Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the recent bipartisan passage of a $14.3 billion military aid bill to Israel, without imposing any conditions, a “great victory” for the Jewish state. In an exclusive interview, Schumer said he dedicated significant time to discussions with House Speaker Johnson, emphasizing the importance of passing the comprehensive foreign aid package, crucial for Israel’s defense.
Read MoreNews about the demonstrations spreading at colleges in the United States has been dominating the headlines here. All of the 21 Israeli Jews we spoke with perceive protesters’ rally cries as attacks on Jews writ large. Most also said, without evidence, that American college kids are being manipulated, if not also paid, by Hamas, Qatar, Iraq or China to undermine Israel and Jews.
Read MoreAs pro-Palestinian protests spread to college campuses across America and around the world, three conservative Christian activists staged a “United for Israel March” at Columbia University on Friday night. The group of a few dozen people carrying American and Israel flags gathering before marching to Columbia’s gate, accompanied by a snare drum.
Read MoreThe Jewish festival of Passover recalls the biblical story of the Israelites enslaved by Egypt and their miraculous escape. During a ritual feast known as a Seder, families celebrate this ancient story of deliverance, with each new generation reminded to never take freedom for granted. Every year, a written guide known as a “Haggadah” is read at the Seder table.
Read MoreColumbia University’s president canceled all in-person classes and urged faculty and students who do not live on campus to stay away, after a weekend of anti-Israel protests swelled and included threatening messages to the school’s large Jewish student population. The extraordinary move was announced in an early-morning Monday email.
Read MoreJewish students concerned about their safety amid a new wave of anti-war protests at Columbia University received mixed messages on Sunday about staying on campus during the holiday of Passover. Rabbi Elie Buechler, who leads the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Columbia and Barnard, advised students to return home until it is safe for them to be on campus again.
Read More(OPINION) Is the conflict between Israel and Iran about to explode? Are we on the edge of World War III, if not Armageddon? The answer to all these questions is the same: not likely. But in saying this I do not claim supernatural, prophetic insight.
Read MoreEvery year at Passover we are commanded to imagine ourselves leaving Egypt — Joel Silverstein painted himself into the picture. In “The Brighton Beach Bible” — an art book with narrative commentary — Silverstein envisions the boardwalks and abandoned attractions of his childhood in Brooklyn as the staging ground for the Exodus and 40 years in the wilderness.
Read More(REVIEW) The average religious viewer will likely also find little offensively objectionable in the portrayal of the Biblical story. They take the story, with its miracles and supernatural elements, as if they all really happened. The flaws in Moses’s character are all ones that come from the Biblical accounts.
Read MoreAmid what many consider an increasingly hostile climate for Jewish students on campus, Hillel has updated its college guide, including a new feature that indicates whether students at a particular school have held a vote to boycott Israel.
Read More(OPINION) As expected, in retaliation for Israel’s killing of a top Iranian general and seven other senior military leaders on April 1 — all of whom were suspected of having Israeli blood on their hands — Iran struck back on Saturday night, launching roughly 350 drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles on Israel. What will Israel do in response? And what does this mean for the region and the world?
Read MoreWhen Jews gather around their Passover seder tables on April 22, most will read in the hagaddah prayerbook a simple tale of four children who are tasked with learning of the Jewish exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt: The wise child, the wicked child, the simple child, and the child who does not know how to ask.
Read More(ANALYSIS) “Judaism Is About Love” is a new book that thoroughly and poetically shatters the misconception that the God of the Hebrew Bible is about law, while the God of the New Testament is about love. As a result, it creates healthy parameters for disagreement between Jewish and Christian believers.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Fourteen of the NBA’s 30 franchise owners are Jewish. Two of them absolutely despise each other. And it has nothing to do with basketball. Instead, it’s about … mortgages? The rivalry between Mat Ishbia, owner of the Phoenix Suns, and Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, dates to long before Ishbia bought the Suns in 2022.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Sen. Joe Lieberman died on March 27 at age 82, ending a career defined as much by his life as an Orthodox Jew as by his attempts to remain a centrist as Democrats kept moving to the cultural left. While voting with his party on issues such as abortion, gun control and gay rights, he was a strong supporter of religious liberty — including for conservatives who frequently clashed with his party.
Read MoreMany Americans particularly sense that discrimination against Muslims and Jews has risen since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The vast majority of U.S. Muslims and Jews agree: 7 in 10 Muslims and 9 in 10 Jews surveyed said they have felt an increase in discrimination against their respective groups since the war began last October.
Read More(EXPLAINER) Since 2000, the two holidays have overlapped every year but four — in 2005, 2008, 2016 and this spring. Easter is calculated based on the Christian liturgical calendar tied to the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Passover, on the other hand, is determined by the Jewish calendar, which is also lunar-based. That’s where the similarities end.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The American novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson has accumulated numerous literary prizes, among them the 2005 Pulitzer, but also honors in religion. Her new non-fiction book “Reading Genesis” wrestles with the grand themes and thorny issues raised in the Bible’s first book. It’s a climactic testament at the twilight of a distinguished life and career.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Ultra-Orthodox resistance to conscription is nothing new. But the forcefulness of this declaration is new, especially coming in the midst of a war. And Yosef is not any random rabbi. He is the son of Ovadia Yosef, who was the spiritual leader of the Shas Party: an important partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious governing coalition.
Read MoreThe Playhouse Cinema in Hamilton, Ontario, about 40 miles from Toronto, became the latest venue to call off a Jewish-themed event when it announced Tuesday that the annual Hamilton Jewish Film Festival would not be held in the theater as scheduled in April. The festival is sponsored by the local Jewish federation.
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