Judaism

Mideast War Pushes Companies to Extend Diversity Programs to Faith Groups

December 9, 2023

 

When Nabeela Elsayed was speaking at a corporate conference several years ago and explained that she would miss the group dinner because she was fasting for Ramadan, she recalls, her manager responded: “Just don’t fast.” Ms. Elsayed, an executive coach who was previously chief operating officer for Walmart Canada, said she had heard many such slights when stepping away during the workday to pray.

For years, she told business leaders that their diversity, equity and inclusion programming should teach workers about anti-Muslim hate, antisemitism and other...

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Hanukkah celebrations have changed dramatically − but the same is true of Christmas

December 5, 2023

Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles and op-eds in newspapers remind readers of that fact every year, lamenting that the Jewish Festival of Lights has almost become an imitation of the Christian holiday.

These pieces exist for a reason. Hanukkah is a minor festival in the Jewish liturgical year, whose major holidays come in the fall...

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Parallel lives, together: How some Jewish and Palestinian Americans are navigating tensions

November 4, 2023

in places like Passaic County, which boasts a significant concentration of Palestinian Americans and has long been a hub in New Jersey for the more Conservative and Orthodox followers of Judaism, the bewildering events in the Middle East are being acutely monitored — and exposing the delicate divisions among neighbors that resurfaced this past summer, prior to the war.

While residents stand firm that violence and bias are not welcome here, charged language on social media and the bloodshed overseas are exposing stark differences but also mutual concerns among Palestinian...

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Hindu and Jewish Americans foster kinship through shared traditions, connections to homeland

September 11, 2023

Hindu and Jewish Americans gathered in San Francisco last Thursday to celebrate Janmashtami and Rosh Hashana together.

In the inaugural event, held by the Hindu American Foundation and the American Jewish Committee, about 40 people gathered in the AJC building across from the Embarcadero to learn about each other’s traditions, build upon similarities and share plenty of food.

Source: https://religionnews.com/2023/09/11/hindu-and-jewish-...

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For Jews, pandemic-era online worship has an enduring upside

August 31, 2023

 

Pandemic practices have brought what appears to be fundamental changes to how many Americans practice their faith, and Jewish worship is no exception. A new survey by the Synagogue Studies Institute finds that 85% of Jewish synagogues in the U.S. now offer worship online — a marked jump from 24% that did in 2019, prior to the pandemic. More significantly, 70% of synagogues surveyed said they expect they will continue to do so five years from now.

The survey of 248 U.S. synagogues will be published this fall as part of Faith Communities Today, a multifaith...

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Summer camp in California gives Jewish children of color a haven to be different together

August 12, 2023

One camper, from Oakland, California, has a white Jewish mother and a father who is Black and Muslim. Another was adopted in Uganda by a white Jewish woman; they now live in Montana.

Like many of the young people who shared challenges and adventures with them this summer, they grew up often feeling like outliers — and then found a near-magical comfort zone at Camp Be’chol Lashon in the rolling hills of California’s Marin County. Its founders say it’s the only sleepaway summer camp specifically serving Jewish children of color, creating a safe space for candid conversations on...

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For many Pittsburgh Jews, Robert Bowers deserves the death penalty

August 3, 2023

On Thursday (Aug. 3), one day after a jury unanimously decided that Robert Bowers should face the death penalty for gunning down 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, a U.S. district judge formally sentenced Bowers to die for the worst antisemitic attack in American history.

But it will take years and likely decades for the sentence to be carried out, if it happens at all.

...

That reluctance to mete out the ultimate punishment reflects divisions among the nation’s religious groups, too. A 2014 PRRI survey showed that most religious groups are split on the...

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Local Jewish advocates are fighting antisemitism with a five-step plan

May 15, 2023

Local leaders and Jewish advocates gathered at TD Garden Monday [May 15, 2023] to address the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents in Boston and nationwide. The event, hosted by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, launched the group’s ‘Face Jewish Hate’ campaign in collaboration with the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism....

The campaign features a five-point plan: Face Jewish hate, empower the community, build allyship, inform and educate the next generation and strengthen communal security. Those steps were determined by a task force of community leaders and experts on...

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Amid attacks on trans people, a queer yeshiva offers a path to liberation

April 12, 2023

The prospect of studying Talmud for a week seemed intimidating to Noah Rubin-Blose, who grew up culturally Jewish and wasn’t too familiar with the Hebrew letters, much less the central texts of rabbinic Judaism.

But the opportunity to spend time with queer Jews was just too tempting. So Rubin-Blose, a trans man, signed up for Queer Talmud Camp a few years ago. 

“It felt like coming home,” he said of the experience, a one-week immersive offered by Svara, a 20-year-old yeshiva for queer and trans people. “To be in a room with...

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Conservative donor's Nazi memorabilia collection in spotlight amid revelations about his Clarence Thomas ties

April 10, 2023

 A collection of Nazi memorabilia on display at the home of Republican megadonor Harlan Crow has come under renewed scrutiny following revelations that Crow lavished Clarence Thomas with expensive, unreported gifts.

Crow has for more than two decades treated Thomas, the conservative Supreme Court justice, to complimentary vacations and private jet and yacht rides, according to a recent investigation by the news organization ProPublica. Thomas subsequently...

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Patriots owner Robert Kraft campaigns against antisemitism

March 28, 2023

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft faced the camera during a video call, pointing to a small, sky-blue lapel pin on his blazer.

The pin is the symbol of a $25 million “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” campaign launched Monday by the 81-year-old billionaire through his Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, aiming to raise awareness nationwide about soaring incidents of antisemitism online and in person. The campaign will feature emotive ads to be introduced by stars of top television shows such as NBC’s “The Voice,” and the “Kelly Clarkson Show,” and Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live...

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The Bakers Reimagining Traditional Jewish Pastries

March 14, 2023

The Schencken at Edith’s, a Jewish deli in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, gleam with sugary glaze or drip with buttery icing, depending on the day. Sometimes the coiled pastries, named after the German word for snail, ooze globs of blueberry-sumac jam or shed honey-walnut crumbles. Once, ube (a purple yam from the Philippines) was added to the batter; the schnecken emerged from the oven with vivid lilac streaks. After Elyssa Heller, the 33-year-old owner of Edith’s, announces each new flavor ...

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Investigation into Conservative movement's youth group identifies 'hypersexualized culture'

March 9, 2023

An investigation into sexual abuse and misconduct in the Conservative movement’s youth group programs over the past seven decades identified an “overly sexualized culture” and collected accounts of alleged abuse from 40 victims. 

Most of the allegations included in the investigation took place between 1987 and 2019 in the New York City area, and the alleged perpetrators are no longer affiliated with the youth group, according to the report. 

The investigation commissioned by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the movement’s umbrella organization...

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Wanted: More Rabbis

March 13, 2023

When Rabbi Irwin Kula attended the Jewish Theological Seminary Rabbinical School 40-plus years ago, his studies emphasized a text-based, academic approach. And when he was ordained in 1982, most of his class of approximately 40 rabbinical graduates—all white and male—took pulpit jobs.

In spring 2023, JTS plans to ordain 12 rabbis and three cantors—a diverse group of graduates in terms of gender, age, and sexual orientation, as well as Jewish and professional journeys, but far smaller than Kula’s class....

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