Author: Sara Wood

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — One big turning point in Sammy Tweedy’s Jewish story took place when he was preparing for his bar mitzvah, and his rock star father, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, converted to Judaism as part of the process. Another occurred in 2020 when he was a sophomore in college and accepted a free Birthright […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — George Washington University has suspended Students for Justice in Palestine for at least 90 days, making it the third U.S. college to curtail the group’s operations this month. A new pro-Palestinian student group has already been announced and is staging a rally to support the suspended SJP chapter. George Washington University made […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — I didn’t cover or attend the Free Soviet Jewry rally in Washington in 1987, but I’ve seen the photographs.  That rally, which drew some 250,000 Jews to the National Mall, was long considered a high point for Jewish street activism, the benchmark against which all demonstrations since have been measured. The […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Four hours after Tuesday’s historic pro-Israel march in Washington, D.C. ended, Jennie Levy had expected to be touching down back in Detroit, after a long but fulfilling day standing shoulder to shoulder with Jews from around the country in support of Israel. Instead, her delegation of 900, organized by the Jewish Federation […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Organizers of a pro-Israel rally at the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday claimed that 290,000 people showed up for the event, making it one of the largest gatherings of Jews in U.S. history at a time when an ongoing war in Gaza has sharply divided public opinion around the world. […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Birthright Israel has canceled its trips that had been scheduled for December due to safety concerns from the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, reportedly the first time in its history the group has pulled programs due to war in the region. A Birthright spokesperson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the group expects to resume […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Tens of thousands of Jews and pro-Israel activists are arriving in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday for a mass pro-Israel rally that will feature senior Israeli and American officials and that aims to bolster support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, as well as the fight against antisemitism in the United States […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Top Education Department officials met their own deadline in responding to a spike of antisemitism on college campuses by holding a virtual hourlong briefing on Monday with Jewish organizational leaders. Some of those leaders offered praise that the department was sticking to its promise to draft a plan for campus antisemitism […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — President Joe Biden called on Israel to take “less intrusive action” at hospitals across the Gaza Strip, which have become a focal point in the country’s war against Hamas and have drawn the attention and concern of the international community. The Israel Defense Forces have surrounded the main hospital in Gaza City, […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will suspend a handful of students from “non-academic” activities after they participated in a recent pro-Palestinian “die-in.” The decision was announced in a Nov. 9 letter from MIT President Sally Kornbluth, who did not specify how many students will be suspended. The protest, which occurred that day, […]