Category Archives: IN THE SPOTLIGHT

|| Susan Polgar: Considered by Many to Be the World’s Greatest Female Chess Champion

Susan Polgar is a renowned Hungarian-American chess grandmaster….

| Michael Leven: Visionary Philanthropist Who Co-Founded the Jewish Future Pledge

Michael (Mike) Leven, 83, had a stellar business career, but now in his later years he has turned his attention to his love of the Jewish people and Israel. Inspired by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge, Mike co-founded the Jewish Future Pledge, “a worldwide movement inspiring Jews of all backgrounds to commit that…

Amy Spitalnick: Anti-White Supremacist Crusader and Soon-to-Become CEO of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action

Amy Spitalnick, 36, spearheaded a four-year-long legal battle…

Comedy Legend Billy Crystal Gets Audience at 2022 Tony Awards to Join in With His ‘Yiddish’ Scat Singing

The audience members — including cameos by Samuel L. Jackson and Lin-Manuel Miranda…

Jack Jacobs: Vietnam War Hero and Recipient of the Medal of Honor and Other Awards for Valor

Jack Howard Jacobs , 76, is a retired colonel in the United States Army and a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions during the Vietnam War. On March 9, 1968, he was working as the assistant battalion advisor for the South Vietnamese army’s 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. During a mission…

Jessica Meir: Will the Jewish-American Astronaut Be the First Woman on the Moon?

Meir has become part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans — including possibly a woman — to the Moon by 2025.

Jared Isaacman: Crew Member and Mission Commander on the Historic Inspiration4 Civilian Space Flight

Jared Isaacman — a 38-year-old self-made billionaire — was one of four civilian astronauts on the recent Inspiration4 historic space flight. He was the Mission Commander of the three-day space excursion as well. In addition to being the founder of Draken International and Shift4 Payments (where he’s the CEO), he has numerous extraordinary achievements to…

Zsolt Balla: Appointed Chief Rabbi and Jewish Religious Counsellor of the German Armed Forces

In the First World War, an estimated 100,000 German Jews served in their country’s army, of whom 12,000 were killed in action…

Elie Wiesel: Washington National Cathedral Honors the Revered Holocaust Survivor, Author, and Activist

Elie Wiesel (Sept. 30, 1928 — July 2, 2016) was perhaps the world’s best-known Holocaust survivor, as well as prolific author (57 books), Nobel Prize laureate…

Ira Glasser: Former Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union for Nearly a Quarter-Century

Ira Glasser (born 1938) was the iconic executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1978 to 2001. His life was the subject of the 2020 documentary Mighty Ira (his nickname). Glasser is an ardent proponent of freedom of speech, even today despite the proliferation of hate speech on social media. In 1978,…