Culture -

All San Diego Jewish organizations pull out of Pride festival over Kehlani performance, citing ‘serious safety concerns’

June 9, 2025June 9, 2025Jesse Orine

All of the participating Jewish organizations in San Diego’s Pride festival this year have pulled out of the celebration over anti-Israel R&B singer Kehlani’s headline performance, citing “serious safety concerns.” On Friday, eight local Jewish groups and synagogues, including the Jewish Federation of San Diego and Anti-Defamation League of San Diego, announced that they would […]

Dave Portnoy on his tirades against ‘F- the Jews’ bar patron: ‘I don’t know if it did any good’

June 9, 2025June 10, 2025Jesse Orine

When the Jewish Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy discovered one of his bar patrons had made a sign reading “F— the Jews” in a viral video last month, he took to social media in a vocal standoff. He was celebrated in some corners for shining a spotlight on antisemitism. But upon reflection, Portnoy isn’t so […]

How many American Jews are there? A global study of world religions offers a new estimate.

June 9, 2025June 10, 2025Jesse Orine

In its landmark study of American Jewry in 2020, the Pew Research Center reported that there were an estimated 7.5 million Jews of all ages in the United States. Now, in a new study released Monday, the center says the number is actually more like 5.7 million. What happened to 1.8 million American Jews? For […]

Aaron Lansky built a home for 1.5 million Yiddish books. Now he’s handing over the keys.

June 8, 2025June 8, 2025Jesse Orine

Steven Spielberg had already donated money to the Yiddish Book Center when he asked if the center’s founder, Aaron Lansky, might fly out to Los Angeles and drop by his office. The filmmaker doesn’t usually meet with the beneficiaries of his philanthropy, Lansky told me recently, but wanted to explain his support for what is […]

NYC’s first-ever month-long celebration of Sephardic Jewish culture is now underway

June 5, 2025June 5, 2025Jesse Orine

New York City’s first-ever month-long festival celebrating Sephardic Jewish cultural achievements opens on Thursday. New York’s Festival Sefarad — which is inspired by the Festival Séfarad de Montréal, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last month — will include robust programming with more than 40 events, including Shabbat dinners, book talks, tours, workshops, films and concerts. “New […]

19 Naomis, 0 nametags: What happened when a group of Naomis met in Prospect Park

June 5, 2025June 5, 2025Jesse Orine

Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi and Naomi met for a book club on a recent sunny Saturday in Prospect Park. Over Kit Kats, Oreos, strawberries and Goldfish crackers, 19 women, all named Naomi, discussed the 2023 book “Doppelganger: A Trip Into the […]

‘I’m a Zionist,’ rapper Azealia Banks declares in latest tweet spree

June 5, 2025June 5, 2025Jesse Orine

In 2018, Azealia Banks vowed to never again visit Israel, which she called “nuts.” But sometime between then and Tuesday, she underwent a change of heart: “I’m a Zionist,” she wrote to her 230,800 followers on X. That tweet — in response to a user who asked her “R u a Zionist or ur pro-Palestine?” […]

Dozens of Jewish and Israeli movies are screening in NYC in June. Here are our picks.

June 4, 2025June 4, 2025Jesse Orine

It’s film festival season in New York, and dozens of Jewish and Israeli movies will be showing across the city in June — many premiering in New York or the United States for the first time. With the Israeli Film Center Festival at the Marlene Meyerson JCC, the annual Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, and the granddaddy […]

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke criticizes Netanyahu, Hamas and pressure on artists to opine on Gaza

May 30, 2025May 30, 2025Jesse Orine

His bandmate Johnny Greenwood has become one of the most vocal non-Jewish artists rejecting pressure to boycott Israel over its war in Gaza. But famously reticent Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke had not said anything about the war — until now. On Friday, Yorke posted an extended statement to Instagram lamenting the pressure he had faced […]

‘Humans of New York’ features a Jewish anti-Zionist member of Neturei Karta. The comments section erupts.

May 30, 2025May 30, 2025Jesse Orine

It isn’t hard to find members of Neturei Karta, the anti-Zionist activist Orthodox group, in New York City. They show up, habitually, at both anti- and pro-Israel rallies, either as protesters or counter-protesters. And they reliably wear the same outfits — traditional haredi Orthodox dress combined with pro-Palestinian symbols and signs declaring that authentic Judaism […]