jewish culture

Last month, a global consortium of leading scholars released the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA), the product of a year-long labor to produce a new working definition of antisemitism that…

One of the more unexpected developments of Donald Trump’s presidency was his metamorphosis into an evangelical hero. American Christians didn’t just like his policies, they venerated him as a near…

As Passover approaches this weekend I often reminisce about how, as a young child, the highlight of my Easter weekend wasn’t watching the Greatest Story Ever Told , The Robe , or other classic Easter…

New York City has the reputation of a place with absolutely zero patience for BS. This is a money-city, a global financial center driven by real estate, banking, and the stock market. Yes of course…

Hanukkah isn’t for everyone. This has been true since its beginnings, as it celebrates victory in internecine military conflict and a triumph over assimilation. Even so, the majority of the 15 million…

Under Trump’s presidency there has been a rise in high profile anti-Jewish incidents. Perhaps because these incidents are often perpetrated by white supremacists who hold denigrating racialized views…

Is American Hasidism in crisis? After successfully rebuilding its institutions after the war, Hasidism in America has flourished. And yet, its response to COVID and its newfound reactionary political…

Sometimes, the only way forward in life is to take it stitch by stitch. Last winter, the Masorot chapter of the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework took a field trip. This convivial group of women…

You could be forgiven if, after watching the 2020 Democratic and Republican party conventions, you thought that the religious community in the U.S. was pretty uniformly anti-abortion. Although…

Warning: Spoilers ahead I dare say that nobody decides to watch the new Seth Rogen film An American Pickle as inspiration for the High Holidays. Like most people, my wife and I viewed it as a much…