Beliefs and concepts
Pills and Religion
As a child in the UK, we used to make fun of Americans with their bottles of vitamins and supplements: a pill for every hour of the day, every limb of the body, and every possible deficiency known to man and animal. The GIs who came over to rescue Europe seemed bigger and stronger and more handsome than the local infantrymen. Some thought it was because of the Bazooka bubblegum and soda they...
June 12, 2013 10:32 am
Making Friends With My Grey Hair
My big sister’s hair went grey in her 30s My little brother Eddie also went grey early I...
June 10, 2013 12:31 am
A Call to Humanity (VIDEO)
Muslim leaders from across the globe visited Auschwitz recently and prayed for those who were...
June 7, 2013 10:45 am
The Fallacy, Delusion and Myth of Tikkun Olam
All illustration of Jews praying in synagogue on Yom Kippur. The term Tikkun Olam is...
June 7, 2013 9:05 am
Tikkun Olam: Ethical Mitzvot are Mitzvot
In the aftermath of human tragedy such as the Boston Marathon bombings (pictured),...
June 6, 2013 11:32 am
How to Draft the Ultra-Orthodox
Since its inception in 1948, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has served as a major means of...
June 4, 2013 12:21 am
Both Jesus and Paul Lived and Died Dedicated Jews
It’s widely acknowledged that Jesus was a thoroughly practicing Jew throughout his...
June 3, 2013 1:42 am
The Sinful Marriage
Marriage and long-term relationships are on the decline throughout the world as is marital...
May 30, 2013 12:09 pm
Muslims Combating Anti-Semitism
A small, but increasingly vocal number of Muslims are rejecting radical hate speech and combating...
May 30, 2013 11:01 am
How to Develop the Outer Persona and the Inner Person
Our Torah portion, this week’s sedra, ends with one of the great commands of Judaism...
May 27, 2013 9:53 am
Full Transcript: Shimon Peres Remarks at the World Economic Forum in Jordan 2013
Below is the full transcript of remarks by Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic...
May 27, 2013 9:24 am
Muslim Acts of Beheading in the West
The gruesome murder last week of a soldier outside London by a Muslim convert, Michael...
May 23, 2013 9:47 am
Path of Least Resistance?
By now you have surely recovered from Pesach (Passover) so we can break the news to you that...
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Personalities Sports
NBA Finals a Time to Remember Legendary Jewish Coach Red Auerbach
JNS.org - At the start of each nationally televised game of the 2013 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat, ABChas aired a film-clip montage of basketball’s great players and coaches—a montage that includes Jewish coach Arnold “Red” Auerbach, the mastermind behind nine championship teams for the Boston Celtics. Red was one of four children of Marie and Hyman Auerbach. Hyman was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who left Belarus when he was 13. The couple owned a deli and [...]
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Arts and Culture Jewish History
The Marx Brothers and Jewish Identity
JNS.org - The sons of Jewish immigrants from Germany and France, the Marx Brothers became zany masters of stage and screen who continue to captivate audiences. But in addition to providing comic relief, their films captured the drama of the entry of their marginalized religion into the U.S. Wayne Koestenbaum, author of the 2012 book The Anatomy of Harpo Marx, explains that the Marx Brothers’ Jewishness as a family “was evident, marked, thoroughly legible.” “Within a family already marked as Jewish within [...]
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Arts and Culture Jewish Identity
SuperJew
For my shekels, the question of whether the comic book character Superman, is Jewish or not shouldn’t even be questioned. Born and named Kal-El by his father Jor-El, “El” is one of the ancient names for God used throughout the bible and found in great prophets such as Samue-el, Dani-el and angels Micha-el and Gavri-el and of course, Isra-el. As Simcha Weinstein in his entertaining book, “Up, Up And Oy Vey” points out, “Kal” is the root of several Hebrew [...]
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Israel Sports
Formula 1 Road Show Thrills Jerusalem
JNS.org – Some 100,000 people attended Israel’s first-ever Formula 1 Road Show in Jerusalem on Thursday and Friday. For several hours, the controversies that normally characterize Jerusalem were put aside, and a diverse mosaic of Israelis watched up close as the motor-sport stars temporarily conquered the city. “It was an amazing experience, the most fast and furious thing I have seen,” spectator Masada Porat told Israel Hayom. “It was a rare, extreme event that explodes in your face.” Spectator Irena [...]
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Book Reviews Jewish Identity
Klara’s Journey Casts Jews in Fast-Paced Adventure Through Russian History
JNS.org – “If you’re sick, move away. Have some consideration for others,” a red army soldier scolds a slow-moving old man selling train tickets. “No, fires back the old man, proud, haughty, not realizing it’s a new country, a Bolshevik country where force heads the list instead of civility,” reads the following line in Ben G. Frank’s new novel, Klara’s Journey, released June 1. Reminiscent of Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago—whose backdrop is also a train ride across the Russian frontier during the [...]
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Personalities Theater
Nora Ephron, Famed Jewish Screenwriter, Remembered Through Tribeca Film Festival Prize
JNS.org – For filmmaker Meera Menon, no honor could have been more fitting than winning the inaugural award named after famed Jewish screenwriter and novelist Nora Ephron, the woman whose work inspired her. At the recent 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, Menon was named the first recipient of the $25,000 Nora Ephron Prize, given to a writer or director whose work embodies that of the late Ephron, who wrote the scripts for a number of hit films, including “When Harry Met [...]
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Book Reviews Personalities
Book Review: ‘Jewish Jordan’ Memoir an Important Guide for Players and Coaches
JNS.org – Despite his friends’ and family’s doubts that a young Orthodox Jewish athlete could ever play college or professional basketball without compromising his religious values, between 1999 and 2009 the “Jewish Jordan” defied conventional wisdom and found his place on the court. In his new memoir, Jewish Jordan’s Triple Threat, Tamir Goodman describes his triumphs and disappointments in life, crediting his practice of Judaism for shaping his identity as an athlete and his understanding of basketball as a team sport. [...]
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Blogs Sports
Omri Casspi, ‘Jewish Jordan’ Partner on Basketball Camps to Inspire Youths On and Off the Court
Tamir Goodman (left) and NBA forward Omri Casspi—pictured on the court of the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls—together run basketball camps that seek to inspire youths on and off the court. Photo: Courtesy Tamir Goodman. JNS.org – Before last year, basketball camps for Jewish youths never had an instructor quite like Omri Casspi, a forward for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers and the first Israeli-born player in NBA history. Casspi is a de facto ambassador for [...]
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