Simone Somekh was born and raised in Turin, Italy. He has worked with publications based in Milan, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Berlin and New York. He is currently pursuing an M.A. degree in Journalism and European & Mediterranean Studies at New York University.
Like many traditional Jewish brides, Dora Piperno wanted to give her future husband a tallit — a Jewish prayer shawl — as a wedding gift. With one difference: She wanted to give him a tallit made of silk, the same material the ones worn by her Italian ancestors were made of. “Back in the day,”…
In a rare, student-led effort to address LGBTQ issues, dozens of Yeshiva University students crowded a classroom in the university’s Midtown campus on Tuesday evening for an event on topics such as coming out as gay on campus, creating social change and becoming allies to queer peers. Guest speaker Ben Katz, a Yeshiva University graduate…
Hope is not easy to come by these days. Unless you know where to look. Ari Satok did – in the unlikeliest of places. Three years ago, the 22-year-old Toronto native spent a year traveling the world, visiting United World College schools in British Columbia, Wales, Hong Kong, Germany, the Netherlands, New Mexico and Swaziland….
Until Donald Trump’s election one year ago, less than eight students at Yeshiva University would attend the events organized by the school’s Democrats club. Little did they know that just a couple of months after November 8, the club would grow significantly, reaching its peak of 50 active members this year. Matthew Haller, 20, and…
At age 18, David Lindenbaum finds himself suspended in between two universes that pull him in what he senses as opposite directions. On one side, there is his faith — a fervent Jew, Lindenbaum always wears a kippah (“Even while I’m sleeping,” he says with pride) and tries to maintain his religious identity also when…
Located on the very edge of West Jerusalem, Museum On The Seam has been committed to presenting thought-provoking art about Israel’s complex socio-political reality since opening in 1999. Soon, the small museum with lofty aims may be forced to shutter its doors — the museum’s main backers have announced they will stop funding the institution….
Five activists from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) were arrested Sunday afternoon at the 69th annual Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City for third degree trespassing and disorderly conduct, an NYPD spokesman told the Forward. The group targeted, infiltrated and disrupted a contingent of participants from five Jewish LGBTQ organizations, including Jewish Queer Youth….
A 38-minute visit of five members of the Westboro Baptist Church three blocks south of Yeshiva University stimulated a discussion on LGBTQ issues within the school’s community, resulting in hundreds of dollars being donated to an organization for Jewish queer youth at risk. The hate group, which targets Jews and LGBTQ people altogether, announced in…
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