Gabe Friedman

Makua Rothman surfs at Pe'ahi in Hawaii, Jan. 14, 2018. (Brian Bielmann/AFP via Getty Images)

January 23, 2021, 11:33 am

Hawaiian-Jewish surfer may have ridden largest wave of all time

36-year-old Makua Rothman caught a huge 100-foot wall of water last Saturday

By Gabe Friedman

Bernie Sanders. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images; Pixabay via JTA)

January 23, 2021, 6:50 am

Bernie Sanders has his most viral week ever

Vermont senator’s inauguration pose, and mittens, pervades pop culture since Biden’s swearing-in, with many commentators employing Jewish humor

By Gabe Friedman

Norman Golb at work in his University of Chicago office. (Courtesy of the University of Chicago via JTA)

January 22, 2021, 1:41 pm

Norman Golb, pioneering Dead Sea Scrolls and Jewish history scholar, dies at 92

Academic, who taught at the University of Chicago, upended study of the scrolls with his thesis that they were authored by multiple sects

By Gabe Friedman

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters at the US Capitol in Washington, January 21, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP)

January 22, 2021, 3:33 am

Chuck Schumer is now Washington’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official ever

New York senator acknowledges his roots as he becomes new Senate majority leader; a longtime ally to Israel and Jewish communities, he aims to make more history

By Gabe Friedman

Senator-elect Jon Ossoff (D-GA) arrives at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today's inauguration ceremony Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP

January 21, 2021, 1:28 am

Jon Ossoff sworn into US Senate seat holding historic book of Hebrew scripture

First Jewish senator from Georgia gives oath on book that once belonged to Atlanta rabbi whose synagogue building was bombed by white supremacists in 1958

By Gabe Friedman

Then-US vice president Joe Biden, left, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference at the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

January 20, 2021, 1:12 pm

The issues galvanizing Jewish voters that Joe Biden has planned for Day One

US president-elect reportedly plans several executive orders and legislation proposals in the hours immediately following his inauguration, many of them reversing Trump policies

By Gabe Friedman

Left: Marcella White Campbell, the new executive director of Be'chol Lashon; Right: A Shabbat service at Camp Be’chol Lashon in 2016 led by Ethiopian Israeli, Maor Sanbata and campers. (Both photos courtesy of Be’chol Lashon/ via JTA)

January 20, 2021, 1:01 pm

Meet Marcella Campbell, 1st Jew of color to head diversity group Be’chol Lashon

For decades the US organization worked to shatter Ashkenormative stereotypes and pioneered programming by and for non-white Jews. It’s now seeing its first Black executive director

By Gabe Friedman

New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain in 1980. (Peter Noble/Redferns/Getty Images via JTA)

January 17, 2021, 8:31 am

Sylvain Sylvain, Jewish guitarist for the New York Dolls, dies aged 69

Musician hailed as a ‘lynchpin’ of the influential rock band; moved to the US as a child when his family fled rising anti-Semitism in Cairo in 1956

By Gabe Friedman

Flo Milli performs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, June 22, 2019. (Sarah Morris/Getty Images for BET via JTA)

January 16, 2021, 8:14 am

Flo Milli samples ‘If I Were a Rich Man’ in new track

Alabama rapper uses the chorus of the Zero Mostel recording of the song

By Gabe Friedman

Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

January 15, 2021, 10:07 am

Sex therapist Dr. Ruth gets COVID-19 vaccine in NYC

92-year-old applauds ‘organized’ rollout of shots in video uploaded by an aide to New York Gov. Cuomo

By Gabe Friedman

House impeachment manager Rep. Jerry Nadler, walks out of the Senate chamber after the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump ended for the day at the US Capitol, January 24, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

January 14, 2021, 5:27 pm

Democrat Nadler noshes on babka at Trump impeachment hearing

Jewish lawmaker seen in House chamber with bag from famed New York Upper West Side grocery Zabar’s

By Gabe Friedman

Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., speaks during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on antitrust on Capitol Hill in a Wednesday, July 29, 2020 file photo, in Washington. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)

January 14, 2021, 4:59 am

David Cicilline: The Jewish US lawmaker leading Trump impeachment charge

From being the first Jewish and openly gay mayor of Providence Rhode Island, to taking on Big Tech, and now spearheading the impeachment process

By Gabe Friedman

Robert Keith Packer's shirt, right, was one of many hate symbols present at the storming of the Capitol. Other rioters constructed a noose. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP Images and screenshot from Reddit via JTA)

January 13, 2021, 6:41 am

Etsy removes ‘Camp Auschwitz’ shirt from its online store

Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum asked e-commerce site to take down items after man photographed wearing offensive hoodie while storming US Capitol

By Gabe Friedman

Edith and Lou Bluefeld seen in a local news report, undated (Screen shot from WPTV via JTA)

January 12, 2021, 7:44 am

100 years of life, 80 of marriage: US couple marks landmark year

Lou and Edith Bluefeld, of Boca Raton, helped to kosher the White House kitchen, ran a catering business that served visiting US presidents

By Gabe Friedman

Jeanine Pirro, right, makes the Kristallnacht comparison on Fox News. (Screen shot)

January 12, 2021, 1:12 am

Top Trump backers compare social media crackdown on far-right to Kristallnacht

Republican lawmaker Steve King, Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro decry tech companies for action against Parler app, far-right commentators over incitement to violence

By Gabe Friedman