Madonna posts Instagram photo of Hasidic man, Arab man about to kiss

May 18, 2015

(JTA) — Madonna’s Instagram photo of a Palestinian man and a Hasidic Jewish man about to kiss received nearly 66,000 Likes in one day.

The photo posted Sunday shows a Jewish man with side curls and wearing a large white...

Vancouver gay film festival bans national symbols after Israeli flag ad

May 17, 2015

(JTA)–A gay film festival in Vancouver banned “overt expressions of nationalism” after organizers came under fire over an advertisement featuring an Israeli flag.

The advertisement in last year’s guidebook for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, placed by the local gay...

Natalie Portman raps Bibi, hearts Alan Dershowitz

May 11, 2015

By JULIE WIENER

(JTA) — Hollywood Reporter’s new cover story interviewwith actress Natalie Portman may be one of the most heavily Jewish-themed articles the magazine has ever published.

In it, the Israel-born Portman, who’s preparing for the May 18 debut...

Natalie Portman to star as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in new movie

May 11, 2015

(JTA) — Natalie Portman will star as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a new film.

“On the Basis of Sex” will follow Ginsburg’s obstacles-filled career on the road to becoming the second female justice and the first...

Singer Zimmerman to perform tonight

May 08, 2015

Singer Meryl Zimmerman will be participating with other choral singers in a short program of works tonight by Hugo Distler titled “Breathing Room.” The program, which is open to the public, will be performed at a private residence at 738...

Lauryn Hill cancels Israel performance 3 days before concert

May 05, 2015

JERUSALEM (JTA) — American R&B singer Lauryn Hill canceled a performance in Israel three days ahead of the scheduled concert.

Hill, who was scheduled to perform in Rishon LeZion on Thursday, said in a statement posted late Monday on her...

Israeli wins best director award at Buenos Aires film fest

April 26, 2015

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid won for best director at the Buenos Aires Film Festival for “The Kindergarten Teacher.”

Lapid’s film,  about a Tel Aviv teacher who becomes obsessed with a 5-year-old student poet, lost out...

Where ‘Star Trek’ and the Great American Songbook Meet the Jews

April 16, 2015

By AVISHAY ARTSY

(Jewniverse via JTA) —What happened to the classic songs of the 1930s and ’40s? The standards of the Great American Songbook crooned by Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee or Ella Fitzgerald (and later made unforgettable by Data of “Star Trek”)?

The other Spielberg tells story of American pilots who fought for Israel in 1948

April 13, 2015

By ROBERT GLUCK

(JNS.org) — Not as famous as director Steven Spielberg is his sister Nancy, the filmmaker. Lesser known than the Israelis who fought for their country’s independence were the American pilots who secretly joined that fight. Ahead of...

Kim Kardashian, Kanye West visiting Israel

April 13, 2015

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Reality television star Kim Kardashian and her husband, rapper Kanye West, landed in Israel for a private visit.

The couple and their nearly 2-year-old daughter, North West, as well as Kardashian’s sister Khloe, landed at Ben Gurion...