The top Jewish pop culture stories from 2021
By Andrew Lapin
Jewish pop culture had quite the “Unorthodox” year.
A new reality-TV sensation, a raunchy indie-film spin on shivas and a rare glimpse into...
Chaim Walder, popular haredi Orthodox author accused of sexual abuse, found dead in suspected...
By Shira Hanau
Chaim Walder, an Israeli haredi Orthodox children’s book author who was accused last month of sexual abuse by several teenage girls, was...
The secret history of Jews and Chinese food
There are members of the American Jewish community who may honestly have a preference for lo mein over latkes, for hunan chicken over hamantaschen,...
Elissa Ness funds a community
When Elissa Ness first learned that she would be receiving The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore’s Carole Sibel Outstanding Fundraising Achievement Award, she couldn’t...
David Harrison leads Beth El through unending pandemic
Despite any Martin Sheen-related quips that could suggest otherwise, David Harrison, board president of Beth El Congregation of Baltimore, doesn’t let his position or...
Baltimore residents help put Orthodox women back in the picture
A practice in some religious Jewish communities of removing women from photographs is facing pushback from the nonprofit Chochmat Nashim and its Jewish Life...
Erica Brown’s ‘hineni’ moment
Erica Brown wept when she learned that her mentor, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, had died. It was days after the tumultuous 2020 U.S. presidential...
Jewish Museum exhibit examines how barriers can protect and exclude
Who feels safe anymore? Can you “circle the wagons,” while keeping open arms? And how has Judaism’s call to “build a fence around the...
Is the Biden-Bennett honeymoon over? Here are 6 US-Israel issues that are raising tensions
“Behind closed doors” is a phrase that crops up a lot in conversation with senior U.S. and Israeli officials these days. That’s the place...
William Fox shows no sign of slowing down
When asked what his proudest accomplishment has been, William Z. Fox, 79, said that, aside from family, it’s how a young Jewish kid from...