Culture -

Baseball phenom Jacob Steinmetz becomes first known Orthodox player drafted into the MLB

July 12, 2021Mark Hershlag

Baseball phenom Jacob Steinmetz becomes first known Orthodox player drafted into the MLB – Jewish Telegraphic Agency Skip to content Advertisement Advertisement

Israeli surfer Anat Lelior’s unlikely path to the Tokyo Olympics

July 9, 2021Sara Wood

This article originally appeared on Alma. Anat Lelior’s first experience with surfing came at age 5. It was an inauspicious start to the sport that would become her career and, later this month, take her to the Tokyo Olympics. Her father, Yochai, lay on the back of the board with her at their local beach […]

Judaism in the COVID era: What will be lost, gained and changed?

July 9, 2021Sara Wood

This Q&A is adapted from one of eight mainstage conversations held at Z3 2020: Visions of a Shared Future, a virtual conference produced by The Z3 Project and the Oshman Family JCC of Palo Alto, California, aimed at reimagining Diaspora-Israel relations. Judaism has always been a social faith, centered on communal activity. However, the demands […]

Olympics-bound Team Israel has helped American baseball players get more in touch with their Jewish identities

July 9, 2021Arsen Mayer

(JTA) — In May, as the latest violent Israel-Gaza conflict heated up, Ty Kelly did something he could never do in any other professional baseball dugout: He turned to some teammates to learn more about the situation. Kelly, a 32-year-old currently playing for the Tacoma Rainiers in the Seattle Mariners’ minor league system, was in […]

Snakes at a kiddush: An Israeli museum is celebrating its baby pythons with a traditional ceremony

July 8, 2021Arsen Mayer

Snakes at a kiddush: An Israeli museum is celebrating its baby pythons with a traditional ceremony – Jewish Telegraphic Agency Skip to content Advertisement Advertisement

A one-of-a-kind biography of the woman behind the ‘All-of-a-Kind Family’ stories

July 7, 2021Sara Wood

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — In Sydney Taylor’s 1951 book “All-of-a-Kind Family,” a young girl says to her sister, “You’ll have to make up with her when Yom Kippur comes.” The dialogue is revolutionary. Few novels of the time — let alone one aimed at a children’s audience — would make so natural a […]

England’s Chelsea soccer club joins Anti-Defamation League in partnership to fight bigotry

July 6, 2021Jesse Orine

England’s Chelsea soccer club joins Anti-Defamation League in partnership to fight bigotry – Jewish Telegraphic Agency Skip to content Advertisement Advertisement

7 Fourth of July stories from JTA’s archive to take you back in time

July 2, 2021Sara Wood

(JTA) — As Americans settle in for a weekend of barbecues and (hopefully) sunshine, here’s a look back at seven stories from Fourth of Julys past in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s online archive, which stretches back to the early 1920s. 1940: FDR speaks out against “religious bigotry” In 1940, as much of the globe was embroiled […]

Tokyo Olympics: All the Jewish athletes to watch

July 2, 2021Arsen Mayer

(JTA) — The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are finally happening, a full year after they were planned. And yes, they’re still being called the 2020 Olympics, even though they’re happening in 2021. The Jewish athletes competing this year — and there are many — are the products of inspiring journeys. There’s the fencer looking for redemption, Israel’s […]

Manchester’s revamped Jewish museum celebrates the community that left it behind

July 2, 2021Jesse Orine

(JTA) — Even before its $8.35 million renovation, the Manchester Jewish Museum was a remarkably eye-catching institution. Housed in a former synagogue on a busy road in an industrial part of northern England’s largest city, it stood out from the car washes, supermarkets and hardware stores of Cheetham Hill Road thanks to its red-brick facade. […]