Author: Sara Wood

(JTA) — It seemed like the last keg had been tapped for Shmaltz Brewing Company, until a rabbi-in-training stepped in for a Jewish renewal project. The Jewish craft beer label, best known for its He’Brew: The Chosen Beer line of drinks, shut down last year after 25 years when its founder, Jeremy Cowan, said he […]

(JTA) – On Monday, the board of Keller Independent School District in Texas introduced that evening’s prayer leader as “Rabbi Griffin.” A man wearing a suit and kippah then approached the podium and recited the priestly blessing in Hebrew. “Grant us, Adonai, your mind tonight so we can be a blessing to our community, to […]

(JTA) – On Monday, the board of Keller Independent School District in Texas introduced that evening’s prayer leader as “Rabbi Griffin.” A man wearing a suit and kippah then approached the podium and recited the priestly blessing in Hebrew. “Grant us, Adonai, your mind tonight so we can be a blessing to our community, to […]

(JTA) — Bari Weiss, a prominent commentator on antisemitism in the United States, is taking a leading role in Elon Musk’s efforts to reshape Twitter by criticizing the platform’s past efforts to combat bigotry and harassment. Starting last Thursday, Weiss has been releasing Twitter threads with what she and another opinion journalist, former Rolling Stone […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden has set up an interagency task force to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia and has set as its first task coming up with a strategy to tackle antisemitism. “This strategy will raise understanding about antisemitism and the threat it poses to the Jewish community and all Americans, address antisemitic harassment […]

(JTA) — A Denver rabbi who promotes psychedelic use as part of spiritual practice will no longer face prosecution after Coloradans voted last month to legalize psilocybin, the chemical compound found in psychedelic mushrooms. Denver’s district attorney’s office announced last week that it was dropping charges against Ben Gorelick, the founder of  Sacred Tribe, a […]

Rachel “Ruchie” Freier was the first Hasidic woman to be elected a civil court judge in New York. That is just one of many accomplishments for this mother of six who blows away preconceived ideas about what religious Jews can accomplish in the secular world. Freier also formed B’Derech, a nonprofit that helps provide education […]

(JTA) — Former President Donald Trump said Jewish leaders “lack loyalty” and “should be ashamed of themselves,” his latest broadside against the American Jewish community, this time because of criticism of his dinner with two prominent antisemitic figures. “How quickly Jewish Leaders forgot that I was the best, by far, President for Israel,” Trump said […]

(JTA) — A Republican-led commission tasked with studying antisemitism in Virginia recommended a suite of actions, from improving Holocaust education to prohibiting Israel boycotts, while also referring to former President Donald Trump’s recent dinner with a pair of prominent antisemitic figures. The Virginia Commission to Combat Antisemitism, established by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, also […]

(JTA) — It was the kind of story that Tom Tugend loved to tell, except he lived it. He left Berlin, aged 13, on Adolf Hitler’s birthday, in 1939, driven out by the ideology reflected in the swastikas on the banners fluttering in the streets. Six years later, he was back in Germany as an […]