Author: Sara Wood

(JTA) — Rep. Elaine Luria, a moderate Democrat who cites her Jewishness and saw her profile grow as a member of the House committee overseeing the investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, lost her bid for reelection in a Virginia swing district. Luria, a former Navy commander, lost Tuesday in a close race to […]

(JTA) — Michael Bennet, the Democratic Colorado senator who cites his mother’s Holocaust experience as a key influence on his outlook, beat back a challenge from a moderate Republican. Bennet is among four Democrats with Jewish heritage running in statewide elections in the state. Jared Polis, the state’s first Jewish and openly gay Democratic governor, […]

(JTA) — Douglas Mastriano as Tevye would be an odd casting choice for a Republican candidate whose ties to a prominent antisemite have dogged his campaign. But Jaymie Bellet, who serenaded a crowd of Mastriano supporters on the last day of his bid to become Pennsylvania’s governor, suggested with her adaptation of a “Fiddler on […]

(JTA) — Students at one of Chicago’s most selective public high schools are calling for improved Holocaust education after a classmate goose-stepped across the stage of a Halloween costume contest while wearing a German military uniform. The principal of Jones College Prep, which draws high-performing students from across Chicago, has already been suspended over his […]

(JTA) — Around the time Rabbi Shmuley Boteach was endorsing Mehmet Oz for the Senate, calling the TV doctor a “great friend of Israel” last December, the candidate for the GOP nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania was hiring Boteach’s daughter as a consultant. That’s according to the daughter, Shterny Glick, whose […]

(JTA) — Former NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire first learned about the Black Hebrew Israelites, a movement whose core belief is that African Americans are the genealogical descendants of the ancient Israelites, as a teenager. After that discovery, he would start on a path of decades of research and learning that would lead to his eventual Orthodox […]

(JTA) — As the antisemitic book and film that NBA star Kyrie Irving promoted on social media continues to occupy best-seller lists on Amazon, the e-commerce giant has come under pressure from Jewish groups to remove the titles from its website.  The company is now considering adding a disclaimer to the film, according to The New York Times.  […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s a familiar pitch from American Jewish politicians: Our ancestors fled repression to enjoy the freedoms America offers, and your vote for me will help preserve them. The difference for these three Jewish congressional longshots is that they are Republicans, and the flight from the oppression they describe happened not generations ago, […]

(JTA) — With antisemitism on his mind this weekend, Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, took a detour to the nearest Jewish deli. The Second Gentleman was in Iowa to campaign for Deidre DeJear, the Democrat who is lagging in her effort to unseat the state’s Republican governor. The closest — and only — […]

In his essay “Sound and Sentiment, Sound and Symbol,” the poet Nathaniel Mackey relays the origin story of music as told by the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea: A sister and brother go to catch crayfish. When the boy catches none, his sister refuses to share her bounty. Finally, the boy comes upon a […]