Rich Tenorio

'Embarkation of the Pilgrims,' by Robert Walter Weir, circa 1857. (Public domain/ Brooklyn Museum online collection)

November 26, 2020, 1:39 am

Back in 1620, the Pilgrim leader behind the 1st Thanksgiving was Hebrew-obsessed

William Bradford’s ‘Of Plymouth Plantation’ features about 1,000 words in the biblical tongue. But although many early Protestants studied Hebrew, they were hardly philo-Semitic

By Rich Tenorio

Illustrative: Not a member of the Catholic Jesuit order, Cesare Vincenzo Orsenigo was a top Vatican diplomatic link with the Nazi regime. In this 1939 photo he speaks with Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, with Adolf Hitler in the background. (Bundesarchiv bild)

November 10, 2020, 3:02 pm

Jesuit Catholic priest pens book about his order’s complicity in the Holocaust

Historian James Bernauer’s book ‘Jesuit Kaddish’ surprises academic Catholic order with a novel study of its members’ anti-Semitism — and honors those who saved Jews during WWII

By Rich Tenorio

Harry S. Truman holds up an Election Day edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune, which, based on early results, mistakenly announced 'Dewey Defeats Truman' on November 4, 1948. (AP Photo/Byron Rollins)

November 3, 2020, 4:01 pm

How a nascent Israel was a key issue in Truman’s stunning 1948 election upset

As another unpredictable election plays out, author A.J. Baime tells how support for the Jewish state and civil rights were both central to an underdog incumbent’s campaign

By Rich Tenorio

'The War With Grandpa' executive producer Tre Peart next to his chair. (Courtesy 101 Studios)

October 20, 2020, 3:08 am

15-year-old producer is behind the box office victor ‘The War With Grandpa’

Conquering other pandemic-era releases in ticket sales since its Oct. 9 open, the film starring Robert De Niro is based on the very Jewish children’s book by Robert Kimmel Smith

By Rich Tenorio

'Hidden Heretics' and author Ayala Fader. (Princeton University Press)

October 19, 2020, 1:59 am

Author: Ultra-Orthodox ‘Hidden Heretics’ believe in science, reject COVID rebels

In new book, Fordham professor Ayala Fader exposes a subset of the insular community few outsiders know about: a group of doubters united through a banned medium — the internet

By Rich Tenorio

Jordan Blashek, left, and Christopher Haugh are the co-authors of 'Union: A Democrat, a Republican, and a Search for Common Ground.' (Courtesy)

October 1, 2020, 1:17 pm

Political odd couple takes epic road trip across polarized US in search of unity

Unlikely Yale Law buddies Christopher Haugh and Jordan Blashek find common ground on a 20,000-mile, 44-state journey documented in their new book ‘Union,’ released this summer

By Rich Tenorio

A photo of Oliver Sacks featured in the Ric Burns documentary, 'Oliver Sacks: His Own Life.' (Courtesy)

September 23, 2020, 4:53 am

With months to live, neurologist Oliver Sacks gave a master class on how to die

Documentarian Ric Burns captures celebrated Jewish MD’s final days in a meditation on Sacks’s Orthodox youth, tumultuous career and acceptance of mortality. Film debuts Wednesday

By Rich Tenorio

Illustrative: Studies into the genetics of 'super-ager' Ashkenazi Jews could mean drugs that could help the general population live up to 35 years longer. (iStock)

September 18, 2020, 11:06 pm

Only as old as your genes: Ashkenazi ‘super-agers’ could hold key to long life

‘Aging as we know it shouldn’t happen,’ says Israeli researcher Nir Barzilai, whose new book studies 750 centenarians, finding that drugs may delay the onset of major diseases

By Rich Tenorio

Parents of Graham Stokes (seated, left and center) with their children, children-in-law, and grandchildren at their Adirondack estate in 1907. Graham is standing, hands crossed on counter; Rose Pastor Stokes is on floor, second from right. (Stokes Records, vol. 3, by Anson Phelps Stokes)

August 17, 2020, 4:18 am

Tale of a ‘rebel Cinderella’: How a firebrand Jewish immigrant shocked the world

New book chronicles the life of Rose Pastor Stokes, a factory worker who became a wealthy 20th-century American activist, brushing elbows with intellectual elite

By Rich Tenorio

People wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus, queue to walk through disinfecting spray booths aimed to combat the spread of COVID-19, before doing shopping at Alexandra township in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, May 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

August 7, 2020, 10:53 pm

As South Africa’s virus cases surge, MDs apply tough lessons from HIV epidemic

Doctors Barry Schoub and Lucille Blumberg are among medical leaders confident that a COVID vaccine won’t be hindered by ‘political’ issues, as the yet undiscovered AIDS vaccine is

By Rich Tenorio

Rabbi Vered Harris of Oklahoma City's Temple B’nai Israel, right, socially distances with synagogue executive director Rick Gratch, center, and music director Linda Matorin Sweenie, May 2020. (Courtesy)

June 26, 2020, 12:46 am

Doc who coined term ‘flatten the curve’ opines on when US synagogues should open

Dr. Howard Markel developed America’s pandemic response policy following the SARS outbreak. Now he believes states are loosening measures too fast as virus continues to circulate

By Rich Tenorio

Distinguished professor of Genetics, Dr. Jay A. Tischfield, Rutgers-New Brunswick. (Courtesy Rutgers)

June 18, 2020, 1:41 am

First COVID-19 saliva test in US can be taken at home via tele-medicine

Jay Tischfield, head of the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository, says his lab is ramping up capacity to analyze 50,000 spit samples a day

By Rich Tenorio

Howard University students hug in front of the statue of Confederate Army of Northern Virginia Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, Friday, August 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

June 13, 2020, 9:40 am

Comparing how Germany and US confront evil racial past, author finds US wanting

As America is roiled by protests following the death of George Floyd, Susan Neiman’s ‘Learning from the Germans’ outlines a roadmap that can lead to lasting reconciliation

By Rich Tenorio

Jonathan Gootenberg, left, and Omar Abudayyeh, right, at their lab on October 31, 2019. The pair met during their undergraduate studies at MIT and have been working together closely for the last five years. (McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT/ Photo by Caitlin Cunningham Photography)

May 29, 2020, 11:29 pm

A Jewish and a Palestinian scientist team up for MIT at-home coronavirus test

Jonathan Gootenberg and Omar Abudayyeh are now the only researchers allowed inside the McGovern Institute, working relentlessly on an efficient, inexpensive test kit for COVID-19

By Rich Tenorio

An anti-lockdown protester compares New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to Adolf Hitler at a demonstration in front of the governor's residence in the state capital of Albany, New York, May 1, 2020. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

May 22, 2020, 3:57 am

Virus responses in Israel, US may permanently erode democracies, experts warn

Scholars push for increased scrutiny as governments enforce quarantines and track phones, taking on unprecedented powers that may be here to stay

By Rich Tenorio