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In 1962, Ezra Jack Keats authored a children’s book with a main character who “should have been there all along.” Written in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, “The Snowy Day” became the first children’s picture book to feature a Black main character. The […]

By Lee J. Green Growing up the daughter of her synagogue’s musical director and being enchanted by a national Broadway touring production of “Cats” when she was just 11 years old, Elana Valastro knew she wanted to pursue a career in musical theatre. When the […]

Mountain Brook High School Two days after footage from an 11th grade history lesson went viral (our original story is here) and Mountain Brook Schools issued a preliminary statement about the controversy, the system issued a followup after meeting with the Birmingham Jewish Federation and […]

An Iron Dome air-defense battery set near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod fires an intercepting missile on July 14, 2014. Photo by David Buimovitch/Flash90. By Mike Wagenheim (JNS) — American funding for Israeli missile defense wasn’t sealed at the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol or […]

Photo via Facebook By Larry Brook Just months after a contentious debate that led to the Mountain Brook school system ending diversity training with the Anti-Defamation League and pledging to develop its own curriculum, an incident at Mountain Brook High School has brought the spotlight […]

Cartoonist, editor and author Art Spiegelman speaks at a Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga-sponsored online event about a Tennessee school-board book ban on Feb. 7, 2022. Source: Screenshot. By Mike Wagenheim (JNS) — Yet again, those who wanted to learn about Maus had to leapfrog […]

By Richard Friedman A jarring new study on antisemitism may include a silver lining. That’s how Dov Wilker, Southeast regional director for the American Jewish Committee, sees the results of a recent survey his national organization did on what he and many others see as […]

By Richard Friedman  When Nelle Bashinsky was growing up in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, she never imagined that she would marry John Cohen. More far-fetched was that she would become the wife of the Mississippi State University athletic director. However, the last thing this young woman could have […]

By Richard Friedman Mississippi State University athletic director John Cohen is a distinctly Southern Jew — and proud of it. Growing up in Tuscaloosa, Cohen clung to his Jewish roots, even when it was not easy, and today takes pride in being one of the Southeastern […]