03 Dec
Jewish World, Latest

Anti-Semitic Graffiti Reported at DC Synagogue

Sixth & I, the historic Washington, DC synagogue and culture center, was vandalized on Friday less than two months after a similar incident at the Washington Hebrew Congregation. Sixth & I staff reported finding the word “JEW” etched into a wooden door and several swastikas drawn on a staircase, according to communications manager Michelle Eider. On Monday, DC police arrested 28-year-old Luis Montsinos and charged him with defacement and destruction of property and resisting arrest. According to the police report. Officers designated the vandalism as a potential anti-Jewish hate crime.“Nothing is more important than the security and safety of our community,” says Heather Moran, Sixth & I’s CEO and executive director, “and we are working closely with the Metropolitan Police Department and other local law enforcement.” Built in 1908, the Sixth & I synagogue hosts both religious...

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20 Nov
Arts & Culture, Latest

The Colmar Treasure: Bringing Jewish Life Into Medieval Art

Until recently, the Met Cloisters, situated at the top of a peaceful hill in Fort Tryon Park in the middle of Manhattan’s bustling Washington Heights—a neighborhood with multiple synagogues and many Jewish residents—predominantly featured medieval Christian art and architecture. In July, however, the museum opened “The Colmar Treasure: A Medieval Jewish Legacy,” a small yet poignant exhibit featuring jeweled rings, a cache of silver coins and other precious possessions belonging to a single family in the once-flourishing 14th-century Jewish community of Colmar. The treasure was discovered by workmen in 1863 during the renovation of a confectionery shop on the rue des Juifs (“Street of the Jews”) in Colmar, a city on the Rhine River in modern-day eastern France. One of the treasure’s highlights, an elaborate medieval Jewish wedding ring with the words “Mazel Tov” spelled out...

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16 Sep
Jewish World, Latest

‘We, Too, Are YU’: Students March for LGBTQ Rights at Yeshiva University

“I get paid to go to YU,” said Joy Ladin, an openly transgender professor at Stern College, in her speech. “But queer students are paying to be trashed in classes to have humanity denied, to have halacha warped around values of homophobia and xenophobia and transphobia, rather than values that recognize that every kind of human being is created in the image of God.”

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30 Aug
Uncategorized

The Paradox of Trump’s Disloyalty Accusation

While some assertions, such as “The Protocols,” declare Jews more loyal to their religious counterparts across the globe, others, such as the Dreyfus Affair, simply declare Jewish people disloyal to their country of residence or citizenship and its ideology or values. For example, according to Golinkin, Jews in Russia were accused of supporting anti-Communist efforts, while in fascist Europe, Jews were accused of promoting Communist ideals.

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29 Aug
Jewish World, Latest

Enough is Enough: Yeshiva University Students Protest LGBTQ Discrimination

Meisels described a “complete lack of LGBT representation” at YU. “If there is any discussion of LGBT individuals on campus it is always negative and always involves homophobic rhetoric,” she said. “It’s a social thing,” explained Dov Alberstone, an openly gay senior at Yeshiva College “It’s the things that people say in the dorms to each other or in the gym. In normal social interactions people have, you get a sense that being gay is the worst thing you can be.”

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