PHILISSA CRAMER

K.M. DiColandrea, who goes by DiCo, reads from the Torah at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn. (Courtesy of DiColandrea/ via JTA)

May 13, 2022, 3:43 am

$1.2 million raised for ex-rabbinical student’s nonprofit after Humans of NY story

K.M. DiColandrea’s story of weathering a family illness, coming out as trans and converting to Judaism strikes a chord, and readers donate to his grassroots student debate league

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Portland's Congregation Beth Israel. (Wikimedia Commons via JTA)

May 8, 2022, 10:03 pm

Man charged for Oregon synagogue and mosque vandalism spree

Michael Bivins, who has posted conspiracy theories about Biden administration, is accused of arson, smashing window, spraying graffiti at synagogues; fire at mosque

By PHILISSA CRAMER

A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, May 2, 2022 in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

May 4, 2022, 12:31 am

US Supreme Court leak brings Jewish views on abortion back to fore

While American Jews are mostly in favor of reproductive rights, with some spearheading the fight, many in religious and conservative communities fall on pro-life side of issue

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award even in Berlin on December 1, 2020. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP, File)

April 27, 2022, 4:07 am

What Elon Musk buying Twitter could mean for Jewish users and antisemitism

The billionaire’s plans for the social network are murky, but his support for unfettered free speech is causing worries that hate will run rampant on the platform

By Gabe Friedman and PHILISSA CRAMER

Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne) and her friend Maxine (Greta Lee) encounter the grave of a Hungarian priest who saved Jews during the Holocaust, in Season 2 of "Russian Doll." (Netflix via JTA)

April 26, 2022, 4:53 am

The true story behind Nazi-looted ‘Hungarian Gold Train’ in Netflix’s ‘Russian Doll’

Sci-fi drama explores story of infamous train filled with art, silver and other valuables stolen by Nazis from Hungarian Jews, then pillaged again by American forces after the war

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Author Elisabeth Kushner reads 'The Purim Superhero' at a book-release party at Afikomen Judaica in Berkeley, California, in 2014. (Courtesy: Keshet)

April 21, 2022, 11:44 pm

Florida school district removes ‘Purim Superhero,’ book about Jewish kid with 2 dads

Author hopes it will eventually be reinstated: ‘When people are banning books, they’re implicitly recognizing that books are powerful’

By PHILISSA CRAMER

A rabbi and his students from Oholei Torah in Crown Heights, Brooklyn prepare to hand out shmura matzah to passersby near Lincoln Center in Manhattan, April 12, 2022. (Jackie Hajdenberg via JTA)

April 14, 2022, 2:39 am

Chabad stages worldwide celebrations to mark late leader’s 120th birthday

After street parties, Hasidic movement’s emissaries fan out across NYC in ‘mitzvah tanks’ to give out matzah as part of festivities memorializing Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

By PHILISSA CRAMER

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 21, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

March 23, 2022, 3:52 am

‘Killed in a fire’: Zelensky gives new details about his family’s Holocaust history

Ukrainian president tells CNN Nazis killed his great-grandparents by burning down their village; does not refer to them as Jewish, in line with Soviet narratives about the war

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Illustrative. An elite Border Police unit takes part in an exercise in the IDF's counterterrorism training center outside of the central Israeli city of Modiin. (Israel Police)

March 18, 2022, 11:23 pm

ADL considered scrapping its US police training trips to Israel, decided not to

After defending the programs at the height of 2020 anti-brutality protests, the anti-racism organization is now admitting that an internal memo questioned their ethicality

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Rabbi Irina Gritsevskaya, in the unicorn wig, traveled to Chernivtski, Ukraine, with Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch Dean of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary (right), March 16, 2022. (Facebook via JTA)

March 17, 2022, 3:53 am

As millions flee Ukraine, some rabbis have headed there — to celebrate Purim

Religious leaders, many from the Chabad movement, travel into war-torn country to mark holiday celebrating Jewish people’s survival

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Hillel International is leading an effort to get Jews to turn the Fast of Esther into a day to support Ukraine. (Hillel Facebook via JTA)

March 15, 2022, 10:55 am

Hillel and other Jewish groups call for dedication of pre-Purim fast day to Ukraine

International group serving Jewish college students joins move to devote Fast of Esther to delivering spiritual strength to forces defending Ukraine from Russia

By PHILISSA CRAMER

A Ukrainian officer shows off a biography of Golda Meir that he carries into battle with him. (Screen capture: Twitter)

March 10, 2022, 10:11 am

Kyiv-born Golda Meir becomes a symbol of hope for Ukrainians

Israel’s fourth premier is an icon among Ukrainian leaders eager to claim her as a native daughter

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Illustrative: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky takes a selfie at the first congress of his party called Servant of the People in the city Botanical Garden, Kyiv, Ukraine, June 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Zoya Shu)

March 2, 2022, 11:53 am

18 things to know about Jewish defender of Ukrainian democracy Volodymyr Zelensky

He’s known as president, actor, showman, voice of ‘Paddington’ and mean pianist, but friends close to Ukraine’s leader say the fighter we see today is the real deal

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is drawing admiration from Jews who see him as a heroic figure. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images via JTA)

March 1, 2022, 10:32 am

For many Jews, Volodymyr Zelensky is a ‘modern Maccabee’ as he fights Ukraine’s war

Leading his country in battle against Russian invasion, Jewish president is being compared to storied heroes, while also seen as dispelling notions of Jews as unpatriotic

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Mark and Felice Feldstein with their family, on their wedding day in 1955 and later in life. (Courtesy Mark Feldstein; collage by Mollie Suss)

February 18, 2022, 4:27 am

Marrying at Nazis’ old resort, Alan Feldstein’s life was a ‘middle finger’ to Hitler

Feldstein and Felice Jacobs held defiant nuptials at the Eagle’s Nest a decade after WWII, but that symbolic act was just the beginning of a lifelong fight against bigotry

By PHILISSA CRAMER