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In the summer of 2021, a group called Mountain Brook Families alleged that the ADL’s mainstream school curriculum was teaching extremist ideologies. A year later, the ADL admitted some content was not in line with its values. Now what? What does one make of the […]

By Richard Friedman  It’s a table that tells two stories. Visiting Leonard Held a few days after his recent 100th birthday, the first thing this long-time Birminghamian does is take you into the dining room. There on a long table are nearly 200 birthday cards, neatly arrayed, […]

Graffiti at the University of Wisconsin, which received a D on the antisemitism report card. Students for Justice in Palestine admitted to the graffiti; the university plans to have an “educational” session with SJP about its effect, but said there will be no other repercussions […]

While his 2021 book may have won an international prize for the oddest title of the year, Roy Schwartz discusses a serious pop culture topic that sheds a new light on the world of superheroes and their intersection with Jewish history. The author of “Is […]

Before there was a Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, a Southern Jewish Historical Society or a Goldring/Woldenberg Institute for Southern Jewish Life, there was Eli Evans. A remembrance of Evans in the SJHS newsletter states that “his 1973 memoir, ‘The Provincials: A Personal History […]

By Richard Friedman Mindy Cohen had just returned from Israel. It was a bittersweet trip for the Birmingham woman who was joyful at being back in the country after 17 years. Yet she also was burdened by an unimaginable tragedy few have ever encountered. The […]

By Lee J. Green Red Mountain Theatre is raising the bar on “Bar Mitzvah in Birmingham.” The creative work returns to Birmingham with a retooled script, additional songs and fresh insight as part of the 5th Annual Human Rights New Works Festival, Sept. 22 to […]

Florina Newcomb and Amanda Loflin By Richard Friedman Having watched the new film “Image of Victory,” the true story of one of the most gripping battles of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, I can’t get the movie out of my mind as I reflect on […]

Jeff Brown and Jimmy Stewart By Richard Friedman When Jeff Brown approached Israel’s Western Wall a while back, to deposit a prayer note into its ancient crevices, this Lutheran Midwesterner never could have imagined that one day he would wind up working for the Jewish […]