Joyce Dalsheim, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Authorities have closed schools in some ultra-Orthodox areas of New York. The reasons for apparent noncompliance with public health guidelines are complicated, explains a cultural anthropologist.
No lengthy viewing of the body, but no quick burial either.
Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images
The former justice received a Jewish funeral at the Supreme Court. But in other ways, Ginsburg's burial is breaking with traditional Jewish death rituals.
A Hindu bride on her wedding day.
EPA-EFE/Shaizaib Akber
To afford sufficient protection to marginalised people in society - such as women in minority religious communities - the state must recognise and regulate religious marriages in a nuanced way.
Menorahs have now become ubiquitous features around the world during Hanukkah, from Berlin to New York to Melbourne.
Hayoung Jeon/EPA
Giving small gifts to children has become common around the world, though nowhere has Hanukkah reached the level of commercialisation that it has in the US.
When Dirty Dancing is reduced to its dance sequences, the powerful politics of the film are erased.
Vestron Pictures
Dirty Dancing's dance sequences are stand-alone properties, famous in their own right. But when they're considered in isolation, the film's messy class, race and gender politics are sidelined.
American and Israeli flags above Jerusalem rooftops prior to President Trump’s May 2017 visit.
Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
As Israel approaches the 70th anniversary of its establishment, many older American Jews will be celebrating. Many younger ones will wonder whether the Jewish state is something to celebrate at all.
Director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in Israel Studies, University of California, Los Angeles