JJ Editor's Picks
Three Chances to Break Your Resolutions
Tabby Refael, January 15, 2020
“Eid-eh shoma mobarak,” I said to my aunt over 30 years ago in Iran, wishing her a happy Persian New Year. “Thank you, Tabby joon....
Weekly Parsha: Shemot
Salvador Litvak, January 15, 2020
One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, Accidental Talmudist "A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know about Joseph." -Exodus 1:8 Miriam Yerushalmi...
Abraham, Sodom and America in Crisis
Shaul Magid, January 15, 2020
The United States in 2020 is facing a political and spiritual crossroads of major proportions. The current presidency has evoked in many a deep national...
Challenging Our Immune System
Shmuel Rosner, January 15, 2020
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Jan. 1 asked the Knesset for immunity. He wants to postpone his trial on corruption charges indefinitely, as long...
Murder and Anti-Semitism in 1900s-Set ‘Vienna Blood’
Gerri Miller, January 15, 2020
A young criminal profiler teams up with a veteran detective to solve a series of grisly murders in a new TV miniseries. Although it sounds...
We’d Like to Thank the Academy (and Make It More Diverse)
Erin Ben-Moche and Esther D. Kustanowitz, January 17, 2020
As the Oscars approach, Esther and Erin called in civilian expert and Oscar blogger Jodi Berman Kustanovich (bermanoscarblog.blogspot.com), to talk nominations, predictions, and Hollywood's attitude...
JJ Hollywood Schmooze
Would ‘Bombing Auschwitz’ Have Stopped the Shoah?
In April 1944, Jewish prisoners Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escaped from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and made their way...
Gal Gadot to Produce Nat Geo Docuseries
Wonder Woman’s latest project is about women doing wonderful things all over the world. Gal Gadot has partnered with National...
‘This Is Us’ Returns: Dan Fogelman Reveals What to Expect
After a nearly two-month hiatus, “This Is Us” returns to NBC Jan. 14 for the second half of its fourth...
2020 Oscar Nominations: ‘Jojo Rabbit,’ Scarlett Johansson Score While Adam Sandler Snubbed
Jewish talent is represented on screen and behind the camera in the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards. Scarlett Johansson...
JJ Hollywood Schmooze
Would ‘Bombing Auschwitz’ Have Stopped the Shoah?
In April 1944, Jewish prisoners Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escaped from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and made their way...
Gal Gadot to Produce Nat Geo Docuseries
Wonder Woman’s latest project is about women doing wonderful things all over the world. Gal Gadot has partnered with National...
‘This Is Us’ Returns: Dan Fogelman Reveals What to Expect
After a nearly two-month hiatus, “This Is Us” returns to NBC Jan. 14 for the second half of its fourth...
2020 Oscar Nominations: ‘Jojo Rabbit,’ Scarlett Johansson Score While Adam Sandler Snubbed
Jewish talent is represented on screen and behind the camera in the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards. Scarlett Johansson...
JJ Inside The Print
The last thing I expected when I first met Rabbi Uri Herscher in the late 1990s was tears. All I knew about him was that...
“Eid-eh shoma mobarak,” I said to my aunt over 30 years ago in Iran, wishing her a happy Persian New Year. “Thank you, Tabby joon....
The Talmud says that we should always judge other people favorably. We must also judge ourselves favorably. — Rabbi Nachman of Breslov You’re being judged...
Two days after the massive Jan. 5 “No Hate. No Fear.” solidarity march in New York City, I heard Elan Carr, U.S. Special Envoy for...
When it comes to fiction, writers often wonder what if the world were different in some way. What if a young 1950s Jewish woman pursued...
I met Mike in second grade. Our family had just moved to San Jose, Calif., where my father was recruited to be the cantor at...
The United States in 2020 is facing a political and spiritual crossroads of major proportions. The current presidency has evoked in many a deep national...
As we honor on Jan. 20 civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968, we find that after so many...
We have desensitized ourselves to the actual meaning of the word “torture” with phrases like “this class is torture.” But the word can be defined...
Bar Gissin could change the world but for now she’s focusing on social change in Israel. She has the ability to simultaneously isolate a problem...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Jan. 1 asked the Knesset for immunity. He wants to postpone his trial on corruption charges indefinitely, as long...
It’s hard to imagine that the 15-acre site housing the Skirball Cultural Center at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains didn’t exist 24 years...
A new King rose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. It is in our nature to be fruitful and multiply. To grow strong when...
One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, Accidental Talmudist "A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know about Joseph." -Exodus 1:8 Miriam Yerushalmi...
In Italy, eggs aren’t considered breakfast fare. Most Italians wake up to espresso and a pastry. Frittatas are for dinner. There are two types of...
Four days after the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a United States targeted airstrike in Baghdad, the U.S. State Department’s Special Representative for...
After a barrage of anti-Semitic incidents in 2019, January 2020 arrived with a burst of #JewishandProud energy. People gathered at rallies, began to wear their...
On Jan. 5, Jews around the world began a new Daf Yomi cycle, studying a page of the Talmud every day for the next 7...
A well-intentioned relative recently emailed me an article about the attack in Monsey, N.Y. He also sent a copy to my 12-year-old daughter. I perused...
A young criminal profiler teams up with a veteran detective to solve a series of grisly murders in a new TV miniseries. Although it sounds...
After a two-year break, the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm” returns to HBO for its 10th season on Jan. 19. Per...
Hundreds of stars graced the blue carpet in Santa Monica on Jan. 12 for the 25th annual Critics’ Choice Awards. This year brought an extensive...
A spinoff of the hit first responder series “9-1-1,” Fox’s “9-1-1 Lone Star” aims to re-create the winning formula of outrageous-but-true emergencies mixed with personal...
The key to understanding why Rabbi John L. Rosove wrote his latest book, “Why Israel (and Its Future) Matters: Letters of a Liberal Rabbi to...
When the temperatures drop in the winter, my skin gets dry and my lips feel like sandpaper. I used to buy a tub of petroleum...
Marion Adler died Oct. 26 at 97. Survived by daughter Elise; son Elliot (Rhiea); 2 grandchildren; brother Jerry (Elaine) Forman. Mount Sinai Richard Allen died...
Elizabeth Wurtzel, whose 1994 memoir, “Prozac Nation,” made her a literary star and ushered in a wave of confessional writing, died Jan. 7 from metastatic...
Howard Ratner, a New York City jeweler with colossal gambling debts and thugs snapping at his heels, cheats on his wife, misses work deadlines, draws...
In a show of support for Jewish National Fund (JNF), over 1,000 people filled the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton for JNF’s 15th annual Breakfast...
FRI JAN 17 “From Captivity to Freedom” A massive Unity Shabbat Weekend celebration, highlighting different kinds of heroes, takes place tonight and tomorrow at Sinai...
