Author: Sara Wood

(JTA) — Motorcyclist Steve Goode is on the way to Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But on a recent phone call from a hotel room, he doesn’t know exactly where he is. “Indiana, in … what the hell town am I in?” he says with a laugh. Turns out he’s in Richmond, Indiana, a […]

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Several years before skyrocketing to superstardom with “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for the exuberant Broadway musical “In the Heights.” In the last act of the stage production, a salsa-flavored celebration of the Latino community of Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, a sign for “Rosario’s Car […]

This article originally appeared in The Nosher. Russian tea biscuits are so much a part of Cleveland’s landscape that locals are surprised to learn that these rugelach-like pastries are from their hometown. As a Clevelander, I didn’t discover the truth until I moved to several cities and Russian tea biscuits were nowhere to be found, […]

(JTA) — For years, Chava Shervington would connect informally with other Black Orthodox Jews to celebrate Black history that often wasn’t discussed in their communities and to offer and receive advice on a range of topics – from what communities were the most inclusive to how to deal with their children being bullied at majority-white […]

(JTA) — For many 20-somethings, the experience of moving back into their parents’ home during the pandemic was common. For Willie Zabar, fourth-generation scion of one of New York’s most famous Jewish emporiums, the pandemic brought a different kind of homecoming: returning to the family business. A comedian and theater worker, Zabar, 28, had mostly […]

This article originally appeared on The Nosher. Not long ago, there were ominous reports about the fate of Jewish delis. Lovers of pastrami and chopped liver wrung their hands. While it’s undeniable that there are far fewer Jewish delis today than there were a generation ago — David Sax, author of “Save the Deli,” calls […]

This article originally appeared on Alma. I was Jewish to everyone but the Jews. That’s what it felt like to grow up the son of a Cuban mother and Jewish father. I looked exactly like my dad, with his curly hair and deep-set eyes, and I had his last name, Steinberg, stitched on the back […]

(J. the Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — Though she calls herself an “art kid” at her core, Christina Jefferson is no stranger to contact sports. Recently hired by the San Francisco 49ers to lead the NFL team’s diversity and inclusion efforts — a newly created position — Jefferson has a long history […]

(JTA) — There is a remarkable scene toward the end of the new documentary “Final Account,” a collection of eyewitness testimonies of the Nazi regime from elderly Germans and Austrians who remember it (and, to various degrees, were part of it). In the sequence, a former Waffen-SS officer sits down with a group of students […]

(JTA) — Ilyssa Minkus usually spends a chunk of her day on Instagram. That’s where she promotes her business producing party decorations and Jewish-themed crafts. But after Israel began trading bombs with Hamas in Gaza last week, she tried — often without succeeding — to stay away. “I don’t want to go on because I’m just bombarded […]