Category: Local

(JTA) — More than 330 American rabbis, including some who occupy prominent roles in major cities, are pledging to block members of the Religious Zionist bloc in Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government from speaking at their synagogues and will lobby to keep them from speaking in their communities. An open letter now circulating says they will […]

(JTA) — When The New York Times reported earlier this week that virtually the entire resume of George Santos, recently elected as a Republican congressman from Long Island, appeared to be a fabrication, it left untouched one detail: his claim to Jewish heritage. On his website, Santos said his maternal grandparents were refugees from the […]

(JTA) — The congregational arm of Reconstructionist Judaism has endorsed reparations for Black Americans, approving a resolution that calls for “ongoing learning,” “deep reflection” and “teshuvah,” or repentance.  But the resolution approved by Reconstructionist congregations earlier this month does not mention financial compensation for those who have been harmed by American slavery and its lasting effects.  […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — During a closely-watched press conference with Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymr Zelensky, President Joe Biden brought up the Hanukkah story, comparing Ukraine’s struggle against Russia to the Maccabees’ uprising. “Tonight is the fourth night of Hanukkah,” Biden said Wednesday standing next to Zelensky, who was on a last-minute visit to Washington to speak […]

(JTA) — Mat Ishbia, a billionaire mortgage lender who in high school was named Jewish athlete of the year by his hometown Jewish newspaper, has reportedly reached a $4 billion agreement to purchase the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. Ishbia is buying the teams from Robert Sarver, who cited his Jewish identity when […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two mezuzahs at the vice president’s residence. A custom-built menorah for the White House. A Biden grandson in Hanukkah pajamas. The Biden administration’s celebration of Hanukkah this year was suffused with grief over reports of burgeoning antisemitism but leavened with words, rites and symbols meant to assure American Jews that this was […]

This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with teens across the world to report on issues that impact their lives. (JTA) — The New Braunfels Unicorns. The Gabbs Tarantulas. The Fisher Bunnies. High school mascots like these may encourage spirit and community, but other schools’ mascots have been […]

(JTA) — On Sunday night, George Santos joined the Republican Jewish Coalition on Long Island, where he was just elected to Congress, for a menorah-lighting to mark the first night of Hanukkah. He’d been invited as one of just two freshmen Republican Jews elected to Congress in November. On Monday morning, The New York Times […]

This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with teens across the world to report on issues that impact their lives. MIAMI (JTA) — When Ricardo Tanur arrived in Miami in the 1990s he had a hard time finding a religious school for his children and finding a synagogue […]

(JTA) — In its closing session, Ohio’s legislature passed a law imposing penalties of up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine for “zoom-bombing” religious services, a practice that antisemites have used to intimidate Jews. The law, “Increasing Penalties for Disturbing a Religious Service,” passed last week unanimously in the state Senate. It […]