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All content by Philissa Cramer
Israeli security forces clash with protesters during a protest against Israel's plan to evict Palestinians from the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah on May 10, 2021. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right Israeli lawmaker, is at right wearing a white kippah. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Jerusalem in tumult, 9 dead in Gaza, as Israel and Hamas exchange fire

Philissa Cramer
May 10, 2021
A woman holds up a sign during the day of rallies around the world protesting the French judicial system's handling of the Sarah Halimi case, April 25, 2021. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

What to know about the Sarah Halimi case and why it matters

Philissa Cramer and Cnaan Liphshiz
April 29, 2021
Stanley Teich, back row, left, seen here at a grandchild's bat mitzvah, died of COVID-19 in April 2020, an early casualty of the pandemic in the United States. (Courtesy of Carol Ackerman)

After losing her father, this NY paramedic went back to work responding to COVID calls

Philissa Cramer
March 22, 2021
21.The-Scrolls-Fragments-before-conservation-in-the-IAA-Lab.-Shai-Halevi-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-scaled-e1615925571358.jpg

Ancient biblical scroll fragments discovered in Israeli Cave of Horror

Philissa Cramer
March 16, 2021
Yaphet Kotto

Yaphet Kotto, ‘Homicide’ and ‘Alien’ actor who was one of the first Black Jews on screen, dies at 81

Philissa Cramer
March 16, 2021
BOSTON - SEPTEMBER 5: School busses are lined up on the first day of school at Ellis Elementary, 302 Walnut Ave., Roxbury. (Photo by David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

In some places, Rosh Hashanah falls on the first day of school. The COVID crisis is adding pressure to change it.

Philissa Cramer
March 8, 2021

Israel rocked by COVID death of pregnant 32-year-old who had not been vaccinated

Philissa Cramer
February 21, 2021
Kitler

Kansas City meteorologist apologizes after showcasing Kitler, a Hitleresque cat, on air

Philissa Cramer
February 16, 2021
Cat Lawyer

The viral cat lawyer once drew national attention for his prosecution of a Jewish smoke shop owner

Philissa Cramer
February 12, 2021
Lewis on September 17, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.

Karen Lewis, Jewish union chief who made Chicago’s teachers into a national force, is dead at 67

Philissa Cramer
February 9, 2021
Chambon-sur-Lignon. (LMFL) 

Jewish man leaves $2M to French mountain town that hid him from Nazis

Philissa Cramer
January 31, 2021
The streaming video platform Twitch logo can be seen on a tablet screen in July 2019. Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images   

ADL: Gaming network Twitch is most effective social platform at curbing Holocaust denial

Philissa Cramer
January 27, 2021
Tobin Mitnick really loves trees, and wants you to, too. (Courtesy of Mitnick)

TikTok’s comic ‘Jew Who Loves Trees’ wants you to take Tu b’Shvat very, very seriously

Philissa Cramer
January 26, 2021
El Al Israel Airlines departure counter is pictured empty after it cancelled flights to Italy at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, on February 27, 2020. - Israel has recorded three confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, including two from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and an Israeli who had been in northern Italy. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel closes its borders, including for citizens and immigrants, in effort to curb COVID-19

Philissa Cramer
January 25, 2021
Ossoff Tweet

Jon Ossoff had a totem of his American Jewish heritage in his pocket when he joined the Senate

Philissa Cramer
January 21, 2021
Rabbi Jordan Hersh has been deployed as part of the Maryland Army National Guard to the U.S. Capitol since a mob of Trump supporters stormed it on Jan. 6, 2021. (Courtesy of Hersh)

Meet a rabbi who’s been stationed at the US Capitol

Philissa Cramer
January 15, 2021
Jon Ossoff speaks in Stonecrest, Ga., Dec. 28, 2020. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

Jon Ossoff: Everything you need to know about the (likely-to-be) newest Jewish Democratic senator

Philissa Cramer
January 6, 2021
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen here at a ceremony at Ben Gurion airport on Nov. 26, 2020, said he wants to be the first Israeli to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. (EMIL SALMAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu says he wants to be first Israeli vaccinated against COVID-19

Philissa Cramer
December 9, 2020

7 especially Jewish ‘Jeopardy!’ moments from Alex Trebek’s 36 years as host

Philissa Cramer
November 8, 2020
William Latson issued a public apology a week before the Palm Beach County School Board voted a second time to terminate his employment. (Screen shot from YouTube) 

Florida principal who was fired — then rehired — after Holocaust denial is fired again

Philissa Cramer
November 2, 2020

The man behind the Faces of COVID Twitter account wants to help America face its grief

Philissa Cramer
October 13, 2020

After Heshy Tischler is arrested for inciting a riot in Borough Park, his followers mob the home of the reporter he targeted

Philissa Cramer
October 12, 2020
The video of Bibi Shapiro singing

Bibi Shapiro, the 6-year-old whose ‘Avinu Malkeinu’ went viral, sang at Central Synagogue’s Yom Kippur services

Philissa Cramer
September 29, 2020

Shortened shofar blasts and last-minute sermon tweaks: How Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death changed Rosh Hashanah services

Philissa Cramer
September 21, 2020

This Jewish comedian has been helping rabbis nail the delivery on their High Holidays services

Philissa Cramer
September 18, 2020

Seasons without song: How Jews are adapting to the sudden disappearance of communal singing

Philissa Cramer
September 16, 2020

The ‘Avinu Malkeinu’ kid isn’t Amar’e Stoudemire’s son. But he does have a message for the High Holidays. Take it from his mom.

Philissa Cramer
September 14, 2020
Worshippers danced late into the night at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn after Selichot services early on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020. (Screenshot from livestream)

Amid increasing COVID alarm, packed services held at Chabad’s Brooklyn headquarters Saturday night

Philissa Cramer
September 13, 2020

HBO’s ‘Lovecraft Country’ contains a plot point that resembles an age-old anti-Semitic lie. Why?

Philissa Cramer
September 1, 2020

How Jewish socialist summer camp shaped Ron Bloom, one of the men responsible for the Postal Service’s future

Philissa Cramer
August 18, 2020

Marjorie Taylor Greene, House candidate who advanced QAnon theory about Rothschilds and Soros, wins primary in Georgia

Philissa Cramer
August 12, 2020
Eliezer Sherbatov, second from right, pictured here in 2015, has signed to play for the hockey team in Oswiecim, Poland. 

Captain of Israel’s hockey team signs to play in Oswiecim, otherwise known as Auschwitz

Philissa Cramer
August 9, 2020

President Trump reportedly lashed out at Sheldon Adelson, one of his biggest donors

Philissa Cramer
August 9, 2020
Nick Cannon, left, reviewed the book about anti-Semitism that Bari Weiss, right, published in 2019. (Amanda Edwards/Getty Images, Josefin Dolsten) 

‘Was she talking about me?’ Nick Cannon ends July by reviewing Bari Weiss’ ‘How to Fight Anti-Semitism’

Philissa Cramer
July 31, 2020
President Andrzej Duda of Poland speaks to the media in front of remains of the Berlin Wall, Nov. 9, 2019. (John Macdougall/AFP via Getty Images)

Andrzej Duda, Polish president who vowed no reparations for Jews, appears to eke out reelection

Philissa Cramer
July 13, 2020
Kenneth Marcus in 2017. (Facebook) 

Kenneth Marcus, high-ranking US education official, returning to Jewish civil rights agency

Philissa Cramer
July 10, 2020
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 04: Mandy Patinkin attends the

Mandy Patinkin lends his voice to the growing chorus of West Bank annexation opponents

Philissa Cramer
June 29, 2020

This quiz show aficionado has won JTA’s ‘You Call That News?!?’ 4 times. Who will break his streak?

Philissa Cramer
June 24, 2020

Meet the Jewish day school teacher who wagered $18 on ‘Jeopardy!’ and won $50,000

Philissa Cramer
June 10, 2020

This Israeli’s daily ‘dad jokes’ are making his Chicago neighbors laugh during dark times

Philissa Cramer
June 3, 2020

‘We stand in solidarity’: What Jewish organizations are saying about the protests over George Floyd’s death

Philissa Cramer
May 31, 2020

Gila Golder, a news junkie whose grandfather knew Elvis, won last week’s JTA quiz show. Can you beat her?

Philissa Cramer
May 28, 2020

Lag b’Omer is traditionally a day of Jewish weddings. What will happen under social distancing?

Philissa Cramer
May 11, 2020
Hundreds of Orthodox Jews attend a funeral in Brooklyn on April 29, 2020. (Reuven Blau/Twitter) 

Reacting to a packed funeral, New York City mayor warns ‘the Jewish community’ and faces a swift firestorm

Philissa Cramer
April 29, 2020

Here are our Passover plans, and how the pandemic has changed them. What are yours?

Philissa Cramer
April 8, 2020

Ramah in the Rockies, a Jewish summer camp, averts layoffs with a federal grant

Philissa Cramer
April 7, 2020

Aron Halpern, 90, survived the Holocaust and thrived in the United States

Philissa Cramer
April 3, 2020

Maurice Berger, 63, was a curator and historian who decried racism

Philissa Cramer
April 1, 2020
Sudeep Agarwala is a yeast scientist and challah enthusiast whose guidance for home bakers has taken off online. (Courtesy of Agarwala) 

Meet the challah-tinkering yeast scientist who’s helping pandemic bread bakers get a good rise

Philissa Cramer
March 31, 2020

In a reversal, Jewish Agency sending teen emissaries back to Israel, and to quarantine

Philissa Cramer
March 13, 2020
The El Al departure counter at Ben Gurion International Airport is empty after the airline canceled flights to Italy amid a coronavirus outbreak, Feb. 27, 2020. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

In a dramatic step, Israel to require 14-day quarantine for all travelers from abroad

Philissa Cramer
March 9, 2020
Attendees at the 2017 AIPAC conference at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., March 21, 2017. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

A day after Bernie Sanders says he’s opting out, AIPAC flexes bipartisan support

Philissa Cramer
February 24, 2020

Bloomberg takes a beating in his debate debut, raising questions about the Jewish presidential candidate’s future

Philissa Cramer
February 20, 2020

Nearly a year after endorsing same-sex marriages, an Orthodox rabbi performs his first

Philissa Cramer
February 19, 2020
Democratic presidential candidate former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg delivers remarks during a campaign rally on February 12, 2020 in Nashville, Tenn. Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

An ‘empire of influence,’ a checkered track record and more: Catch up on the Mike Bloomberg news as he makes his debate debut

Philissa Cramer
February 19, 2020

Bernie Sanders makes Jewish history by winning the New Hampshire Democratic primary — again

Philissa Cramer
February 11, 2020

Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan runs 181 pages. These 2 maps tell you what you need to know.

Philissa Cramer
January 28, 2020
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A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.