Rabbi Gadi joined massive crowds of mostly Jews from across the country on Nov. 14 at the “March for Israel” held on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The march is believed to be the largest U.S. show of solidarity with Israel since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages. The demonstrators denounced antisemitism, and many speakers expressed sympathy for innocent Jews and Palestinians and their families [...]

Just as the December issue of The Shofar was readied for distribution, news came of a breakthrough in the tense situation of the long-awaited release of hostages held by Hamas. In exchange for the two dozen released from Gaza, Israel released 39 imprisoned Palestinians, completing the first exchange brought about during the temporary truce that halted the fighting after seven weeks, The New York Times reported. The hostages released included 13 Israelis, several children among [...]

          Photographs of Israelis being held by Hamas militants are projected on the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, November 2023.                                                       AP Photo/Leo Correa

Brandeis University has banned a student chapter of National Students for Justice in Palestine from its campus. The university notified the student group on Nov. 6 that it will no longer recognize it “because it openly supports Hamas, which the United States has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.” Brandeis is one of hundreds of universities roiled by demonstrations and counterdemonstrations in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,400 [...]

When Flory Jagoda, the superstar of Ladino music, died in 2021, it was a wakeup call for Vladimir Mickovic, a Bosnian musician from Mostar, who realized that with Jagoda’s death, the music of Sephardic Jews was in danger of being lost forever. “The Sephardic music and culture, their proverbs and literature, is a part of our culture here in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Mickovic told Religion News Service. Recently, he released a tribute album to her [...]

About 100 Jewish youngsters from around the world have made Aliyah to enlist voluntarily in the IDF as Israel wages a war against the Hamas terrorist organization, “leaving family and friends behind in order to protect the Jewish state,” according to Israel Hayom.             In a month, they will put on their uniforms, but not before completing a preparatory course by the Defense Ministry’s Defense and Society Department, which takes place at an integration center [...]

While some American Jews leave Star of David necklaces at home or remove mezuzahs from their doorposts, others have deepened their spiritual practices or have taken to the streets and social media to shout their pride in their Jewish identity and the State of Israel, reports Religion News Service. In a show of religious or ethnic pride, American Jews who have never worn a Jewish star or supported Israeli causes are doing so now, said [...]