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These are all the rabbis who have spoken at US presidential inaugurations

January 20, 2025January 23, 2025Sara Wood

In 1949, as Harry S Truman prepared for the first presidential inauguration since the end of World War II and the Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel, he decided to expand a tradition and invite a rabbi to speak at his swearing-in ceremony. Rabbi Samuel Thurman of United Hebrew Congregation in St. […]

Joe Biden entered the White House pledging to fight antisemitism. He leaves with it at historic levels.

January 20, 2025January 24, 2025Sara Wood

WASHINGTON – April 25, 2019, marked an extraordinary moment in American Jewish history: It was the first time a presidential candidate framed his decision to run around fighting antisemitism. The candidate was Joe Biden. At first, Biden hadn’t seemed eager to run for president in 2020. But that changed when Neo-Nazis marched through Charlottesville, Virginia, […]

Biden team resolves its final Title VI antisemitism and anti-Arab cases

January 17, 2025January 17, 2025Sara Wood

In the final days of the Biden administration, the federal Department of Education has resolved a small number of its many remaining Title VI cases involving allegations of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian discrimination. The resolutions at the University of Washington, Emory University, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and Howard County Public Schools in Maryland come in the […]

Outside my day school bubble, I felt a surge of Jewish pride

January 17, 2025January 18, 2025Sara Wood

This article was produced as part of (JEWISH REVIEW)’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives. Growing up in Jewish day school, I knew the Western Wall’s significance but I couldn’t grasp its deeper meaning when I visited it for the first […]

Reporters castigating Israel and US support ejected from Blinken’s final press briefing

January 16, 2025January 16, 2025Sara Wood

Two journalists accusing Israel of genocide and other atrocities were expelled from Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s final press conference, in one case getting dragged out while repeatedly screaming, “Why aren’t you in the Hague?” In addition, Blinken said he was “confident” that an impending ceasefire in Gaza and Israel would be implemented on Sunday […]

Rubio, in Israel-heavy confirmation hearing, says US should revoke visas for ‘a supporter of Hamas’

January 15, 2025January 15, 2025Sara Wood

In a Senate confirmation hearing that often turned to discussion of Israel, Marco Rubio voiced his view that the United States should revoke the visas of any “supporter of Hamas” in the country. The Florida GOP senator, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, also used his Wednesday hearing to back an […]

Deborah Lipstadt, exiting as US antisemitism envoy, is hoping for the best under Trump

January 14, 2025January 15, 2025Sara Wood

WASHINGTON — In her last week in office, Deborah Lipstadt, whom President Joe Biden charged with fighting antisemitism around the world, expressed doubt as to whether the incoming Trump administration will be up to the challenge. “I certainly hope so — I don’t know,” said Lipstadt, during her final roundtable with the Jewish press at […]

Pete Hegseth, in Senate confirmation hearing, blames Oct. 7 on US withdrawal from Afghanistan

January 14, 2025January 14, 2025Sara Wood

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, said in his Senate confirmation hearing that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel were the direct result of President Biden’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. Elsewhere in his contentious hearing, he said he supported Israel “destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” and defended […]

Jewish groups pushed Meta to crack down on hate speech. Now, the company is reversing course.

January 13, 2025January 13, 2025Sara Wood

Six months ago, Jewish groups celebrated a policy win when Meta banned the use of “Zionist” as a coded slur against Jews and Israel. Now, the same organizations are condemning the company for dramatically loosening restrictions on speech across its social media platforms. “It is mind-blowing how one of the most profitable companies in the […]

The Learning Leader: Orchestrating Organizational and Personal Change

January 13, 2025January 13, 2025Sara Wood

In 1972, I was a counselor-in-training at Herzl Camp in Webster, Wisconsin. If you also found your Jewish essence, your neshama, your soulfulness, at camp, this memory might resonate. One steamy midwestern August afternoon, a charismatic and beloved senior staff person tapped me on the shoulder and directed me to teach the camp song to […]