PHILISSA CRAMER

New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams, center, joined Rabbi Noach Majesky and his family at a Hanukkah celebration in Accra, Ghana, Dec. 1, 2021. (Chabad via JTA)

December 2, 2021, 3:37 pm

In Ghana for ‘spiritual cleansing,’ NYC mayor-elect Eric Adams celebrates Hanukkah

New York City’s incoming leader joins local Chabad rabbi of West African country in public menorah-lighting ceremony, speaks of turning pain of oppression into purpose

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Screenshot from vidoa of Kosha Dillz, left, and Nissim Black performing across Midtown Manhattan in the video to 'The Hanukkah Song 2.0.' (JTA)

November 30, 2021, 8:26 am

Jewish hip-hop royalty take ‘Chanukah song’ to NY streets

Rappers Nissim Black and Kosha Dillz remix Adam Sandler’s 1995 hit in video that sees them gallivanting around New York

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Batsheva Haart and Ben Weinstein attend as Elite World Group and Julia Haart celebrate the premiere of Netflix's "My Unorthodox Life" at The Public Square and Gardens at The Public Square and Gardens at Hudson Yards on July 15, 2021 in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for Elite World Group via JTA)

November 20, 2021, 3:38 am

‘My Unorthodox Life’ couple Batsheva and Ben split

Weinstein and Haart confirm the speculation with a joint statement reiterating a theme of the show — that their marriage at just 19 had been a strain

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Eisenberg, the Jewish stars of 'Fleishman Is in Trouble' (Getty Images)

November 19, 2021, 5:14 am

Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Eisenberg to star in ‘Fleishman is in Trouble’

Adaptation of 2019 novel focuses on a Jewish man’s middle-age crisis

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk, right, addressed the audience as part of an event installing Rabbi Raymond Zwerin, left, as spiritual leader of Temple Sinai in Denver, 1968. Three years later, Gottschalk became the president of the Reform movement's rabbinical school. (Denver Post via Getty Images via JTA)

November 10, 2021, 2:08 am

Probe finds sexual harassers led Reform’s rabbinical school for over 3 decades

Report commissioned by school finds six senior men and a ‘good old boys’ culture harmed generations of rabbis and professionals at movement’s four campuses in US and Jerusalem

By PHILISSA CRAMER and Asaf Shalev

Adrien Brody in Season 3, Episode 4 of 'Succession.' (Macall B. Polay/HBO/ via JTA)

November 9, 2021, 1:58 pm

Adrien Brody plays target of antisemitism on HBO’s ‘Succession’

The Jewish actor depicts Josh Aaronson, a billionaire with a mezuzah on his door, who ends up on the receiving end of antisemitic dog whistles by a ruthless media mogul

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss (Scott Olson/Getty Images/ via JTA) and local resident Lesley Williams (Courtesy of Lesley Williams/ via JTA).

November 7, 2021, 3:20 am

The case for reparations, according to 2 Jews in the first US city to offer them

As Chicago suburb Evanston compensates some Black residents for past housing injustices, Jewish mayor Daniel Biss and local Lesley Williams disagree on whether it’s a good start

By Asaf Shalev and PHILISSA CRAMER

Students at George Washington University, September 2019. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images/ via JTA)

November 1, 2021, 8:52 pm

GWU Jewish students to rally against antisemitism after replica Torah desecrated

At a ransacked frat house with roughly 25% Jewish membership, the ruined scroll stood out among the damage a week after the school president said Jew-hatred wouldn’t be tolerated

By PHILISSA CRAMER

A student bikes across campus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/JTA)

October 26, 2021, 5:36 pm

US study: 1/3 of Jewish college students experienced antisemitism last year

15% of respondents say they ‘felt the need to hide’ their Jewish identity; 6% say they felt unwelcome in a campus organization because they were Jewish

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Illustrative: A young woman holds a sign toward oncoming traffic, October 15, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

October 26, 2021, 2:41 pm

Antisemitism fears made 40% of US Jews change their behavior last year – survey

New AJC study helps understand how Americans perceive Jew-hatred, which has caused many to mask their Judaism on- and offline as well as avoid places and events

By PHILISSA CRAMER

L-R: Jon Hamm and Larry David discuss Yiddish words during the first episode of Season 11 of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." (Screenshot from HBO via JTA)

October 26, 2021, 4:12 am

‘Curb’ is back and Jon Hamm gets a Yiddish lesson

Season 11 of Larry David’s cantankerous comedy is as Jewish as ever, with matzo balls, shiva calls and even some ‘tsuris’

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Jurgen Krauss, who bakes challah for his family's synagogue, shows off his Passover-inspired pavlova in 'The Great British Bake Off' tent. (Screenshot from Netflix)

October 16, 2021, 5:21 am

Jürgen brings Passover to ‘Great British Bake Off’

German contestant, who is married to a Jew, serves up a charoset-and-matzah-topped pavlova during Desserts Week

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Holocaust novel 'Number the Stars,' is seen over a view of The Texas State Capitol rotunda. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images/JTA)

October 15, 2021, 4:23 am

Texas teachers told: State law requires teaching ‘opposing’ views on Holocaust

School official uses Holocaust as example of new state law requiring them to present multiple perspectives about ‘widely debated and currently controversial’ issues

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Rivka Taub Rivera, a physical education teacher at a New York City public school, began her maternity leave early to avoid having to comply with a vaccine mandate that went into effect for city teachers on October 4, 2021. (Courtesy Rivera/ via JTA)

October 10, 2021, 6:02 am

Some Jewish schoolteachers seek a religious exemption from NY vaccine mandate

Educators are turning to rabbis outside of their own communities to find the endorsements necessary to circumvent a new citywide requirement that educators be inoculated

By PHILISSA CRAMER

In this photo provided by Jocelyn Augustino, Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, center, officiates a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony attended by family and friends for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, left, and his partner, Marlon Reis, in Boulder, Colorado, on September 15, 2021. (Jocelyn Augustino via AP)

September 17, 2021, 7:08 pm

Colorado governor, partner tie knot in Jewish wedding

Jared Polis, the first openly gay US governor, marries partner of 18 years: ‘We couldn’t be happier to be married at last’

By PHILISSA CRAMER