Asaf Shalev

Ice cream moves along the production line at Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream in Waterbury, Vermont. on March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

June 18, 2021, 5:54 am

Did Ben & Jerry’s stop using social media due to pro-Palestinian activism?

While the ice cream company founded by two Jewish hippies usually puts up some pretty sweet posts, its accounts have been eerily quiet since last month’s Israel-Gaza flare-up

By Asaf Shalev

In this March 4, 2018, file photo, MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

June 16, 2021, 2:59 pm

MacKenzie Scott donates to Jewish charities in US, South Africa

Ex-wife of Amazon’s Bezos gives funding to HIAS, Repair the World and Afrika Tikkun as part of her latest $2.74 billion round of high-profile philanthropy

By Asaf Shalev

A Jewish demonstrator holds a sign as part of social justice protests following the death of George Floyd. (Courtesy of Sumekh/ via JTA)

June 15, 2021, 4:17 am

The US Jewish communal response to George Floyd’s murder, 1 year later

While many Jews of color see an enthusiastic embrace of efforts to spur diversity and change, only time will tell whether these commitments endure

By Asaf Shalev

Mike Bloomberg speaks at a campaign rally in Nashville, Tennessee, February 12, 2020. (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images via JTA)

June 9, 2021, 11:25 pm

Bloomberg vows to nab whoever leaked his tax records

Documents obtained by nonprofit ProPublica show billionaire philanthropist paid 3.7% on $1.9 billion in income in 2018, and 1.3% for the period 2014-2018

By Asaf Shalev

Author Isaac Bashevis Singer poses for a portrait outside the S. Rabinowitz Hebrew Book Store on New York's Lower East Side in 1968. (David Attie/Getty Images/ via JTA/ SUE)

June 9, 2021, 10:25 pm

How Wikipedia warriors made ‘Polish writer’ Isaac Bashevis Singer Jewish again

It takes a global village to unerase the great Yiddish-language writer’s religious/ethnic identity on the ‘democratized’ online encyclopedia

By Asaf Shalev

A high school football coach and his staff in Canton, Ohio, are in hot water for disciplining a Jewish student by forcing him to eat a pepperoni pizza. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images, JTA)

June 3, 2021, 10:15 pm

Hebrew Israelite student in Ohio forced to eat pork after missing practice

Football team coach and 7 of his staff suspended after punishing 17-year-old by making him eat pepperoni pizza

By Asaf Shalev

Senator Cory Booker speaks during a news conference in Hoboken, New Jersey, May 6, 2021. (Seth Wenig/AP)

June 3, 2021, 1:42 pm

US Sen. Booker launches new group of Black, Jewish senators against antisemitism

Black-Jewish coalition will include fellow Democrats Warnock and Blumenthal, also Republican Tim Scott; idea spurred by reports of rising anti-Jewish incidents

By Asaf Shalev

Ori Kol of FakeReporter in Tel Aviv. (Courtesy of Ori Kol via JTA)

May 16, 2021, 5:00 am

To curb ethnic riots, ex-intel officers volunteer to spy on extremists online

Despite flagging imminent threats, such as the anti-Arab mob violence in Bat Yam, police are slow to act, says activist

By Asaf Shalev

Illustrative: Participants in a think tank event hosted by the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative in Berkeley, California. (Courtesy/Jews of Color Field Building Initiative)

May 12, 2021, 4:28 pm

Without using the term, Pew survey unveils new data on US ‘Jews of color’

Results show that 8% of American Jewry identifies as Black, Hispanic, Asian or multiracial, showing them to be a significant minority; that number nearly doubles for those under 30

By Asaf Shalev

A photograph of the port city of Jaffa taken from the sea by P. Bergheim, circa 1860. (Library of Congress)

May 8, 2021, 4:00 pm

186-year-old account of US diplomatic visit to Holy Land surfaces at auction

Letter is from passenger on US Navy ship that moored in Jaffa in 1834; when told he couldn’t visit J’lem: ‘Like Moses, we are only permitted to see Promised Land but not enter it’

By Asaf Shalev

Bret Stephens at a Christians United for Israel summit in Washington on July 13, 2015. (Alex Wong/Getty Images via JTA)

May 6, 2021, 8:45 am

50 prominent Jewish Americans sign letter panning ‘social justice ideology’

The signatories, decrying alleged stifling of free debate in US, include prominent conservative writers Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss, as well as academics, authors and rabbis

By Asaf Shalev

Gugulethu Moyo, former executive director of the Jewish History Museum in Tucson, Arizona. (Courtesy of Gugulethu Moyo via JTA)

May 3, 2021, 2:13 am

First Jew of color to lead an American Jewish museum resigns, citing prejudice

Gugulethu Moyo made history when selected to head Tucson’s Jewish History Museum, but six months later she’s quit, accusing the board of dysfunction fueled by racism and sexism

By Asaf Shalev

Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, at the American Zionist Movement Washington Forum, December 12, 2018. (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images via JTA)

May 1, 2021, 5:59 pm

Boston Jewish council votes to keep ZOA despite it ‘elevating white supremacism’

The right-wing Zionist Organization of America, lead by Morton Klein, will remain in Massachusetts-based JCRC despite allegations of racism

By Asaf Shalev

In this September 6, 2017, file photo, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman speaks at a news conference in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

April 29, 2021, 4:15 pm

New York ex-AG Eric Schneiderman loses law license for a year over sexual abuse

Suspension to begin May 28 for prominent political figure who resigned after women said he had beaten, threatened to kill them

By Asaf Shalev

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in December 2019. (Laura E. Adkins / JTA)

April 29, 2021, 4:15 pm

New Jersey town sued for 2nd time over discrimination against Orthodox Jews

Lawsuit alleges Jackson Township ‘weaponizing’ the law to marginalize community, as some residents decry town’s changing character

By Asaf Shalev