Author: Sara Wood

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Brandeis University’s president has apologized to the school’s Orthodox Jewish student group for a university ad that called the school “anything but Orthodox.” The two-page spread, which appeared in The New York Times Magazine last week, drew the ire of Orthodox Jews and others on social media, who called it offensive.  Days […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, who represents the most right-wing government in the country’s history, called for a stand against “intolerance and bigotry” targeting the LGBTQ community in the United States and Israel. “We must also recognize the many challenges that remain, and actively take a stand […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — The Biden administration rejoined the the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, reversing at the Trump administration’s decision in 2017 to pull out of the organization over its anti-Israel bias. The Biden administration had sought reentry in part because China is becoming preeminent in the organization at a time when […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Harvard’s 20th-century antisemitic Jewish quotas were a key part of the Supreme Court’s decision to gut affirmative action on Thursday, as the winning litigant and two conservative justices cited them in the landmark case. The 6-3 decision Thursday, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, bars universities from using race as an […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — On March 23, Michael Neuman was in the middle of an obstacle course for NBC’s sports reality competition show “American Ninja Warrior.” The show features grueling challenges such as rope swings, pole vaults and climbing walls, all with one rule: you can’t fall. He looked over at the sidelines of the course at […]

(New York Jewish Week) — At the first-ever “Kosherpalooza” — a kosher food festival geared toward consumers  — savvy attendees knew best to strategize: First, sample everything on the “dairy” side of the convention center (lattes, ice cream, cheeses, pasta, fresh goat and sheep’s milk), and then cross over to the “meat” side, where steak tartare, […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Daniel Shapiro, formerly the U.S. ambassador to Israel, will be the Biden administration’s point man in expanding and managing the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries. Shapiro, the ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration, has been heading an Abraham Accords advancement effort at the Atlantic […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Republican and Democratic leaders invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to address Congress to mark 75 years of the U.S.-Israel relationship. The invitation, which will almost certainly include a White House visit with President Biden, is unusual in that it comes before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been asked to meet with the […]

When the first pandemic-era Rosh Hashanah arrived three years ago, many synagogues found themselves struggling to adjust to a radically different High Holiday experience in which much of Jewish communal life had moved online.  Fast forward three years, and American Jewish communal life has returned in full force — yet online programming and outreach is […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Almost a year and a half into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 13-year-old Artur Dotsenko has become accustomed to sleepless nights. With all the bombings and shellings in his hometown of Kyiv, Dotsenko said he gets about 2-3 hours of sleep each night. For a few weeks this summer, Dotsenko will leave war-torn […]