Andrew Lapin

A map of purported connections between Jewish groups and other organizations in Massachusetts created by The Mapping Project. (Screenshot/JTA)

June 24, 2022, 6:38 am

BDS movement disavows Boston project mapping Jewish groups

Anti-Israel group distances itself from site promoted by its own branch in Massachusetts a day after US lawmakers called for an investigation into its potential use by extremists

By Andrew Lapin

Illustrative photo of signs calling for the boycott of Israel at an anti-Israel protest in San Francisco, April 2011. (CC BY-dignidadrebelde, Flickr)

June 23, 2022, 9:46 am

US appeals court rules that laws against Israel boycotts don’t violate Constitution

Ruling by St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit court is a major victory for pro-Israel activists who have pushed some 30 states to adopt anti-BDS laws

By Andrew Lapin

Left: Columbia University president Lee Bollinger speaks during a graduation ceremony in New York, May 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File); Harvard President Lawrence Bacow sitting for a photograph before joining a procession though Harvard Yard at the start of Harvard University commencement exercises, May 30, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

June 19, 2022, 2:58 am

Two departing Ivy League presidents leave different legacies on Israel, antisemitism

Lawrence Bacow of Harvard and Lee Bollinger of Columbia prepare to step down in 2023, part of a sea change in schools at the center of nationwide campus debates on these two issues

By Andrew Lapin and CALEB GUEDES-REED

Drake poses for a photo with his many brides. (YouTube screenshot via JTA)

June 18, 2022, 9:42 am

Drake’s new video features a Jewish wedding and 23 brides

Multi-platinum-selling artist invokes his Jewish background in an unorthodox wedding as part of the surprise drop for his new album ‘Honestly, Nevermind’

By Jackie Hajdenberg and Andrew Lapin

Two patrons enter the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream shop in Burlington, Vermont, on, July 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

June 17, 2022, 11:17 pm

Michigan pension fund sues Ben & Jerry’s owner over ice cream maker’s Israel policy

Complaints say that Unilever improperly concealed from shareholders the Ben & Jerry’s announcement it would pull out of Israel, leading to a drop in stock value

By Andrew Lapin

Billy Crystal performing a 'Yiddish scat' routine during the 75th annual Tony Awards, June 12, 2022. (Screenshot via JTA)

June 14, 2022, 8:36 am

Billy Crystal scats in ‘Yiddish’ at Tony Awards

Comedian-actor flavors live performance with Jewish humor, complete with ‘oy vey’ chant

By Andrew Lapin

Rabbi Asher Lopatin, left, of the JCRC/AJC talks to Msgr. Patrick Halfpenny at the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan, on May 31, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Kowalsky for JTA)

June 11, 2022, 11:15 pm

Antisemite Father Coughlin’s former church reaches out to Jews in show of good faith

Once a base of hatred, the National Shrine of the Little Flower in metro Detroit co-hosts interfaith event aimed at maintaining and continuing to improve Jewish-Catholic relations

By Andrew Lapin

Ben Platt arrives at the premiere of 'Dear Evan Hansen' on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

June 11, 2022, 7:45 pm

New Ben Platt movie to be filmed at site of former Jewish summer camp

Jewish Broadway actor to star in musical comedy ‘Theater Camp,’ which will be made where Reform movement’s camp was for teen leaders

By Andrew Lapin

Jack Lowden as Siegfried Sassoon in 'Benediction,' a biopic about the British poet. (Laurence Cendrowicz/Roadside Attractions/via JTA)

June 11, 2022, 10:05 am

UK poet Siegfried Sassoon ignored his Jewish heritage. A new biopic does the same

Now in select theaters, ‘Benediction’ deals with its subject’s antiwar stance and homosexuality in WWI Britain, but skirts his complex relationship with his wealthy family’s roots

By Andrew Lapin

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

June 11, 2022, 4:43 am

Democrats, including Pressley, condemn pro-Palestinian mapping Boston Jewish groups

Politicians warn that map, which includes the names, addresses and staff members of many Jewish organizations, could incite violence against Jewish community

By Andrew Lapin

June 11, 2022, 3:59 am

Pro-Palestinian group posts map of Massachusetts naming local ‘Zionist leaders’

Jewish arts group, schools, synagogues among network alleged to be responsible for wide-ranging societal harms by the anonymous page, which also names the organizations’ staffers

By Andrew Lapin

Sarah Silverman speaks on stage at Variety's 2022 Power Of Women event in New York City, May 5, 2022. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Variety via JTA)

June 8, 2022, 6:20 am

‘Jewface’ critic Sarah Silverman joins Netflix film casting Bradley Cooper as a Jew

Non-Jewish Cooper will play influential conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein with a prosthetic nose in ‘Maestro’ biopic, which will be released next year

By Andrew Lapin

A protester stands outside Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor, Michigan, flanked by anti-Israel and antisemitic signs, in 2020. On Jan. 18, 2022, the Ann Arbor City Council formally condemned the weekly protests, which had been going on for 18 years. (Alex Sherman/Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

May 26, 2022, 8:18 am

US Supreme Court rejects petitions against longtime Ann Arbor anti-Israel protesters

Plaintiffs, one of them a Holocaust survivor, argued the protests targeted Jews at their place of worship, violating their First Amendment rights

By Andrew Lapin

Menachem Kaiser's nonfiction book 'Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure' was announced the 2022 winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. (Beowulf Sheehan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

May 19, 2022, 10:16 am

Menachem Kaiser’s memoir on reclaiming his family’s Polish home wins Sami Rohr prize

In debut book, writer recounts efforts to regain ownership of house that belonged to his grandfather before the Holocaust

By Andrew Lapin

Illustrative: Sacha Baron Cohen arrives at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

May 19, 2022, 4:08 am

Sacha Baron Cohen to helm ‘Chelm,’ a cartoon about a shtetl of fools

Special to look at village popular in Jewish folklore as a land populated and governed entirely by idiots, who solve problems in a hilarious counterintuitive fashion

By Andrew Lapin