Robert J. Samuelson, an economics columnist for Newsweek and The Washington Post who explored, in reader-friendly vernacular the perils of inflation, the fiscal consequences of entitlement spending, and the slow-motion crisis of the bulging national debt, died on Dec. 13 in Bethesda, MD. He was 79. Upon retiring in 2020, Mr. Samuelson wrote a final column assessing his career: “So far as I can tell,” he wrote, “nothing that I have written has ever had [...]
Norman Podhoretz, the long-time editor of Commentary magazine and a lion of neoconservatism, died on Dec.16 in Manhattan. He was 95. His intellectual odyssey took him from an ardent embrace of the left to a condemnation of a world order that in his eyes had become spineless in the face of Soviet expansionism and, later, Islamist militancy. In his 35 years at the helm of Commentary, published by the American Jewish Committee, Mr. Podhoretz transformed [...]
Emily Faust Korzenik, who in midlife became part of the first generation of women ordained as rabbis in the United States and who in 1985 presided over the first bar mitzvah in Krakow in decades, died on Dec. 15 at her home in Scarsdale, NY. She was 96. Ordained in 1981, for 25 years, she presided over the Fellowship for Jewish Learning, a congregation in Stamford, CT. Four years after her ordination, she led a [...]
Shari Redstone sold her controlling stake in Paramount Global to Skydance Media in an $8 billion deal that closed in August 2025, then quickly reentered the media world as chair of the Israeli entertainment company Sipur. She said Sipur’s projects, such as a documentary about the Nova Music Festival massacre, align with her family’s foundation to combat antisemitism.
President Donald Trump has tapped Shalom Baranes, a prominent Jewish architect, to redesign the White House’s East Wing ballroom. Baranes came to the U.S. as a child when his parents fled antisemitism in Libya with help from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). His projects have included work on the Pentagon and the historic Sixth & I synagogue, among other undertakings. The original architect for Trump's White House ballroom project was James McCrery II of [...]
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman has been confirmed by the Senate as the new head of NASA. Isaacman, 42, is founder and CEO of the payment processing company Shiftd4, but has never worked at NASA or in the federal government. He will take control of the space agency from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has served as NASA’s interim administrator since July. During his hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Isaacman said he [...]
Be sure to join us for Shabbat services this weekend: Friday, Jan. 9, at 7:30 p.m., and again on Saturday, Jan. 10, at 9:30 a.m., when Rabbi Eytan Hammerman will lead services from our pulpit. Rabbi Hammerman has served three Conservative synagogues in New York: Temple Gates of Prayer in Queens, the Jewish Community Center of Harrison, and Temple Beth Shalom in Mahopac. He is known for his energy, innovative programming, and love of [...]
In November 2025, three of America’s largest kosher-certifying organizations came together to release new guidance regarding the status of beer, which has long been considered kosher by default. But due to the proliferation of flavorings brought on by craft brewing and other industry changes, the rabbis who declare food products to be in line with Jewish dietary laws now say to check the label before drinking. “We’ve discovered that companies use many flavors to enhance [...]
Mourners gathered on Dec. 15 at Sydney’s Bondi Beach to light the menorah for the second night of Hanukkah, one day after the mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration. Officials say a father and son killed 15 people and wounded more than three dozen others at the beachfront gathering, making it one of the deadliest attacks on Jews outside Israel in years. The father, Sajid Akram, 50, was killed, and police said they plan to [...]
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Dec. 1 that will establish New York’s first state-sponsored Holocaust memorial. The memorial will be built at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, a centerpiece in the state’s capital. New York has a number of Holocaust memorials, but none funded and supported by the state government. The legislation says the monument will be called the New York State Holocaust Memorial, and will aim to commemorate the victims [...]
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