Near the corner of Vermont and Manchester avenues, someone created a huge mural consisting of a single word: “HOPES.” It’s been there for a while, and Michelle Clark, who lives nearby, sees it as a cruel joke. “Look around,” said Clark, 59, who was pushing a shopping cart full of recyclables. “It’s more like ‘The…
“Sure, I do interfaith marriages, but I have conditions,” the portly rabbi said, as he guided us to the two worn leather chairs in front of his desk. Then he sat down and clasped his hands together. A few weeks before, on a warm summer afternoon, my fiance Chris had popped the question at the…
Editor’s note: The letter below comments on the original headline of Jodi Rudoren’s Nov. 19 “Looking Forward” column. That headline was changed shortly after publication, unrelated to this letter. To the editor: It is not easy being part of a religious minority in the United States, a country with European settler colonial origins and a…
Tahija Vikalo is a Muslim woman who lived on one side of a duplex in a Philadelphia suburb and befriended the Jewish woman who lived on the other side. Together in 2017, Vikalo and her neighbor, Nancy Nagel, joined the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an organization that builds trust and relationships between Muslim and Jewish…
Rabbi Jessica Wainer joined a task force on religious observance created by the Fairfax County School Board last year. The committee was convened to address food, curriculum, clothing, and other religious accommodations. But as its first goal, the group of Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and other minority religion representatives chose what they thought would be…
In his newly-released EP, Drake is once more considering God’s plan for him. Judging by one song’s contemplation of Jesus, he may be entering a 1980s Dylan phase. On the track “Wants and Needs,” the artist formerly known as Aubrey Graham reflects on his success, which his mother, Sandi (née Sher) suggests is “Godsent.” That…
In December 2019, Rabbi Rick Jacobs called on the Reform movement to “dig deeper into social justice activism through the Religious Action Center to address racism in our broader society,” and to “commit to our sacred equity, diversity and inclusion work.” “I cannot imagine our movement without all the voices, hearts and minds of our…
Lukas Arnold talks about his life all the time; it’s central to the comedy that has earned him 1.1 million followers on TikTok. And yet, the more he talks about himself, the more of an enigma he becomes. The 25-year-old comedian and voice actor’s dad is Ashkenazi, with ancestry in Poland. His mom is half…
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