Author: Sara Wood

(JTA) — Dylan Geller has taken great pride in his work as a student manager of Duke University’s men’s basketball team since landing the gig as a freshman in 2019. But things felt different this season, and not just because the Blue Devils had a new head coach, Jon Scheyer, after 42 years under the […]

MIAMI (JTA) — When Michael Ignagni found out that Israel would be competing in the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifier, he immediately thought of how Western pop culture undermined communism. “The first thing I thought of was the impact that everybody says the Beatles had on breaking down the Berlin Wall and ending communism in […]

(JTA) — The annual gala of A Wider Bridge, a Jewish LGBTQ group, had all the trappings of a festive event: Guests arrived in cocktail attire finery — one woman wore a tiered, ruffled rainbow dress — to enjoy salad, rice, chicken, an assortment of desserts and schmoozing — and to celebrate the achievements of […]

(JTA) — A three-minute trailer teases a new reality show called “Unseen Housewives,” and features women describing their experiences as child brides in forced marriages.  “I was groomed by a pedophile at age 14 and married by age 16,” one of four young women in the trailer tells the camera. “I turned into a housewife […]

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland (JTA) — A little more than a week ago, 120 Jews gathered at the Residence Inn in National Harbor, Maryland, to spend Shabbat together.  The Shabbaton, or programmed Shabbat, had a structure familiar to many observant Jews: Sabbath meals and prayer service options along with opportunities for group discussions and lectures. The vibe […]

(JTA) — A new FBI report found that anti-Jewish incidents increased nearly 20% in 2021 relative to 2020, but decreased relative to prior years. The updated FBI statistics released Monday counted 817 anti-Jewish criminal offenses reported by local law enforcement agencies in 2021, up from 683 in 2020 — a year when people largely stayed […]

(JTA) — Following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, federal regulators have shuttered Signature Bank, whose chairman, Scott Shay, is a major donor to Jewish causes. The New York-based bank was closed on Sunday, two days after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, stoking panic in the markets and assurances from President Joe Biden on Monday that […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — For more than a week, American Jewish groups have debated how and whether to welcome Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, as he visits Washington, D.C.  On Sunday night, that debate culminated in protests, arrests, boycotts — and a speech by Smotrich urging American Jews to remain loyal to the Jewish state.  […]

(JTA) — The organizers of the deadly neo-Nazi Charlottesville rally in 2017 have been ordered to pay close to $5 million to plaintiffs for legal costs in a lawsuit, adding to the penalties already facing the mostly bankrupt crew of extremists. The rally organizers were sued later in 2017 by Charlottesville residents who suffered trauma […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sixteen Jewish Democrats called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suspend legislation that would remove much of the Israeli Supreme Court’s power, and to work out a compromise with the opposition. The letter sent Thursday cited efforts by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to convene the governing coalition and opposition for negotiations. […]