In 2009, Dennis Gaitsgory, an Israeli-American who was then a math professor at Harvard University, co-wrote a petition asking the two leading Israeli politicians — conservative Benjamin Netanyahu and centrist Tzipi Livni — not to include Avigdor Liberman, seen as a hardliner, in any governing coalition they would form. It didn’t work. When Netanyahu became […]
Continue Reading
Eighty years after Auschwitz was liberated from the Nazis, Jews who make a pilgrimage there can eat kosher food. A mile from the concentration camp, visitors will be able to buy packaged, shelf-stable kosher meals for the first time at the Auschwitz Jewish Center — now a museum and the only surviving synagogue in Oświęcim, […]
Continue Reading
A kiddush cup that may have been passed around the Friday night dinner table during the reign of Ghengis Khan will be available for auction this fall. The rare remnant of the Silk Road, the ancient Asian trading route that was home to vibrant Jewish communities, is the oldest known Jewish artifact from the Middle […]
Continue Reading
(JR) — A young woman rabbi attempts to guide others while grappling with her own questions and facing down a community’s utter bewilderment that she is in fact the rabbi. The situation makes a premise ripe for comedy and drama in the new Max series “Reformed,” or “Le Sens Des Choses” in French. It was […]
Continue Reading
When Shoshana Polakoff was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 at the age of 37, her life was suddenly turned upside down. With three young children at home and intense chemotherapy on the horizon, she felt overwhelmed. As Polakoff learned more about the road ahead, she realized that in addition to questions about her health […]
Continue Reading
Germany is moving to deport four foreign residents of Berlin over their alleged activity at pro-Palestinian protests, in a move that appears likely to test a foundational law enacted in the wake of the Holocaust. Three of the residents are citizens of the European Union, which normally allows free movement between member states. Kasia Wlaszczyk […]
Continue Reading
Amid the backdrop of immense challenges facing Israel and global Jewry, the Jewish Funders Network’s 2025 International Conference in Nashville brought together hundreds of Jewish philanthropists and changemakers from around the world to connect, collaborate, and explore bold visions for the future. A highlight of the annual gathering was the presentation of two prestigious awards […]
Continue Reading
When Samuel Hartveld and his wife Claire Melboom fled Belgium in 1940, they left behind a collection of over 60 paintings that was later looted by the occupying Nazi government. Hartveld, a Jewish Belgian art collector, never saw his artworks again. But now, the British government has ordered one of those paintings returned to Hartveld’s […]
Continue Reading
Three people convicted in the November killing of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates have been sentenced to death, according to UAE state media. Kogan, 28, a Moldovan-Israeli citizen, was working in the UAE last fall as an emissary of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement when he went missing in Dubai. His body was […]
Continue Reading
TIRANA, Albania — One block off Tirana’s Skanderbeg Square, Harel Kopelman is bringing traditional Albanian culture — in the form of dazzling wedding rituals, colorful costumes and delicious wines and cheeses — to foreigners visiting what was once one of Europe’s most brutal dictatorships. Albanian Night, a medieval mix of Balkan sights, sounds and tastes, […]
Continue Reading
