Joel H. Cohen

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — President Trump gave serious consideration to using an eruv as a virtual wall on the border between the United States and Mexico, according to sources familiar with his plan. It came about this way: He’d essentially dismissed concrete as the material for the wall that he’d constantly pledged […]

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — Cheered by how President Trump’s spirits seem to be lifted when they read him accounts of Biblical and other religious characters, his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared began reading Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) to him. They hoped the rabbinical nuggets of philosophical wisdom would take his

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK  — To change President Trump’s mood and take his mind off such concerns as a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and the forthcoming report of the Mueller special investigation, the president’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared have been reading him accounts of major figures in the Bible and other religious

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — Is President Trump mellowing? You be the judge. Stung by rebuffs from segments of the Jewish community and rocked by what the Democratic victory in the mid-term House elections could mean to him and his administration, the president might well have been expected to react as he usually

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK —  Yiddish, often considered an endangered species, seems to be enjoying a revival. The most dramatic example is a literal revival — the new National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene production of Fiddler on the Roof   (under the title, Fidler afn Dach) at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK —  President Trump’s trade battle with China could have unintended benefits for kosher delicatessens in the United States. White House sources, knowledgeable about his thinking in the controversy, report that the president is considering levying duties on treyf products used in Chinese restaurants. Were they imposed, these restaurants would undoubtedly

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — Does anybody think we need more al chets this Yom Kippur? We already have an abundance, including some we don’t understand. But just in case we’d like more, the White House communications team has sent to Jewish congregations across the nation a list of suggested politically related admissions

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — President Trump, who is celebrated (at least by himself) as an extraordinary deal-maker, apparently learned the art when he served as a Shabbos Goy as a youngster in Queens, N.Y. That previously unknown fact was just revealed by writer Tess Terone, who is researching a book on Trump’s

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — If President Trump doesn’t serve out his term – say, through impeachment or resignation – the United States is likely to have its first Jewish president. In a hitherto secret report, genealogists, helped by DNA testing, have found that Vice President Michael Pence has Jewish roots. His ancestors

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — Imagine this scenario: President Trump is feeling uneasy about his future and finally, at his daughter Ivanka’s urging, agrees to visit a fortune-teller. Known professionally as Mama Lushen, she’s a Jewish woman who comes highly recommended by members of the Sisterhood of the shul that Ivanka and Jared

By Joel H. Cohen NEW YORK — Remember the old, upbeat saying. “If life deals you lemons, make lemonade”? At first, President Trump took the saying literally, and seriously considered having his children open a lemonade stand in front of the White House. But Melania explained the meaning of the motto, and now the president