The Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents was released on Monday, and came with some saddening statistics. Incidents spiked by one-third in 2016, with more than 1,200 reported acts of vandalism, harassment and assault. Things got even worse this year, with anti-Semitic events spiking 86 percent in 2017’s first quarter. Such hate crimes happened…
It began with a phone call on a cold winter day in January 1998. The purpose of the call, from a neighboring Mormon bishop I’d never spoken with before, was unusual: He was requesting a minyan. As president of a small lay-led congregation in Idaho Falls, Idaho — one of the only two Jewish congregations…
Recent news spotlighting plans by neo-Nazis to stage a march in nearby Whitefish, Montana, not far from the Idaho panhandle, may raise an obvious question: Is it safe to be Jewish in Idaho? Rabbi Dan Fink of Ahavath Beth Israel, in Boise, stressed that, contrary to some stories, his town is not crawling with anti-Semitic…
Since the November election, there’s been a lot of talk among journalists about the way our profession overlooked and misunderstood populist, pro-Trump America. It’s a challenge for us at the Forward, as well. That is why we are launching “Red State Jews.” Our aim is to use all the platforms of the Forward — news,…
If you want to be a communally involved Jew in Idaho, hundreds of miles from any other Jewish community, your options are not just limited; they’re also unique. For one, the round trip to attend Friday night services can be a 100-mile journey. In Boise, one of two places in the state with a Jewish…
An Idaho state senator’s description of Hinduism as “a false faith with false Gods” drew calls from Jewish clergy for an apology. Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll joined two other Republican senators in refusing to attend the daily invocation on March 3 because a Hindu chaplain, Rajan Zed, led it. Nuxoll was quoted by The Associated Press…
A Boise, Idaho woman harassed and physically attacked a Jewish neighbor in order to convince her to convert to Christianity. Marguerite Haragan, 58, harassed the Jewish woman identified in a court hearing on Feb. 12 as AG first by phone calls and then by showing up at her home in Ada County. Haragan, 58, has…
I was born in Washington, D.C., where my mother called from her hospital bed to put me on the waiting list for a good nursery school. My own kids were born at home in Idaho (one in the bedroom, one in the living room), where getting them into a good preschool was a little less…
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