As a response to the tense climate on campus at Barnard College and Columbia University since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, students at Barnard may no longer display messages on their dorm doors, said an email from Leslie Grinage, the college’s dean.

Some students at Barnard and Columbia University, of which it is a part, have placed signs on their dormitory doors charging Israel with genocide in Gaza and of being an illegitimate state. In response, Jewish students have filed a lawsuit, accusing both schools of failing to protect students from “pervasive” antisemitism and anti-Zionism. “Anti-Zionism is not merely a political movement — although many try to disguise it as such — but is a direct attack against Israel as a Jewish collectivity,” the suit reads.

Barnard officials said the new dorm policy is intended to foster an atmosphere “where everybody feels welcome and safe… While many decorations and fixtures on doors serve as a means of helpful communication amongst peers, we are also aware that some may have the unintended effect of isolating those who have different views and beliefs,” the email statement said.

The Faculty for Justice in Palestine at the University of Pennsylvania is suing the school in an attempt to stop it from participating in a U.S. Department of Education investigation into antisemitism on campus.

The New York Civil Liberties Union and an organization that represents pro-Palestinian activists are suing Columbia University for what they describe as the “unlawful suspension” of two pro-Palestinian student groups on campus. But now, Columbia is considering reinstating its chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.

A New Jersey school group apologized for an email to staff encouraging them to “contextualize” lessons about Ramadan by explaining how Israel prevents Palestinian Muslims from celebrating their holiday as it “enacts genocide.”

A group of pro-Palestinian activists disrupted an astrophysics lecture on black holes by a visiting Israeli professor at the University of Nevada. The lecture had to be cancelled.

Money donated to the JAFI Fund for Victims of Terror; Lev Echad; The Israeli Trauma and Resiliency Center; and One Family-Overcoming Terror Together is to be used for humanitarian purposes that support medical and psychological treatment for former hostages and their families. More than 250 Israelis were taken hostage on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel. More than 100 were freed in November during a temporary ceasefire. An estimated 136 people remain hostage in Gaza, of whom about 100 are thought to be alive.

When Aaron Lansky was studying Yiddish literature at McGill University, he was having difficulty finding the books he needed. First generation Jewish Americans, escaping pogroms and poverty abroad, had flocked to America, bringing their Yiddish books with them. But, Mr. Lansky wondered, what would happen to those books left to their children, who did not speak the language?

In an article published Feb. 29 in The New York Times, Joseph Berger chronicled the events that led to a collection of 1.5 million books and the establishment of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA., one of the nation’s leading Jewish cultural institutions, The Times said.

Mr. Lansky had expected to amass about 70,000 books. What exists now is an institution that is part museum, part library, part bookstore, and part storehouse, currently lodged in two buildings on the campus of Hampshire College, where Mr. Lansky was an undergraduate student.

So far, 11,000 titles have been digitized, and have triggered five million downloads, The Times said.      NYTimes photo

It’s been four years since the British Jewish comedy show, “Friday Night Dinner,” aired its sixth and final season. But this month, the story is finally coming to America with an adaptation called “Dinner With the Parents,” starring Michaela Watkins and Carol Kane. It will stream on Amazon FreeVee, the first four episodes starting April 18, a

few days before Passover. The show is about Shabbat dinners at the home of one chaotic Jewish family.

On April 8, North America will experience its second total solar eclipse in seven years. The moon will glide over the surface of our sun, casting a shadow over a swath of Earth below. Along this path, the world will turn dark as night.             In cosmic terms, it is unusual that this happens: the moon is about 400 times smaller than the sun, but it is about 400 times closer to us. That means that when these two celestial bodies are aligned, they appear to be the same size in the sky.

Skywatchers in Mexico will be the first to see the eclipse on the mainland. From there, the show will slide north, entering the United States through Texas, then proceeding northeast before concluding for most people off the coast of Canada.

It is never safe to look directly at the sun during an eclipse (except for the few moments when the moon has fully obscured its surface). At all other times, watch the event through protective eye equipment, or you can live stream the event at a number of websites, including exploratorium.edu among others.  The event will last about two and a half hours, but the totality will last about four minutes.

The map above shows the path of totality — near us on the North Fork, but not directly above

The dinner menu on Jan. 26 at Ayat, a restaurant in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, included challah, a staple of Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine and a traditional offering on a Shabbat table. The bread was served with a complete dinner to more than a thousand guests who responded to an invitation to a free Shabbat dinner posted on Ayat’s Instagram page. “It’s about breaking barriers, fostering dialogue, and connecting on a human level. This evening is more than a meal; it’s an opportunity to share stories, embrace diverse perspective es, and celebrate our shared humanity,” read the post that received more than 10,000 likes.

The idea came to Ayat’s co-owners, Abdul Elenani and Ayat Masoud, after they faced backlash for naming the seafood section of their latest restaurant’s menu ”From the River to the Sea,” a poke at the recently resurrected pro-Palestinian slogan. The slogan refers to the liberation of the region from the Jordan River west to the Mediterranean Sea. Critics see it as a call for violence against Jews and a denial of Israel’s right to exist. The menu sparked an outcry on the neighborhood’s Facebook page, where many accused the restaurant’s owners of being antisemitic.

For the owners, a Shabbat dinner was a way to set the record straight by reaffirming their respect for their Jewish neighbors.                                                      Photo by Religion News Service/Fiona André

Photographer Gillian Laub orchestrated a sweeping public art project in which her portraits of Holocaust survivors would be projected on the facades of buildings and landmark structures across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Here, Rabbi Aliza Erber, age 80, is projected against the Brooklyn Bridge on Jan. 27, the United Nations’ designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to draw attention to the Live2Tell project.

“The number of Holocaust survivors in the world is dwindling, but the story must be kept alive,” Rabbi Erber said.  “We are the last link in this horrible chain.”

Gillian Laub photo