Andrew Lapin

Two Auschwitz prisoners escape in a scene from 'The Auschwitz Report' (Samuel Goldwyn Films via JTA)

September 25, 2021, 10:11 am

‘The Auschwitz Report’: Slovakian film tells of escapees who tried to warn world

Movie focuses on Rudolph Vrba, Alfréd Wexler — Slovak Jews who escaped from death camp with fastidious notes, only for their desperate pleas to meet with uncaring bureaucracy

By Andrew Lapin

Michael Keaton as Kenneth Feinberg and Stanley Tucci as Charles Wolf in the Netflix film 'Worth.' (Monika Lek/Netflix/ via JTA)

September 4, 2021, 3:51 pm

Kenneth Feinberg helps 9/11 families find ‘Worth’ in Obama-produced Netflix film

Filmmakers play it safe in the historical drama out Sept. 3 about a controversial victim compensation fund, avoiding grittier details in an effort that rings hollow 20 years later

By Andrew Lapin

Spike Lee at the 57th New York Film Festival, October 4, 2019. (Roy Rochlin/WireImage via JTA/ File)

August 26, 2021, 7:13 pm

Spike Lee to re-edit documentary featuring antisemitic 9/11 conspiracy theorist

US director asks critics to ‘hold their judgment’ until final version of ‘New York Epicenters: 9/11-2021½’ is released

By Andrew Lapin

Meyerson matriarch Celeste (Barbara Barrie) and her daughter Terri (Kate Mulgrew) discuss the meaning of life in "The Magnificent Meyersons." (Argot Pictures via JTA)

August 21, 2021, 2:54 am

Not even aliens can shake up a clan of NYC Jews in ‘The Magnificent Meyersons’

An extraterrestrial cameo helps a family come to terms with their existential questions in this independent film written and directed by Evan Oppenheimer

By Andrew Lapin

A still from the documentary "The Meaning of Hitler." (Courtesy of IFC Films via JTA)

August 17, 2021, 3:39 am

Why are we still so obsessed with Hitler? Unconventional docu tries to find out

‘The Meaning of Hitler,’ released last week in theaters and on-demand, seeks to examine our fascination with one of history’s unique evils, without encouraging Nazi fetishists

By Andrew Lapin

Maia Levy watches footage from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the documentary 'The Viewing Booth.' (Courtesy of Atzmor Productions/ via JTA)

August 14, 2021, 5:48 am

Filmmaker follows young US Jew who ‘watched’ the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

‘The Viewing Booth’ captures the reactions of Maia Levy as she sees footage of everyday life for West Bank residents; the film opens Friday in NY and will stream starting August 18

By Andrew Lapin

Detroit Jewish News columnist Danny Raskin was featured on Detroit Public Television last year at age 101. (YouTube screenshot)

July 28, 2021, 3:54 pm

Danny Raskin, Jewish dining columnist who enjoyed an 80-year career, dies at 102

Beloved by Detroiters and ubiquitous in the local restaurant scene, the centenarian may have been the longest-tenured journalist in US history, writing weekly since 1942

By Andrew Lapin

Randi Weingarten, with megaphone, marches in a New York City rally, June 27, 2018. (Courtesy Professional Staff Congress/via JTA)

July 17, 2021, 3:12 am

US teachers’ unions increasingly debate Israel, and in some places back boycotts

With Jews spearheading initiatives on both sides of the issue, votes across America on whether to support the anti-Israel BDS movement ensnare prominent Jewish labor leaders

By Andrew Lapin and Gabriel Greschler

Authors Elin Hilderbrand and Casey McQuiston said they would remove respective references to Anne Frank and Israel from their novels after small numbers of social media readers took issue with the passages. (Illustration by Grace Yagel/JTA)

June 10, 2021, 9:08 am

Writers cut references to Anne Frank, Israel from novels after online complaints

Bestselling authors Elin Hilderbrand and Casey McQuiston vow to excise passages criticized by small groups of online readers

By Andrew Lapin

An interview subject from 'Final Account.' (Courtesy of Focus Features LLC/ via JTA)

May 28, 2021, 9:28 pm

Surviving former Nazis give their ‘Final Account’ in new documentary

Now in select theaters in the US, documentarian Luke Holland’s posthumously released last title reveals the psychology of Hitler’s genocidal machine via its younger members

By Andrew Lapin

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators assault Jews at a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles on May 19, 2021. (Screen capture: Twitter)

May 19, 2021, 10:59 pm

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators assault Jews in Los Angeles

Local authorities open hate crime investigation into attack at sushi restaurant, during which the assailants allegedly used antisemitic language to determine who was Jewish

By Andrew Lapin

Rep. Nikema Williams of Georgia and RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum visit the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Birmingham, Alabama, after meeting with workers and organizers involved in the facility's unionization effort, March 5, 2021. (Megan Varner/Getty Images/JTA)

April 9, 2021, 10:33 am

Meet the longtime Jewish labor activist going up against Amazon in Alabama

Stuart Appelbaum speaks about his Jewish roots and what the fight against the mammoth online retailer has changed in the American labor movement

By Andrew Lapin

Clockwise from top left: Rebecca Kuss, Melody Muhlrad, Yoshi Silverstein, Hanah Bloom (Kuss: Emily Berge-Thielmann; Muhlrad: Courtesy of Muhlrad; Silverstein: Courtesy of Silverstein; Bloom: Courtesy of Bloom/ all via JTA)

March 25, 2021, 3:31 am

Asian-American Jews react to Atlanta spa murders, rising anti-Asian hate crimes

Though predating the pandemic, bigotry has escalated in the last year. Here’s what leaders and active members of the Asian-American Jewish community have to say, in their own words

By Asaf Shalev and Andrew Lapin

A Texas mask on March 3, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images via JTA)

March 5, 2021, 3:17 am

Dallas Jewish Conservatives plan ‘mask-burning’ party to mark end of mandate

Organizer says he’s not ‘personally anti-mask,’ but opposes government orders to wear one

By Andrew Lapin

Kosher Palate, a kosher restaurant in Dallas, prepares thousands of free hot meals to serve to Orthodox families affected by power outages during Winter Storm Uri, Feb. 17, 2021. (Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas)

February 19, 2021, 2:57 am

In a Texas battered by cold, Jewish communities join desperately needed response

Synagogues, Jewish groups, kosher restaurants and individuals scramble to address their needs and those of neighbors as storm knocks out swaths of state’s infrastructure

By Andrew Lapin