These 7 Jewish actresses shaped Hollywood as we know it

February 27, 2020

By HANNAH STEINKOPF-FRANK

Both on screen and behind the scenes, Jewish directors, producers and writers are credited with developing the Hollywood system as we know it today. These seven pioneering Jewish actresses defied expectations of their gender and many survived...

Murder or mitzvah? Amazon’s ‘Hunters’ grapples with the morality of Jews killing Nazis.

February 24, 2020

By GABE FRIEDMAN

NEW YORK (JTA) — “This is not murder, this is mitzvah.”

That’s a quote from Meyer Offerman, a wealthy Holocaust survivor with a thick Yiddish accent played by Al Pacino, in the first episode of Amazon Studios’...

Quentin Tarantino and Israeli wife Daniella Pick welcome baby boy in Tel Aviv

February 24, 2020

(JTA) — Director Quentin Tarantino and his Israeli wife, the model and singer Daniella Pick, welcomed a baby boy at a hospital in Tel Aviv.

The baby, the couple’s first, was born on Saturday afternoon and will be an Israeli...

Orthodox rapper Nissim Black reintroduces himself to the world

February 19, 2020

By EMILY BURACK

Nissim Black knows that wherever he goes, he’s going to turn heads.

“There’s always these questions,” the rapper explains to me from his home in Israel. “Like, ‘Well, are you still black? How black are you? How...

Safdie brothers are making a new comedy pilot. Twitter is very excited.

February 19, 2020

By EMILY BURACK

(JTA) — Fresh off their critically acclaimed film “Uncut Gems,” Jewish brothers Benny and Josh Safdie are making a comedy pilot with the Jewish comedian Nathan Fielder. (Fielder is best known for “Nathan for You,” a Comedy...

He’s Jewish, she’s Muslim. His jazz band’s song ‘Date a Jew’ talks about the pressures surrounding their relationship.

February 12, 2020

By GABE FRIEDMAN

(JTA) — Sammy Miller and his girlfriend Misha grew up in vastly different cultures: Sammy was raised Jewish in suburban Los Angeles, while Misha was raised Muslim in Karachi, Pakistan, moving to the United States when she...

Taika Waititi’s big win & 5 other Jewish moments from the 2020 Oscars

February 10, 2020

By EMILY BURACK

(JTA) — When Adam Sandler was shut out of this year’s Academy Award nominations for “Uncut Gems,” the Oscars lost out on the chance to have an acceptance speech as hilarious as the one Sandler delivered Saturday...

This Jewish data whiz predicts the Oscar winners with math

February 07, 2020

Spoiler alert! See Ben Zauzmer’s Oscar predictions at the bottom of this article. (JTA) — In 2012, the first year that Ben Zauzmer made Oscar predictions based on mathematical modeling, he received an email from a member of the Academy...

The first ‘Harry Potter’ book is now available in Yiddish

February 07, 2020

(JTA) — As of today, the first book in the Harry Potter series is available in Yiddish.

“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” — or “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” as it is known in the United States —...

Sculptor Beverly Pepper, famed for monumental iron and steel works, dies at 97

February 07, 2020

(JTA) – Beverly Pepper, a sculptor famed for her monumental iron and steel works, has died. Pepper died Wednesday at her home in Italy. She was 97.

Pepper was born Beverly Stoll in Brooklyn in 1922. She moved to Europe...