Jackie Hajdenberg

All (77)

February 4, 2023, 4:51 am

Minnesota synagogue builds an ice rink — and inaugurates it with a klezmer skate

Temple of Aaron invites families to dress warm and enjoy the cold in what rabbi believes is the first-ever skating rink on a synagogue property

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Adolf Eichmann’s audio confessions to the orchestration of the Final Solution can be heard for the first time in Israeli docuseries 'The Devil’s Confession.'(Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video via JTA)

February 1, 2023, 3:59 am

Israeli series with never-before-heard Eichmann confessions comes to Amazon video

Three-part documentary show ‘The Devil’s Confession,’ first aired on Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, now on Prime Video

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Holocaust survivor and educator Irving Roth and great-granddaughter Addie pose together for 'Invited to Life.' (Courtesy of B.A. Van Sise / Design by Grace Yagel via JTA)

January 28, 2023, 1:57 pm

New portrait collection showcases 90 Holocaust survivors who lived long, full lives

With ‘Invited to Life,’ photographer Van Sise acknowledges the tragedy his subjects went through but focuses on their postwar successes pursuing hobbies, careers, love and family

By Jackie Hajdenberg

From left to right: Rev. Traci Blackmon, Maharat Rori Picker Neiss and Americans United for Separation of Church & State CEO Rachel Laser march to the Civil Courts building in St. Louis. (Courtesy of Americans United for Separation of Church & State via JTA)

January 21, 2023, 6:28 am

5 rabbis sue state of Missouri over abortion bans, citing religious freedom grounds

Religious leaders from multiple Jewish denominations are among more than a dozen faith figures in the state challenging the state’s ban on abortion

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Rachel Schwartz stands in front of a piece of graffiti that plays on the commandment to wear tzitzit, written in the Hebrew feminine. (Courtesy of Rachel Schwartz/JTA)

January 8, 2023, 3:47 pm

Embracing their place on ‘the fringes,’ queer artists reimagine Jewish ritual garb

Now with garments on sale online, the Tzitzit Project is an art initiative founded to create tzitzit and prayer shawls for a variety of bodies, genders and religious denominations

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Lisa Geduldig onstage at the first annual Kung Pao Kosher Comedy show in San Francisco in 1993. (Courtesy of Lisa Geduldig via JTA)

December 26, 2022, 3:57 am

How a standup show at a Chinese restaurant became a 30-year Jewish comedy tradition

Inspired by a gig that seemed like a joke, Lisa Geduldig started Kung Pao Kosher Comedy in 1993. It was an instant hit and now lures serious talent like Marc Maron and Margaret Cho

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Rabbi Moshe Moskowitz lights the first Hanukkah candle in Kharkiv, Ukraine, December 18, 2022. (Vyacheslav Madiyevskyi / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images via JTA)

December 22, 2022, 8:25 am

2 Lego menorahs, candle lighting under war: Hanukkah celebrated around the world

From Ukraine to Taiwan, from Sao Paulo to Denver, menorahs light up Jewish communities as they celebrate the Festival of Lights

By Jackie Hajdenberg

As antisemitism spends months in the pop culture spotlight, Jewish comedians tackle the hate onstage and on social media. (Various screenshots via YouTube; Photos courtesy; Design by Jackie Hajdenberg/ JTA)

December 13, 2022, 4:58 am

Deeply Jewish comedy is having a moment, even as antisemitism rocks pop culture

As a growing number of US performers go beyond bagel and anxiety jokes to discuss religion, traditions and even antisemitism, ironically, Jew-hatred is more mainstream than ever

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Naftuli Moster, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Yaffed, speaks at a news conference, July 24, 2019. (Yaffed via JTA)

December 1, 2022, 5:13 am

New York activist for yeshiva education reform to launch Haredi news organization

Naftuli Moster hopes ‘Shtetl’ will launch in 2023 and fill a void in ultra-Orthodox media; he declines to reveal funding sources but says paper will produce independent journalism

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Lufthansa aircrafts parked at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, September 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst,file)

November 30, 2022, 9:16 am

After booting identifiable Jews off plane, Lufthansa said to pay them $20,000 each

Months after German airline drew outcry for decision, travel website that broke the story reports deal to compensate more than 100 Hasidic passengers

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Ukrainian evacuees celebrate a pre-Thanksgiving meal at the Ukrainian American Civic Center in Buffalo, New York. (Courtesy of Jewish Federations of North America via JTA)

November 24, 2022, 3:01 am

US Jewish community groups host Afghan, Ukrainian evacuees for Thanksgiving meals

From New York to California, volunteers introduce refugees to American holiday for the first time, keeping with longstanding Jewish tradition of welcoming the stranger

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Rabbi Ethan Linden, former director of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, is taking a new position at the Shalom Hartman Institute. (Screen capture/Shalom Hartman Institute via Jackie Hajdenberg/JTA)

November 22, 2022, 5:02 am

Hartman Institute hires ex-camp director sued for mishandling assault allegation

Jewish nonprofit says Ethan Linden serving as educational operations director months after he left Ramah Berkshires, where lawsuit claimed he ‘acted with deliberate indifference’

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Dave Chappelle hosts 'Saturday Night Live,' November 12, 2022. (NBC Universal via JTA)

November 18, 2022, 6:54 pm

Jewish comedians weigh in on Chappelle’s controversial SNL monologue

Hannah Einbinder says skit was ‘littered with antisemitism’; Jon Stewart defends comedian, urges people to consider it ‘from a Black perspective’

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Rabbi A. James Rudin, a longtime interfaith activist, will be knighted for his work in Catholic-Jewish relations. (Screenshot via YouTube)

November 3, 2022, 5:43 pm

Reform rabbi to be knighted by pope for his work on Jewish-Catholic relations

A. James Rudin, longtime director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, will be the 9th Jew to receive the honor from the Papal Order of St. Gregory

By Jackie Hajdenberg

A poster for a British theater's version of Romeo and Juliet depicting Romeo as a Nazi and Juliet as a Jew, October 2022. (Icarus Theatre Collective via Twitter)

November 3, 2022, 11:35 am

Amid criticism, London theater group drops planned Nazi-Jewish ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Icarus Theatre Collective stresses it did not intend to depict Nazis and Jews on an equal footing; Jewish founder also apologizes for casting call that didn’t specify Jewish actors

By Jackie Hajdenberg