Personalities
Sol Tevel Does Boee Kallah (INTERVIEW)
If you aren’t yet familiar with Sol Tevél, imagine Euro-Latin star Manu Chao, reggae man Bob Marley, and Israeli bands Hadag Nachash and Sheva all mixed up. Led by Israeli-born Lior Ben-Hur, Sol Tevél is a San Francisco-based band that integrates sounds, rhythms, and languages from around the globe to advocate building a strong, conscious and united community worldwide. Sol Tevél just released...
January 13, 2013 3:21 pm
Orthodox Jewish Singer Alex Clare Nominated for BRIT Award
Alex Clare, the Orthodox Jewish, British musician best known for his double platinum single...
January 4, 2013 5:42 pm
Adam Greenberg’s Second Coming as a Jewish Major Leaguer
Adam Greenberg’s career in the Major Leagues seemingly came to an abrupt ending with just...
December 31, 2012 11:54 pm
Jewish Gymnast Aly Raisman Named One of Boston Globe’s Bostonians of the Year
Jewish American gymnast Aly Raisman was recently listed by the Boston Globe newspaper as one...
December 31, 2012 12:00 am
Italian-Jewish Nobel Prize Winner Who Defied Anti-Semitism Dies at 103
Rita Levi-Montalcini, an Italian-Jewish winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine who conducted...
December 20, 2012 2:48 pm
Up-and-Coming Jewish Standup Comic Jamie Lee a Texan for the Jokes?
In a famous “Seinfeld” episode, Jerry believes his dentist, Dr. Tim Whatley, converted...
December 18, 2012 8:27 pm
Neil Simon’s Jewish-Infused Work, Underappreciated by Critics, Continues to Sell
While experts say famed Jewish playwright Neil Simon is under-appreciated, box office demand...
December 17, 2012 7:24 pm
Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and the British Chief Rabbinate
The centrist orthodox Jewish community of Britain, known as “The United Synagogue,” (established...
December 14, 2012 3:03 am
Haym Soloveitchik’s Demolition of Talya Fishman’s Thesis
I have to go back 50 years to when I first met Haym Soloveitchik, the brilliant son of the...
December 13, 2012 11:53 am
YU, Wiesenthal, ADL Heads Have Top Salaries for American Jewish Leaders
Yeshiva University President Richard Joel earned the top salary among American Jewish executives...
December 10, 2012 2:02 pm
Billboard Releases List of Top 30 Jewish Musicians (VIDEO)
Billboard, one of the oldest trade publications in the world, has been the litmus test for...
December 3, 2012 7:00 pm
Jaffa Road: Where the Light Gets In (INTERVIEW)
Music lovers better pack their bags because they’re in for a sonic world tour when global...
December 3, 2012 12:47 am
British Girl in Tel Aviv Diary Part 7: A Peace of My Mind
As we continue to keep readers informed about what life in Israel under rocket fire is like,...
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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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Jewish Identity Music
Zion80 Mixes Shlomo Carlebach With Fela’s Afrobeat (VIDEO)
Zion80 is a 13-piece band inspired by Nigerian Afrobeat creator Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The same way Matisyahu looked to Jamaican legend Bob Marley for inspiration and the right bass line to underscore his raps based on the Psalms, Zion80 guitarist and composer Jon Madof looked to Nigeria for his own rhythm section. On top of Fela’s conga-heavy Afrobeat groove, which has more urgency and immediacy than the Jamaican varietal, Madof’s guitar lays down familiar Jewish melodies from Reb Shlomo’s greatest [...]
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