Rabbis and other clergy members in the United States may endorse candidates from the pulpit without jeopardizing their house of worship’s tax-exempt status, the Internal Revenue Service has decreed. The policy change reverses a ban on endorsing or opposing candidates by religious organizations known as the Johnson Amendment, enacted in the 1950s. The IRS made […]
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President Trump and Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis had a giddy name for the temporary ICE facility they built quickly on an airstrip in the Florida Everglades: “Alligator Alcatraz.” “We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison,” Trump boasted July 1 as he toured the detention facility for […]
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Jewish camps and camping leaders are joining a chorus of condolences after a flash flood in Kerr County, Texas, killed dozens of children and counselors at a summer camp there. “In the Jewish community, we know the power of camp. We know it as a sacred space where children find their voice, counselors discover their […]
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Barnard College settled a lawsuit Monday filed by Jewish and Israeli students alleging that the school had failed to address antisemitism on its campus. The settlement of the lawsuit, which was filed by StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice, Students Against Antisemitism, Inc. and Barnard Jewish and Israeli student plaintiffs, includes a laundry list of measures […]
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Journalists I know joke that the only Jewish historian they ever need to call is Jonathan Sarna. Jews and the Civil War? Sarna knows where the bodies are buried. Need a quote about Jews and bagels? Sarna will give you one with everything. The history of American Jewish prayer? Amen. That Sarna is quoted on […]
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After facing criticism, President Donald Trump said he was unaware that the term “Shylock” was widely considered antisemitic when he used it to describe unscrupulous bankers during a rally Thursday in Iowa. Trump was touting the benefits of the Republican omnibus legislation that had just passed. “No death tax. No estate tax,” he said. “No […]
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Half of registered voters in New York City say knowing that Zohran Mamdani supports boycotting Israel and has declined to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” makes them less likely to vote for him in November’s mayoral election. But a third said knowing Mamdani’s positions on the two issues made them more likely to vote […]
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A federal court ruled that the family of the man who firebombed a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado in support of the Israeli hostages can be deported. The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who is an Egyptian national, and his wife and five children were living in the United States illegally. The family was detained by ICE […]
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The acting president of Columbia University apologized to members of the school community Wednesday after leaked text messages showed she had suggested the removal of a Jewish trustee. “The things I said in a moment of frustration and stress were wrong. They do not reflect how I feel,” Claire Shipman wrote in a private email […]
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Last Friday, a group of around six Orthodox rabbis called New York City Assembly member Micah Lasher for a conversation about the then-presumptive Democratic nominee in the city’s mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani. The call centered on concerns the rabbis and their communities had with a candidate who had refused to condemn the pro-Palestinian slogan “globalize […]
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