Author: Sara Wood

(JTA) — Showtime is producing a limited series on the late Jewish comedy legend Joan Rivers, and its lead actress should not come as a surprise. Kathryn Hahn, the non-Jewish star known for playing a rabbi on the very Jewish series “Transparent” among other Jewish roles, will portray Rivers, who died in 2014 after complications […]

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — As he lists the names of his many grandchildren, Joop van Ooijen recites what sounds like a roll call at a typical Israeli classroom. Yair, Yael, Lael, Odelia, Netanya, Yoaz and Shilon are some of his grandkids with modern names, favored by the Israeli middle class. Baruch, Moshe, Elisheva and Yehuda are […]

(JTA) — The 16th-century kabbalist Moshe Cordovero and the Jewish philosopher Nachmanides both compared the universe to the size of a mustard seed. The biblical commentator Rashi – who lived 100 miles from Dijon, France – believed that Abraham served tongue with mustard to the three angels who visit him in the 18th chapter of […]

(JTA) — Shonna Levin is an Orthodox Jew, but she won’t be spending Yom Kippur in a synagogue. The Brooklyn activist had planned to set up camp in Prospect Park, where she was going to host an all-day gathering for Jews with eating disorders for whom the holiday centered around fasting can be especially difficult. […]

(JTA) — If you know any young children or fidgety adults, chances are you’ve seen, heard, or coveted a handheld piece of dimpled silicone known as a “pop-it.” The must-have toy was originally created in the 1970s by an Israeli couple with a penchant for playthings, according to a BBC report that calls the pop-it […]

(JTA) — The Ben Stiller-Diego Schwartzman bromance is still going strong. While Schwartzman was eliminated from the U.S. Open in New York on Sunday, he snuck in some more quality with Stiller, the Jewish actor who happens to be one of Diego’s biggest fans. On Wednesday, the Jewish tennis star’s girlfriend posted a photo of […]

(JTA) — The adventurers arrived at Morgur’s Mound, an archaeological site ringed with dragon bones. There they stumbled upon some treasure: a fire giant’s gold-plated tooth. They grabbed the tooth and tried to leave the site, but suddenly the ground began to shake. “Four animated thunder beast skeletons erupt from the mound and attack you,” […]

(JTA) — If you find your synagogue’s prayerbook a little dull at Rosh Hashanah services next week, you may be able to buy a livelier — and much older — alternative for next year. That is, if you have $4 million lying around. Sotheby’s announced Thursday that it will be putting a 700-year-old illustrated Rosh […]

(JTA) — At a key moment in the new Netflix film “Worth,” Kenneth Feinberg, the real-life architect of the compensation fund for 9/11 victims, is shown overwhelmed by the monumental emotional toil of the job. At a town hall meeting for victims’ families Feinberg — whom Michael Keaton until this point has portrayed as an […]