We often hear about the racism that Black people in America face, but rarely about the antisemitism and racism Black Jews face. In honor of Black History Month, Allison Josephs spoke with Elisheva Rishon, a Black Orthodox Jewish woman about her experience in both communities — she’s a part of each one yet an outsider as […]
Editor’s Note: In 2023 and 2024, JITC Hollywood Bureau held the first ever official Sundance panels on Jewish representation (to standing room only crowds – watch them here). We very much enjoyed working with the team at Sundance and got tremendous feedback from the audiences. However, at last year’s festival, a large group of protesters […]
“I was their star teaching fellow but I couldn’t get a teaching job,” said Aaron Twerski. Looking the way he looked — like a Hasidic Jew — made it difficult for Twerski to attain a professor appointment at Harvard Law School, despite glowing reviews. Twerski went onto a pivotal role at the U.S. Department of […]
While politics often elicits strong feelings, we hope to elicit only strong feelings of pride as we present you with a list of Orthodox Jews who U.S. presidents (or presidential candidates), on both sides of the aisle, have been appointing to high-level positions for the last few decades. We are living in truly historic times. […]
Mitchell Silk recalls the immense responsibility of working just steps from the White House, representing as an Orthodox Jew, where he faced a critical national security challenge. While navigating a complex sanctions issue, Silk came up with a breakthrough idea during Rosh Hashanah.
Rabbi Gabriel Negrin’s family has been in Greece for a very long time – since the 4th century BCE, to be exact. Negrin, who has been the rabbi of Athens since he was 26-years-old, explains that the Jewish community of Greece is called “Romaniot.” “I can trace our family background [directly] to the 11th century.” […]
