Spirituality/Tradition
Orthodox Jewish Women Ordained as First Class of a ‘Different Kind of Leader’
JNS.org - On the surface, Sunday’s ordination ceremony for the first three graduates of Bronx, NY-based Yeshivat Maharat—the first institution to train Orthodox women as spiritual leaders and halakhic authorities—marked a historic moment for the Jewish community. But Rabbi Jeffrey S. Fox, rosh yeshiva (academic dean) of Yeshivat Maharat, does not view the institution as trailblazing or revolutionary. “On...
April 26, 2013 2:48 pm
They Killed Us, And Now They Miss Us
Slanted, bent cement lies all over Europe like twisted graves overlaying the cityscapes. In...
April 25, 2013 6:39 pm
Atheist Professor Jerry Coyne Fiddles While the Darwinian Palace Burns
Jerry Coyne, who teaches evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago, long ago took...
April 25, 2013 5:17 pm
Professor Finds Possible ‘Lost Tribe of Israel’ in Papua New Guinea
The scholar known internationally as the “British Indiana Jones” has tracked a tribal...
April 25, 2013 5:15 pm
Faith as a Journey
In its account of the festivals of the Jewish year, this week’s parshah contains the following...
April 23, 2013 1:44 pm
Is ‘Terrorism’ Racist Term, UK’s Guardian Asks; Ignores 70% Terror Deaths By Islamists
Recent posts I’ve written at CiF Watch about the Guardian’s appalling use of...
April 23, 2013 2:26 am
Boston Rabbi Organizes Interfaith Prayer at Site of Boston Marathon Explosions
A Boston-area rabbi on Sunday was joined by other religious leaders in holding a makeshift...
April 22, 2013 9:25 pm
Star Jewish High School Baseball Player Draws Comparisons to Koufax (VIDEO)
Robert Kaminsky is one of the best pitching prospects in high school. The lefty has that mixture...
April 22, 2013 4:29 pm
Ancient Church Discovered Near Ark of the Covenant Site
Archeologists have discovered an ancient church in the ruins of the ancient biblical city...
April 22, 2013 2:15 am
And Hate the Sinner Too
Let me surprise you for a moment. The reason that tragedies, like the outrageous terrorist...
April 19, 2013 6:20 pm
Yair Lapid Featured in Time 100 Most Influential People List
Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid was named one of the 100 most influential people in the...
April 19, 2013 6:00 pm
Poland Marks 70th Anniversary of Warsaw Uprising by Honoring Veteran of the Fight
Friday was the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and to commemorate the event...
April 18, 2013 9:03 am
Eternally Grateful
Respecting our parents seems to become more difficult as we get older. When we were small,...
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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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