PHILISSA CRAMER

Illustrative -- A Pakistan Army helicopter flies over the site of an avalanche over Gayari camp, April 18, 2012 (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

January 22, 2021, 9:33 am

Jewish Harvard Medical School professor dies climbing in Pakistan’s mountains

Campaign launched to fund return of Alex Goldfarb’s body after he died while apparently attempting to scale Broad Peak on his own and without supplemental oxygen

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Rabbi Jordan Hersh has been deployed as part of the Maryland Army National Guard to the US Capitol since a mob of Trump supporters stormed it on January 6, 2021. (Courtesy/Hersh via JTA)

January 16, 2021, 3:26 am

‘Something holy about this space’: The rabbi on guard at the US Capitol

National Guard chaplain Jordan Hersh, stationed in Washington since the pro-Trump riot, says protecting Congress is ‘like a spiritual experience’ for himself and his unit

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Senator-elect Jon Ossoff speaks during a campaign rally, December 21, 2020 in Columbus, Georgia. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)

January 8, 2021, 1:42 am

Jon Ossoff: Everything you need to know about the new Jewish Democratic senator

One of the first Members of the Tribe to be elected to the position by a Southern state, the newest legislator from Georgia had a bar mitzvah and is married to a doctor

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Israeli teachers wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, at the Shamir Medical Center in Be'er Ya'akov, on December 30, 2020. (Avi Dishi/Flash90)

January 6, 2021, 11:21 am

Vaccination nation: 5 factors in Israel’s world-leading COVID inoculation drive

How the Jewish state catapulted itself to leading the world in mass inoculation of its population, and what side issues come along for the ride

By PHILISSA CRAMER and Ben Sales

An attendee wears a yarmulke with an image of US President Donald Trump at a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House on December 6, 2018, in Washington, DC. (Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images via JTA)

December 27, 2020, 1:51 pm

Republican official believes he caught virus at White House Hanukkah party

Tom Mountain, from party’s Massachusetts branch, has been hospitalized twice; says he tested positive 2 days after event; wife, son, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law also infected

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Rabbi Shayna Golkow and Ben Zauzmer created VirtualDreidel.com to add a competitive option during the pandemic. (Courtesy Golkow and Zauzmer/ via JTA)

December 11, 2020, 11:33 am

A game for the times: Virtual Dreidel lets you spin with distant friends

Rabbi Shayna Golkow and LA Dodgers analyst Ben Zauzmer come up with online platform to let pandemic-era players face off in the traditional Hanukkah game from anywhere in the world

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Screen capture from 1993 video showing US President Bill Clinton grabbing Ilana Kattan's hair to stop it from burning after noticing that it had caught fire on the menorah her class had just helped him light at the White House. (Clinton Presidential Library on YouTube via JTA)

December 10, 2020, 7:50 pm

Woman recalls Clinton saving her locks from Hanukkah candles

In interview with Slate, now-33-year-old Ilana Kattan talks of impact 1993 incident had on her 6-year-old self — when she got a little to close to Oval Office menorah

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Air crew walks past an empty Starbucks at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on March 17, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. (JOCELYNE ZABLIT/AFP via Getty Images)

November 23, 2020, 7:54 am

Quebec eases virus rules for Christmas gatherings, but not Hanukkah

Canadian Jewish groups cry foul, say pandemic policy must also apply to Jewish communities during their upcoming holiday

By PHILISSA CRAMER

People walk through Williamsburg, one of several Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn with rising COVID-19 rates, on October 1, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

November 22, 2020, 10:05 pm

Satmar Hasidim hid massive Brooklyn wedding from public view – report

Ceremony for grandson of Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum attended by thousands, arranged to avoid detection by secular authorities, according to New York Post

By PHILISSA CRAMER

This May 5, 2019, file photo shows Alex Trebek gestures while presenting an award at the 46th annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Pasadena, Calif. Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek died Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020, after battling pancreatic cancer for nearly two years. Trebek died at home with family and friends surrounding him, “Jeopardy!” studio Sony said in a statement. Trebek presided over the beloved quiz show for more than 30 years. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

November 9, 2020, 12:49 am

7 especially Jewish ‘Jeopardy!’ moments from Alex Trebek’s 36 years as host

Beloved host of ‘Jeopardy!’ died of pancreatic cancer Sunday at 80; in 36 years as host of immensely popular game show, he encountered his share of Jewish moments

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Alaska US Senate candidate Al Gross speaks to supporters at an event at a downtown park in Juneau, Alaska, on October 31, 2020, as his wife, Monica Gross, at right, looks on. (AP/Becky Bohrer)

November 6, 2020, 5:28 pm

‘We believe we will win,’ says Al Gross in Alaska, lagging in Senate bid

With only about half the votes counted, Democrat believes he can make up ground as mail-in votes are counted

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Democratic Representative Elaine Luria speaks to participants in a USO Pathfinder program in Virginia Beach, Virginia, October 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

November 5, 2020, 1:21 am

Elaine Luria, Elissa Slotkin prevail in competitive races to remain in Congress

Two Jewish moderate Democrats narrowly held onto their congressional seats in Virginia and Michigan

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Illustrative: Police stand at an intersection after an officer was shot on September 23, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. (AP/John Minchillo)

November 1, 2020, 5:51 pm

High school reporters reveal Hitler quoted in Kentucky police training materials

State says presentation hasn’t been used since 2013; lawmaker says findings reflect a ‘poisonous culture that has gotten too many innocent people harassed and killed’

By PHILISSA CRAMER

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller speaks to the media on October 11, 2019, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

October 30, 2020, 6:03 am

Stephen Miller reportedly nods to QAnon, prepares further immigration curbs

Trump adviser said readying orders to slash refugee entries to zero in possible 2nd term; baselessly claims Biden will stoke child trafficking, echoing conspiracy theory

By Ben Sales and PHILISSA CRAMER

A decorative silver Torah shield signed and dated by Elimelekh Tzoref of Stanislav, 1782. (JTA)

October 29, 2020, 5:23 pm

Pair of 18th-century Torah shields expected to fetch $1m each at auction

Decorative pieces, made of silver and attributed to artisan Elimelekh Tzoref of Stanislav, are among 68-item trove from the Sassoon family to be sold by Sotheby’s

By PHILISSA CRAMER