Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy won his second fight in the Octagon on Saturday night in Orlando. Levy went the distance with his opponent, Genaro Valdez—three rounds at five minutes, in front of a raucous crowd at the Amway Center, the home of the Orlando Magic of the NBA.   As he and his entourage […]

The post Israeli UFC Fighter Natan Levy Calls out Kanye after 2nd Unanimous Victory appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Limited streaming release this weekend: A film that will inspire all viewers to ask questions about the great-grandparents that they may have never met.

The post “Beyond the Bolex” A Must-See Documentary For Anyone Researching Their Ancestors appeared first on Jewish Journal.

    From a Tents to a Stairway to Heaven Thoughts on Torah Portion Vayeitzei 2022 (adapted from previous versions)   I can imagine Jacob justifiably bemoaning his fate as he trudges toward Paddan Aram (the Caravan Route of Aram). Jacob was the one, the Bible tells us, who was the dweller in tents. The […]

The post Torah Portion Va-Yeitzei – From Tents to a Stairway to Heaven appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Rapper Kanye West has been suspended from Twitter after posting a tweet containing a swastika embedded in a Star of David. Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced in a December 1 tweet that West’s account was going to be suspended for inciting violence by posting the swastika embedded in a Star of David. Horrifying – a […]

The post Kanye Suspended from Twitter After Posting Swastika appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on December 1 honoring the Nakba (catastrophe), which is how the Palestinians view the creation of Israel. The Times of Israel reported that the resolution urged the U.N. to host an event honoring the Nakba in May 2023 and for the “dissemination of relevant archives and testimonies.” […]

The post UN Passes Nakba Resolution appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Jacob’s family has more than its share of discord and dysfunction. Due to Laban’s deception, Jacob ends up marrying two sisters, Leah and Rachel; this unwanted love triangle leaves all of them heartbroken. Comparisons and competitions pull them apart. Like any family, there are imbalances. Jacob prefers Rachel. Leah has children, while Rachel does not. […]

The post Marriage and Other Disappointments appeared first on Jewish Journal.

At the start of this week’s Torah reading, Jacob, like his grandfather Abraham before him, leaves the land of his birth for new horizons.

The post Isaac’s Laughter appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Dear all, I was recently at an event hosted by Sinai Akiba, a local Jewish Day school.  In one of the classrooms hung this illustration created by Rebecca Richards, their art teacher.  I was moved by the drawing – and I could not stop thinking about it. Accomplishing a goal can often seem impossible. How do we […]

The post A Moment in Time: “Achieving ‘Yes! I Did It!’” appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Throughout “America and the Holocaust,” Ken Burns’, Lynn Novick’s and Sarah Botstein’s six-hour documentary,  one name kept being mentioned: Eleanor Roosevelt.

The post Eleanor Roosevelt’s Commitment to Israel Explored in ‘Refuge Must Be Given’ appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Senior citizens doing Zumba® is not something you see every day.

The post Seniors & Zumba: An Unlikely Combo appeared first on Jewish Journal.

An outbreak of Ebola didn't stop a group from de Toledo High School from traveling to Uganda to help a Jewish community tackle the challenge of food insecurity.

The post De Toledo High School Students Travel to Uganda to Collaborate with Local Jewish Community appeared first on Jewish Journal.

And [Jacob] became exceedingly wealthy, and he had prolific animals, and maidservants and manservants, and camels and donkeys. –Genesis 30:43 I count myself wealthy by the number of animals I have in my house. At last count, it’s three cats and three humans. That sounds equal, as in one cat for every human, but really, […]

The post GOATS! – A poem for Parsha Vayetzei appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Rapper Kanye West said in a December 1 interview with far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that he sees “good things about Hitler.” Jones told West, who appeared with his face covered alongside white nationalist Nick Fuentes, that people were portraying the rapper as a Nazi. “I see good things about [Adolf] Hitler,” West replied. “I […]

The post Kanye Says He Sees “Good Things About Hitler” appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Israeli filmmaker Orit Fouks Rotem’s first feature takes on a difficult subject: facilitating peace and empathy among a focus group of four Jewish and four Arab women.

The post ‘Cinema Sabaya’: Israel’s Official Entry for the 2023 Academy Awards appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on November 30 that the platform will not remove the antisemitic movie that was infamously shared on social media by Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving.

The post Amazon Won’t Remove Antisemitic Movie Shared by Kyrie Irving appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Twitter banned a group that praised the two bombings in Jerusalem on November 23.

The post Twitter Bans Group That Praised Jerusalem Bombings appeared first on Jewish Journal.

I was in the 10th grade when I first heard a Jonathan Richman song called “Hospital.”

The post Searching for (and Finding) Jonathan Richman appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Six years ago I wrote an article  for the Journal, "Why I Can’t Vote for Donald Trump."

The post Why I (Still) Can’t Vote for Donald Trump appeared first on Jewish Journal.

In his new book, "Why Not, Lessons in Comedy, Courage, and Chutzpah," LA comic Mark Schiff finds humor and humanity in the things we care about.

The post Print Issue: Laughs From the Heart | December 2, 2022 appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Holy Humility

The post Table for Five: Vayetzei appeared first on Jewish Journal.

I’ll be back before you can say "Ayatollah."

The post See You in January! appeared first on Jewish Journal.

In my junior year of college, I dated a Jewish man named Lucas. Things were going well. We’d go out to the movies and restaurants and I even met his parents. I knew they liked me.  But his sister didn’t. One night, Lucas and I were talking, and he suddenly remembered something and giggled. “What?” […]

The post Can We Retire the Word “Shiksa”? appeared first on Jewish Journal.

When Danielle Renov’s cookbook "Peas Love & Carrots" was published in May 2020, it was a very big deal in the kosher food universe.

The post All We Are Saying is Give Chickpeas a Chance appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback works with 1,600 families in his job as senior rabbi at Stephen Wise Temple.

The post Rabbis of LA | Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback: Serving With Joy appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Maybe it’s time to press “reset” on our 21st-century standards of beauty.

The post Smoking Hot Zombies appeared first on Jewish Journal.

UA Prof Killed By Gunman Who Thought He Was Jewish A University of Arizona professor was shot and killed by a gunman who allegedly thought the professor was Jewish. Secure Community Network CEO Michael Masters wrote in a November 22 op-ed for The Arizona Republic that the gunman, identified as former graduate student Murad Dervish, […]

The post Campus Watch Dec. 1, 2022 appeared first on Jewish Journal.

In his new book, “Why Not? Lessons in Comedy, Courage and Chutzpah,” LA comic Mark Schiff finds the humor and humanity in the things we care most about.

The post Mark Schiff: Laughs from the Heart appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The Jewish month of Kislev ushers in Hannukah, the Festival of Lights. Our family spent the last few days dusting off our hannukiyah, cleaning candle wax and making room for the holiday to find a place in our home. Like other holidays, there is preparation. For Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, one prepares their soul, […]

The post A Bisl Torah — Preparing for Light appeared first on Jewish Journal.

We must resolve the conflict between instinct and what’s generally considered to be its antithesis, intellect. Although the former is more difficult to understand it should be treated even by the intellect with reasonable respect., and for religions let us also show regard, not relegating our respect for them because of either intellect or instinct, […]

The post Instinct, Intellect and Religion appeared first on Jewish Journal.

We’re no longer that weak kid in school, and we should stop acting like one. It’s time to regain our mojo and start acting like winners. Not because it’s a smart PR strategy but because it’s who we are.

The post The Hysterics Against Antisemitism Are Making Jews Look Weak. It’s Time to Regain Our Mojo. appeared first on Jewish Journal.

He flirts with the worst type of racists, bigots and anti-Semites but avoids using language himself that would directly express similar sentiments.

The post Trump Crossing Lines—Again appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The Journal reached out to several Jewish comedians and asked for their takes about the now-infamous monologue.

The post Comedians Discuss Infamous Dave Chappelle Monologue appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Hundreds of specialists from around the world gather at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for week-long summit on mitigating impact of climate change on environment and public health

The post Israel’s Desert Is Setting for Key Climate Change Conference appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Since I started writing about antisemitism about a decade ago, I’ve had trouble answering one question: Why are Jews, who excel in fields from literature to music, so bad at confronting lies and hate? 

The post A Campaign Against Jew Hatred That Actually Worked appeared first on Jewish Journal.

It’s 7:10 a.m. on election day and I wake up thinking politics.

The post Say Goodbye to Toxic Trumpism: An Election Day Lesson appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Sometimes, to understand a forest, you must look at one tree.

The post Rosner’s Domain— Climbing the Override Law Tree appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Nearly 1,500 proud Zionists, philanthropists and people who love Israel attended Jewish National Fund-USA’s (JNF-USA) National Conference in Boston last month.  “The excitement, the buzz, the celebration of being together—it was really something special!” JNF-USA National Communications Manager Jennifer Milton told the Journal.  The multiday gathering, held from Nov. 4-6, included unbelievable performances by members […]

The post JNF-USA Conference, Sephardic Film Fest, Sinai Akiba Challah Bake appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Former President Donald Trump purportedly ignored advice from his consultants not to meet with rapper Kanye West for dinner in what some in Trumpworld are calling a “setup,” according to a November 29 NBC News report.

The post Trump Ignored Advice Not to Meet with Kanye, Report Says appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Nov News 2022 with Lisa Niver & We Said Go Travel: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your November has been full of friends and family and time to restore your soul. Enjoy this video of my Uncle Stu carving up THREE Thanksgiving turkeys! I loved being back together with so much of our family for Thanksgiving dinner. […]

The post Happy Thanksgiving: Niver’s News: Nov 2022 appeared first on Jewish Journal.

"This is, by far, the best time in Jewish history to be a Jew.”  

The post Rabbi Ari Lamm: The Optimist appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Is it in any way possible for you to turn back the clock? Not to daylight savings time, but to an altogether earlier time of our recent past.

The post Dear Santa appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The election process is first and foremost a demonstration of the vibrant democracy in Israel.

The post The Elections in Israel – and the Reaction to the Elections appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Myriad Jewish groups are issuing staunch condemnations of former President Donald Trump’s dinner with rapper Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago on November 22.

The post Jewish Groups Blast Trump for Dinner with Kanye West, White Nationalist Nick Fuentes appeared first on Jewish Journal.

It’s worth remembering Spielberg’s journey as we try to figure out how to respond to the recent wave of anti-Jewish sentiment in this great land of opportunity.

The post “The Fabelmans”: Steven Spielberg’s Antidote to Jewish Victimhood appeared first on Jewish Journal.

  Breaking – Free Thoughts on Torah portion Toldot 2022 (adapted from earlier versions)   Polonius, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is presented as sincere (the sincerity of the shallow), but also as an insufferably garrulous and “tedious old fool.”  The character of Polonius is the one who says the words,   “This above all: to thine […]

The post Comments on Torah Portion Toldot – Breaking, Becoming Free appeared first on Jewish Journal.

One sunny Sunday morning in 1986, Rabbi Gershon Schusterman was driving to his home in Long Beach, California when he received an alarming phone call from his wife, Rochel Leah. She told him she wasn’t feeling well, and he knew from the tone of her voice that it was serious. He rushed home and took […]

The post New Book on Tragedy Asks, “Why God Why?” appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Joseph Official, the 13th-century author of the polemical work Sefer HaMekaneh, met a Capuchin friar on the road to Paris.  The friar said to him: Jacob your father was a thief, and no greater extractor of usury was there; for one plate of lentils which was worth half a coin, he acquired the birthright which […]

The post Jacob and Antisemitism appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Twenty years ago, the phrase “Never Again” still meant something, at least in the United States. Yet awareness of the Holocaust and the six million European Jews murdered—the culmination of 2,000 years of brutality toward the stateless Jewish people—has fallen in the youngest generations of Americans. A 2018 survey by the Conference on Jewish Material […]

The post We Must Beware of the Normalization of Antisemitism appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The rise of high-profile antisemitic comments by Kanye West and Kyrie Irving have left the U.S. Jewish community shaken. It caught us off guard and we were blindsided by the reality that anyone would spout such hateful rhetoric or, worse, that hundreds of thousands of people could agree with these views. And yet, as evidenced […]

The post 75 Years Later: Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Jewish groups have issued statements condemning the two bombings in Jerusalem on the morning of November 23 that resulted in the death of a 16-year-old Yeshiva student and 22 others. The bombings occurred at two separate bus stops, one at Givat Shaul and the other at Ramot Junction, per The Times of Israel. The murdered […]

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