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The Forward
Columbia suspends 3 administrators over disparaging texts during panel on campus Jewish life
(New York Jewish Week) — Columbia University has suspended three administrators for sending disparaging text messages during a panel about Jewish campus life last month. During the May 31 panel discussion, the administrators sent texts to each other mocking the panelists’ remarks and, in one instance, calling them “difficult to listen to.” One of the...
Patis, NYC’s largest and buzziest kosher bakery chain, files for bankruptcy
(New York Jewish Week) — For a few years there, the kosher Patis Bakery chain was expanding across New York City like cookie dough in a warm oven. It opened more than a dozen locations in a range of neighborhoods, gaining renown among kosher-keeping diners for its high-quality pastries and urban cafe culture, and was...
She built the largest queer synagogue in the nation ‘for Jews rejected from everywhere’
When Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum arrived at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah 32 years ago to be its first employee, the tiny shul was already a safe haven for gay Jewish New Yorkers. But nobody at her installation ceremony could have imagined the synagogue that would emerge under her leadership. Kleinbaum, 64, will leave her position as...
The Latimer-Bowman showdown in New York is a bellwether of Israel’s role in Democratic politics
(JTA) — WASHINGTON – Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s primary has become the country’s most closely watched congressional race — and no matter the result, people on both sides say it could be pivotal for Israel’s place in the Democratic Party. Bowman, an outspoken progressive critic of Israel, is up against centrist George Latimer, the Westchester county...
Building an Inclusive Jewish Future in a “Both/And” Moment
Last summer, my 16 year old had her first Jewish camping experience working at Camp Ramah. She didn’t read or speak Hebrew, but over the course of the summer, she began to recognize the Hebrew words on the daily schedule. She developed friendships with Israeli teens who were working there. In October, she decided to...
Did DEI fail me? Or did I fail DEI?
As the descendant of survivors of chattel slavery in the U.S. and Jews who fled pogroms in Eastern Europe, I have lived at the intersection of two of the three main groups highlighted in the book Caste (the other being the Dalit of India). My lived experience along with my Jewish values of tikkun olam...
Equity as a Light Unto the Nations
My commitment to equity within our community is profoundly influenced by my journey as an immigrant, Jewish woman of color, activist, and bridge builder. Throughout my life, I’ve experienced the transformative power of equity-centered initiatives, both as a recipient and as a leader. These experiences have cemented my belief that equity is vital for creating...
The Jewish Sport Report: The NHL gets its first Jewish head coach in 32 years
(JTA) — Hello and happy summer! It’s a good weekend for sports fans, as we’ve got the Stanley Cup Finals, the College Baseball World Series and the Copa América. Luckily for us, there are Jewish players to watch in all three! Ryan Warsofsky makes history in San Jose When the 2024-2025 NHL season opens this...
I’m a Louisiana Jew. The Ten Commandments get lost in translation in the new law
Like many Jewish Louisianans, I followed with interest the so-called “Ten Commandments” bill which Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed into law this week. It requires public schools, including public colleges, to display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms, in an effort to “ensure that students in our public schools may understand and appreciate the foundational...
You are not obliged to finish this column
When you lead a Jewish news organization like the Forward, you watch entertainment awards shows through what we like to call a Jewish lens. You keep count of how many winners are members of the tribe. You notice if a presenter wears a pin connected to the war in Gaza. You perk up if an actor...
This Mexican diplomat helped Jews flee Hitler. Does that make him Mexico’s Schindler?
As head of the Mexican Consulate in France during World War II, Gilberto Bosques signed visas for leftists fleeing Fascist Spain and Jews fleeing Hitler. He rented chateaus near the consulate in Marseille to house and feed refugees, and he issued papers that provided protection to those who wanted to stay in wartime Europe to...
In the story of a Jewish teenager coming out and coming of age, a brilliantly understated film
Marking his directorial debut, Jeremy Borison’s Unspoken is a lovely, delicately handled coming of age, coming out story centering on Noam (Charlie Korman), a young Modern Orthodox Jew. The film also touches on what happens when the memory of a beloved elder, now deceased, is tarnished and betrayed. Noam enjoyed a deep bond with his...
Antisemitism isn’t the only reason Hollywood Jews are upset about that Academy Museum exhibit
“Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,” the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ first permanent exhibition, opened in May with a splashy press preview followed by a weekend of celebratory events. But the exhibit’s honeymoon lasted less than two weeks before the major kvetching and allegations of antisemitic content started. TV writer...
Breaking Barriers: A Black Christian DEIJ Practitioner’s Journey within the Jewish Field
(This essay is edited from an article originally posted on ejewishphilanthropy.com, May 2024) One of the most fascinating concepts about my journey as a Black, Christian, woman, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) practitioner within the Jewish field is that I find myself constantly unlearning everything I thought to be true. Until recently, I thought...
Both/And Thinking all Around: What are we Seeing in the Field
As Jewish leaders, every conversation we have these days relies on ‘both/and’ thinking — elu v’elu, meaning that multiple, conflicting stories can be true at the same time. We all need to practice elu v’elu even — especially — when it might feel challenging or impossible to see beyond our pain. Practicing elu v’elu was...
Killer of slain Jewish college student says victim threatened to out him
Testifying for the first time about the night he stabbed Blaze Bernstein to death, Samuel Woodward said Thursday the event that provoked him was thinking that Bernstein had taken a photo of his penis while Woodward was blacked out from smoking a joint — and either planned to share it or already had. Striking a...
ADL doubles down on its campus antisemitism report cards despite backlash
(JTA) — Months after Jewish students and Hillel and Chabad staff lambasted the Anti-Defamation League’s “report cards” for campus antisemitism, the group has released an updated version. The new report cards — published this week, after nearly all schools had finished their academic year — incorporate seismic events on campus, such as the widespread and...
102-year-old Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer is Vogue Germany’s latest cover model
(JTA) — For its latest cover model, Vogue Germany selected a celebrity who regularly hobnobs with visiting dignitaries and walks the red carpet at film premieres: Margot Friedländer, 102, one of the oldest and most prominent Holocaust survivors in the world. In addition to documenting Friedländer impeccable attire and indefatigable spirit, the Vogue article includes...
German government reports rise in extremist crimes, partly due to Israel-Hamas war
(JTA) — BERLIN – The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is one of the factors motivating a rise in extremist crimes in Germany, according to a new government report. The report, published on June 18 by Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution, tallied 39,433 crimes with an extremist background in the country in 2023, nearly...
Ahead of Bowman-Latimer primary, Jewish get-out-the-vote effort says ‘Antisemitism is on the ballot’
(New York Jewish Week) — In the years before Oct. 7, Steven Epstein wasn’t the type to go door to door in New York City’s northern suburbs to get out the vote. But that changed when Hamas attacked Israel. The attack hit home for the 77-year-old retiree, who has Israeli grandchildren. In particular, he is...
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