Mark D. Zimmerman

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Billy Joel just celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert at Madison Square Garden, featuring video birthday wishes from Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, Don Henley, Pink and others, plus a guest performance by Peter Frampton. Though Billy Joel’s parents were both Jewish, he was not raised Jewish,

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — The most popular haggadah in American history is the Maxwell House Haggadah, which the  company has been distributing for free (with purchases of Maxwell House coffee) since 1932. More than 50 million copies have been given away worldwide since then, and they even had a place at the

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — As Jews worldwide prepare for Passover, which begins this Friday night, many people are wondering what they are allowed to feed their pets during the holiday. Which of the following are real rules? A. According to the Aish.com website’s Ask the Rabbi feature, pets should not be fed food

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Israel is holding parliamentary elections this Tuesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu running neck and neck with Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party. Whoever wins will have the challenge of putting together a coalition government in a country whose electoral system makes it very easy

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York –Alex Trebek, the longtime host of Jeopardy, recently announced that he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. At the time, he noted that he welcomed the prayers of his viewers, which led Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman, a former Jeopardy contestant, to organize a digital interfaith prayer service for Trebek. The

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Last week saw the indictment of celebrities, financiers, coaching and admissions personnel, entrance exam administrators, and others, all of whom participated in a college admissions cheating and bribery scandal led by William “Rick” Singer. This is by no means the first time that college admissions has been shown to

By Mark D. Zimmerman   MELVILLE, New York — The Academy Award for Best Movie went to Green Book, a film about black musician Don Shirley, who toured through the Jim Crow South in the 1940’s, and his relationship with his bodyguard/driver, a white Italian from New York named Tony Vallelonga. The movie title refers to

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has received much negative press in the last few weeks. First, he made a deal with the Otzma Yehudit party, the successor to Rabbi Meir Kahane’s racist Kach party, leading to criticism from many in Israel, as well as American organizations including

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, has charged that the National Enquirer attempted to blackmail him by threatening to release lurid photographs of Bezos. In 2017, Amazon removed a controversial book from their website. The book, A History of the Palestinian People: From Ancient Times to the Modern Era, was