In 1971, legendary British actress Judi Dench played Portia in a production of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” In her book about the playwright published this spring, Dench is candid and straight to the point about the play, which centers on a Jewish moneylender: “I think it’s a horrible play.” Dench, who would usually joyfully […]
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This article was produced as part of (JR)’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives. Jewish men often accessorize with yarmulkes; Texan men sometimes accessorize with guns. If a man is both Jewish and Texan, you might find him in synagogue with […]
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In 1971, legendary British actress Judi Dench played Portia in a production of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” In her book about the playwright published this spring, Dench is candid and straight to the point about the play, which centers on a Jewish moneylender: “I think it’s a horrible play.” Dench, who would usually joyfully […]
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Back in 2011, a new arrival to Jerusalem drew international attention: The rapper Shyne had become an Orthodox Jew in prison and landed in Israel after being deported following his release. But Shyne soon disappeared from the holy city, joining countless others in having made it only a temporary home. Now, more than a decade […]
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Sam Salz’s first taste of NCAA Division I football came during a kickoff — known in football as a “special teams” play. For most football players, kickoffs are in fact routine. But if anything about the play was special, it was Salz’s presence on the field. The 5-foot-6, 160-pound wide receiver for Texas A&M is […]
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A year ago, the Jewish author Sarah Bernstein received the Giller Prize, a prestigious $100,000 Canadian literary award founded by a Jewish philanthropist, for her novel “Study For Obedience.” That ceremony was broadcast on the CBC, which edited out a moment of pro-Palestinian protest during the broadcast. That brief disruption, which came shortly after the […]
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As a multi-hyphenate YouTube star, actor and professional boxer, Jake Paul is used to balancing several identities. The same is true about his family’s ethnic background. The Paul family has Welsh, Irish, German, French — and Jewish — ancestry. Paul, a 27-year-old Ohio native with nearly 21 million YouTube subscribers — plus 27 million more […]
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For Brooklyn-based Jewish musician Rafael Cohen, life has been a series of journeys: across continents, across musical genres and across the spiritual divide. The 48-year-old was born and raised in Mexico City before moving to Washington, D.C. with his parents at age 10. There, he played in a series of local punk bands before moving […]
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For most of Jewish culinary history, anyone seeking to make matzah balls faced one major choice: sinkers or floaters? In the 20th century, with the advent of home-cooking conveniences, another decision joined the one about density: from scratch or from a box? Now, in an era of niche food products, home cooks have a new […]
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At the Orchard Estate assisted living facility in Woodbury, New York, residents hum along to the klezmer music familiar to many Jews of their generation. The Yiddish-inflected music with roots in Eastern Europe is old school, but the band is not: Its six members range in age from 10 to 16. The young musicians are […]
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