Culture -

Israeli swimmers win 2 more golds at Tokyo Paralympics, bringing the country’s medal count to record 9

September 2, 2021Arsen Mayer

(JTA) — Israeli swimmers Iyad Shalabi and Ami Dadaon each won gold medals at the Paralympics on Thursday, adding to Israel’s historic medal showing. So far, Israel has won nine medals — all but one in swimming events. Six of the medals are gold. On the first day of competition, Shalabi had already made history […]

2 new synagogues open in Budapest

September 2, 2021Jesse Orine

BUDAPEST (JTA) — Jewish communities in Hungary opened two new synagogues as part of the annual Jewish Cultural Festival in this capital city. One is situated in the bustling center of Budapest, while the other is a 50-seat synagogue in an apartment building. The latter — the Vorosmarty Street Synagogue — is owned by MAOIH, […]

Canadian Jewish News restarts, again, eyeing a younger audience

August 31, 2021Sara Wood

(JTA) — Reports of the demise of the Canadian Jewish News have been, not for the first time, greatly exaggerated. On Sept. 1, the publication — the largest Jewish news organization in Canada — will rebrand as a digital-first enterprise after abruptly shutting down operations in April 2020 and then resuming a trickle of content […]

Israeli swimmer Mark Malyar wins a second gold and sets another world record at Tokyo Paralympics

August 30, 2021Arsen Mayer

(JTA) — Israeli swimmer Mark Malyar continued his historic Paralympics on Sunday, winning another gold medal and breaking his own world record. Malyar won the 400-meter freestyle race in the S7 category, days after winning gold in the men’s 200-meter individual medley in the SM7 category. He set a new world record in that race, […]

In upset, 20-year-old American Jewish athlete Ian Seidenfeld wins Paralympic table tennis gold

August 30, 2021Jesse Orine

(JTA) — Jewish American Ian Seidenfeld upset the world No. 1 to win gold in table tennis at the Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday. The 20-year-old has now followed the footsteps of his father Mitchell, a four-time Paralympic table tennis medalist who won gold in Barcelona in 1992. The elder Seidenfeld now coaches the Team USA […]

Potsdam’s stylish new synagogue is the German city’s first since WWII

August 27, 2021Jesse Orine

(JTA) — The city of Potsdam, Germany, has its first new synagogue since the Holocaust — and it’s quite a looker. The synagogue is part of the newly inaugurated European Center for Jewish Learning at the University of Potsdam, which will also be the umbrella for the school’s School of Jewish Theology founded in 2013 […]

These New Yorkers were annoyed by anti-vaccine Holocaust comparisons. So they wrote a song.

August 27, 2021Sara Wood

(JTA) — It was a quiet Shabbat afternoon when the frustration that had been building up inside Michal Schick spilled out in a song. For months, Schick had been keeping a tally in her head — and sometimes on Twitter, where the New York City screenwriter is active — of pandemic-related Holocaust comparisons that, to her […]

Could this real-life Nazi salute incident have inspired Netflix’s ‘The Chair’?

August 26, 2021Sara Wood

This article originally appeared on Alma. Light spoilers ahead for “The Chair.” “The Chair,” Netflix’s new six-part dramedy set in the English department of a fictional Ivy League school, is about a lot of things: existing as a woman of color in academia, workplace sexual tension, parenthood, grief, Sandra Oh’s incredible double-breasted jackets. It’s also […]

The Jewish doctor who escaped the Nazis, became a medical pioneer and founded the Paralympics

August 24, 2021Sara Wood

This article originally appeared on Alma. The 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games open on Tuesday. Much like the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital, there are plenty of Jewish athletes to support, like emerging track and field star Ezra Frech and veteran swimmer Matt Levy. But unlike the Olympic Games, the Paralympics have an inspiring Jewish […]

Dan Ariely Lied About Dishonesty

August 23, 2021David Leibermann

It seems that Dan Ariely may have lied about lying. At least that is the current scuttlebutt revolving around an important study that Ariely released back in 2012. The study was centered on the issue of cheating. Born in America, but raised in Israel, Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and […]