Local -

Jewish voices rise up with concern following ICE killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis

January 26, 2026February 1, 2026Sara Wood

After Alex Pretti was shot and killed on Saturday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jewish voices were among the many that quickly rose up in condemnation. The voices have included both progressive Jewish groups that regularly inveigh against right-wing policies and, increasingly, mainstream groups that say they represent American Jews […]

Tim Walz invokes Anne Frank in pressing Trump to end ICE operations in Minnesota

January 26, 2026February 1, 2026Sara Wood

Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, invoked Anne Frank in exhorting President Donald Trump to call off the ICE operations in the Twin Cities in which a second protester was killed over the weekend. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Walz — whose master’s degree focused on Holocaust education — suggested that the conditions […]

Columbia selects Jennifer Mnookin, Jewish U of Wisconsin chancellor, as its next leader

January 26, 2026February 1, 2026Sara Wood

Three different women have taken turns as Columbia University’s president amid ongoing turmoil surrounding the handling of pro-Palestinian protests on the New York City campus. Now, Columbia has invited a fourth — and the first to be Jewish — to try her hand at running the Ivy League school. Jennifer Mnookin, the chancellor of University […]

Rabbi among dozens arrested in faith leaders’ anti-ICE protest in Minnesota

January 23, 2026January 23, 2026Sara Wood

At least one local rabbi was arrested Friday in Minneapolis as hundreds of faith leaders from around the country gathered to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the Twin Cities. Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman, the Jewish and interfaith chaplain at Macalester College in St. Paul, was briefly detained by police alongside leaders of other faiths […]

Facing backlash after accusing Israel of genocide, Scott Wiener steps down as Calif. Jewish Caucus co-chair

January 23, 2026January 23, 2026Sara Wood

Scott Wiener, the California lawmaker who earlier this month announced that he believed Israel had committed “genocide” in Gaza, is stepping down as a leader of the state legislature’s Jewish caucus. Wiener, a state senator from San Francisco, has been a co-chair of the caucus since 2023. He is currently running for Congress. In a […]

OneTable reimagines Shabbat dinner program amid layoffs and funding downturn

January 22, 2026January 22, 2026Sara Wood

When the Shabbat-dinner nonprofit OneTable slashed a quarter of its staff last month, it wasn’t only because of a budget crisis. It’s true that fundraising was way down. But the group was also responding to what it sees as important shifts in how Jews gather, citing its growing sense that Gen Z is less likely […]

From Alfred Dreyfus to Josh Shapiro: How the ‘dual loyalty’ charge shadows Jewish public life

January 22, 2026January 22, 2026Sara Wood

When Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wrote in his new memoir that Kamala Harris’ vice-presidential vetting team asked whether he had ever been a “double agent” for Israel, many Jewish leaders heard something painfully familiar. “These questions were classic antisemitism,” Deborah Lipstadt, the former U.S. special envoy on antisemitism, wrote on X, a view shared by, […]

Andrew Tate insists he wasn’t really singing Ye’s ‘Heil Hitler.’ Others who were with him are doubling down.

January 21, 2026January 22, 2026Sara Wood

A group of far-right influencers caught on tape singing along to the Ye song “Heil Hitler” has been split on how to respond to the allegations of antisemitism that have followed. “Manosphere” brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate have distanced themselves from the footage, though not from the influencer who was filmed performing a Nazi salute. […]

Invoking Torah, Jews are mobilizing against ICE in Minnesota

January 21, 2026January 24, 2026Sara Wood

The Hebrews’ flight from Egypt is on a lot of Jewish minds right now, as the annual cycle of Torah readings has reached the Book of Exodus. But for many Jewish leaders in Minnesota, the ancient story has particular resonance. With Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descending on the Twin Cities in search of undocumented […]

San Diego Jewish groups decry disinvitation of rabbi from MLK Day event over ‘concerns about potential disruption related to Zionism’

January 21, 2026January 21, 2026Sara Wood

The organizers of a Martin Luther King Day event in San Diego have come under fire from local Jewish groups after a rabbi said he was disinvited from speaking at the event due to his “connection to Israel.” Rabbi Hanan Leberman, the leader of the Conservative Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego, had initially been […]