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‘I’m not waiting until they come to round us up’: Transgender Jews and their families search for safety as Trump takes aim at their rights

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025Sara Wood

After trying for five years to dissuade lawmakers in Missouri from enacting laws he believed would endanger his son and other transgender youth in the state, Russel Neiss finally admitted defeat. The state’s ban in 2023 on transgender medical care for minors devastated Neiss, but it also came with something of an upside for him: […]

Flight attendant killed in DC plane crash was Jewish youth group alum

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025Sara Wood

One of the flight attendants killed in the recent plane crash in Washington, D.C., was an alumnus of a Jewish youth group with a passion for travel and a talent for comedy. Ian Epstein, one of the four flight attendants on American Eagle Flight 5342, was an alumnus of the pluralist Jewish youth group BBYO, […]

Anglican church kicks out priest who mimicked Elon Musk’s Nazi-like salute at pro-life convention

January 30, 2025January 30, 2025Sara Wood

A British priest who delivered an Elon Musk-inspired, straight-armed salute during his address to a pro-life gathering last week has been kicked out of his church. The Anglican Catholic Church announced Wednesday that Father Calvin Robinson is “no longer serving as a priest” in the denomination. The removal of Robinson’s license came after he delivered […]

Unique Yad Vashem exhibit and street naming highlight NYC’s commitment to remember the Holocaust

January 29, 2025January 29, 2025Sara Wood

A unique Holocaust art exhibition opened this week in New York’s City Hall. In “The Wandering Jew,” a 1947 oil-and-canvas painting by Dutch artist Eliazer Neuberger, a barefoot man wearing torn garments gazes forward while behind him an elderly mysterious figure who evokes the prophet Elijah raises his hand in blessing. A 1945 pencil-and-watercolor drawing […]

Director of pro-Israel LGBTQ group faces sexual misconduct charge

January 29, 2025January 30, 2025Sara Wood

The director of a pro-Israel LGBTQ advocacy organization is facing a criminal charge stemming from his alleged sexual misconduct against a museum employee last year in Vermont. Ethan Felson, executive director of A Wider Bridge, was charged last November with lewd and lascivious conduct. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge and faces up […]

Jewish nonprofits say Trump’s federal funding freeze would threaten social services and security programs

January 28, 2025January 29, 2025Sara Wood

Jewish organizations that deliver a wide array of social services are scrambling to make sense of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented freeze on many forms of federal funding. “This has a massive, widespread impact,” said Reuben Rotman, president and CEO of the Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies, a coalition of about 170 Jewish nonprofits and […]

Officials decry anti-Israel vandalism at NJ synagogue

January 27, 2025January 27, 2025Sara Wood

Anti-Israel protesters graffitied the property of a New Jersey synagogue that was hosting a talk by an Israeli soldier, drawing condemnation from local officials. On Sunday morning, anti-Israel demonstrators gathered in front of Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange, New Jersey, to protest a talk by members of the Israeli Air Force’s search-and-rescue unit. According […]

With cutting-edge digital tools and a new research clinic, leading Jewish dental school doubles in size

January 27, 2025January 28, 2025Sara Wood

Aliza Gettenberg of Lawrence, New York, knew she wanted to become a dentist after someone’s description of the occupation as the “perfect combination of doctor, engineer and artist” struck a chord with her. But first she had to find a dental school that fit her professional vision. She sought a program focused on dentistry’s digital future, […]

Trump says he is pressing leaders of Arab nations to take in Gaza Palestinians

January 25, 2025January 25, 2025Sara Wood

President Donald Trump says he has asked Jordan to accept Palestinians from Gaza and plans to press Egypt to do the same. Trump said he spoke to Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Saturday, five days after being inaugurated for his second term and six days into a ceasefire that he pressed for in the Israel-Hamas […]

Mike Bloomberg steps in again to fund UN climate body in response to Trump’s moves

January 23, 2025January 23, 2025Sara Wood

Jewish billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged on Thursday to help cover U.S. financial commitments to the United Nations climate body after President Donald Trump said he would eliminate the funding and withdraw from the global Paris climate agreement. The new Republican president is repeating a policy decision he made at the […]