issued a public letter harshly criticizing Israel’s continued offensive in Gaza, revealing a divide within the largest British Jewish group. The letter, which was published in the Financial Times, includes the signatures of roughly 10% of the board’s deputies, who are appointed from […]
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In his first major public comments about Israel since early in the Gaza war, the Jewish actor Ben Platt said his Jewish identity is not defined by Israel. Platt also voiced support for another Jewish actor, Hannah Einbinder, who has drawn criticism after condemning the Israeli government in a recent awards speech. “As a queer […]
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LOS ANGELES — While the L.A. wildfires were still smoldering in January, I sat down to write a personal reflection on what Judaica means to the heart of Jewish homes like the ones that had been consumed in the inferno. Before I had written the last sentence, I knew I wanted to try to help […]
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After Mohamed Muizzu, president of the Indian Ocean nation of Maldives, announced last year that Israeli passport holders would be barred from entering his country, in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza, the plan hit a snag. Officials there realized that some Palestinians have Israeli passports and would also be excluded. They decided to slow […]
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