Author: Sara Wood

(JTA) — Mark Auerbach was not yet 5 years old when he noticed an unusual stamp in his father’s dresser. The well-worn three-cent stamp featured a drawing of a small group of men and a sinking ship, with the words “The Immortal Chaplains… Interfaith in action.” It piqued his interest, so he asked his father […]

(JTA) — “Hi, my name is Dan. I’m 11 years old and I like doing magic and circus skills, especially unicycling. I’m here today to testify against House Bill 170, 183, and 337,” a young voice said into the microphone. “I really like to play sports with my friends, although honestly I’m not very good […]

(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — A man fired blanks from a handgun at a Jewish center in San Francisco Wednesday, shocking a group gathered for a study session in a community space serving mainly Russian-speaking Jews. But no one present called police, so it was not until word of the […]

(JTA) — Paul Farber was shocked when he first watched “Rocky” and saw a Star of David on the grave of Rocky Balboa’s coach, Mickey Goldmill. As a Jew and as the founder of the Philadelphia-based Monument Lab, which has explored collective memory through art installations across the country for over a decade, Farber was […]

(JTA) — Within two weeks, a series of Bay Area billboards equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism were targeted by activists. In the first incident, an unknown group of culprits wrote “Free Palestine” on them, leading the billboards’ sponsor to replace them and call the graffiti “a hate crime.” The second time they were targeted, a group […]

(JTA) — A 19-year-old from Long Island was killed in a car accident in Jerusalem on Wednesday night. Adira Koffsky was hit by a car whose driver lost control in a rain storm. A 2022 graduate of Yeshiva University Girls High School, Koffsky was studying in a gap-year program for Orthodox women called Midreshet Amudim, […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The resolution is called “Recognizing Israel as America’s Legitimate and Democratic Ally and Condemning Antisemitism,” and its cosponsors are a who’s-who of the pro-Israel Democrats, including leading Jewish lawmakers. Also on the sponsor list: Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been one of Israel’s harshest critics in Congress and who Republicans on Thursday […]

(JTA) — A local man has been arrested in connection with an attempted firebombing at a New Jersey synagogue over the weekend, authorities said Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that Nicholas Malindretos, 26, had been charged with attempted use of fire to damage and destroy a building used in interstate commerce in connection with […]

(JTA) — Nearly two years after NBA player Meyers Leonard was caught using an antisemitic slur on a video game platform, the former first-round pick opened up about the incident and his subsequent journey toward forgiveness in an interview with Jewish ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap. “I know that I made a huge, huge mistake,” Leonard […]

(JTA) — In 2019, Israel’s Noam party drafted an internal report about an alleged plot by foreign forces to take control of the country’s schools in order to teach pluralistic values. At the time the party’s far-right leader, Avi Maoz, was a fringe politician with no authority to carry out the “cleansing” of which he […]