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Andrew Esensten Profile
Andrew Esensten

@esensten

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Journalist. Previously @haaretzcom . Working on a book about Israel's African Hebrew Israelite community. יה חי

Palo Alto, CA
Joined January 2010
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
4 years
Real headline
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
Jaylen Brown, VP of the National Basketball Players Association, appears to be a fan of Israel United in Christ. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated IUIC as a hate group for its antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ and anti-white rhetoric.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
8 years
#TrumpBookReport King Lear, great guy. Strong leader. Beautiful daughters, except that Cordelia. Such a nasty woman. @AntonioFrench
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 months
“How do you walk away from a Ph.D. at Stanford because of antisemitism?” @EmmaAudreyGoss reports on the toxic climate at Stanford, where Jewish students feel alienated, and at least one considered dropping out.
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Andrew Esensten
2 years
Michael W. Twitty ( @KosherSoul ) is the first Black Jew to win @JewishBook 's book of the year award for his stunning memoir "Koshersoul." Mazel tov! Twitty called the book "a love letter to Jewish peoplehood" when I interviewed him in August for @jewishsf .
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
3 years
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@nealbrennan
Neal Brennan
3 years
Kanye is incredible at staging concerts, truly in a league of his own.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
BREAKING: @EspeSpalding is taking a nap.
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Andrew Esensten
8 years
"Democracy broke up with us. But I really hope it takes us back!" - @summerbrennan on @The_451 . Listen! Resist!
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
8 years
Man, @mcsweeneys 's has been on fire of late.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
@Mottel @chescaleigh Ignorance can be malicious, especially if you work for an administration that gives Jew-haters and white supremacists a pass.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 months
“People think, because there’s something terrible happening 7,500 miles away, it is OK to behave poorly here, and that strikes me as exactly the sort of anti-intellectualism that universities are supposed to combat, not embrace.” - Stanford sophomore @tab_delete
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
@DJ33_TV @TheNBACentral @ShamsCharania @FanDuelTV Prime Hayward was doing 20, 5 and 4 a night. Reaves had one good game.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
5 years
"The film was a piece of art with a political message that was ahead of its time — black lives matter even in the hood." @toure on John Singleton's indelible "Boyz N the Hood."
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 years
“We have for the past 99 years been living as Jews in both form and practice and we are not about to change that.” Rabbi Gershom Sizomu responds to an Israeli government decision to not recognize his community, the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
“Jews of color, Jews of African descent bring incredibly valuable conversations and wisdom to our community.” - @KosherSoul tonight at @JCCSF
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
@jnewsgabe Did he actually insinuate that Jewish influence in Hollywood is negative? I didn’t hear it that way
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
We now know TMZ, Tucker Carlson, and Letterman sanitized interviews with Ye in which he expressed antisemitic ideas.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
“With these guidelines, you should be equipped to hate a Jew the Jewish way, for petty personal reasons, rather than right-wing conspiracy talking point reasons.” Thank you for this important resource @joshgondelman
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
8 years
This 2012 clip of David Letterman mocking "big dopey, puffy Donald Trump" is amazing. (cc @zinoman )
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
5 years
“We can’t properly address the growth of anti-Semitism without an understanding of how that hatred is originating, spreading, and being acted upon.” Wise words from ⁦ @PopChassid ⁩.
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Andrew Esensten
3 years
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
11 months
At our family Thanksgiving gathering, my cousin Carole was very excited to tell me about how her book club recently read @KosherSoul ’s latest book and made different recipes from it. “We really took it seriously!” she said.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
3 years
@hknightsf Some competition in the Sunset
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
Reggae singer and Rastafarian @ChronixxMusic visiting fellow vegans--the African Hebrew Israelites--today in Dimona. (via @ahmahlyah )
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
@lildickytweets Most Jewish?
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 months
"We counted 430 inaccuracies, many countering the words of the Torah. However it was the negative portrayal of the prophets Moses, Aaron and Miriam that were the most damaging to the story." Read @BluegrassRabbi 's review of "Testament" ➡️ @jewishsf
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 years
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
The Forgotten Jewish Pirates of Jamaica
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
Well, if this is the end of Twitter, it’s been real. Be kind to each other. Read more books. And don’t blame Jews for your problems—unless, of course, you’re also Jewish and Jews are actually the source of your problems. If that’s the case, I can relate!
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
@maimonides_nutz Hashkiveinu. Simple yet profound. And I love the line: “shelter us in the shadow of your wings”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
On how (Ashkenazi) Jewish food gets presented on TV: “When have you ever seen Jewish food on television other than as a bad joke? I’m tired of that.“
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
My 95-year-old great uncle and cousin @RandiGeff flew to NOLA to cheer on the @LAClippers , so KTLA put them on TV. #ClipperNation
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
3 years
Israel's Ministry of Interior has notified about 40 families belonging to the African Hebrew Israelite community based in Dimona that they must leave the country within 60 days or they will be deported, according to Dimona Mayor Benny Biton.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
1 year
I watch a lot of documentaries. #DearMamaFX is one of the best series I've seen. The intros to each episode are works of art. The storytelling — weaving Pac's story with his mother's — is complex and moving. Glo, Pac's aunt, keeps it real. Watch it!
@Hughes2Society
Allen Hughes
1 year
Stream all 5 episodes on Hulu now! #DearMamaFX @hulu @FXNetworks
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
8 years
@DMendelsohn1960 @JoyceCarolOates Actually, nearly 3 million more people wanted the insider with the experience. We got the other guy.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
NPR's @arishapiro — who as a child in Fargo attended services at both Orthodox and Reform synagogues — will be at @bookpassage on Friday, 3/31 promoting his new memoir, “The Best Strangers in the World.” @EmmaAudreyGoss 's story ➡️ @jewishsf
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 years
Important question from @yumcoconutmilk : “Why does black anti-Semitism — admittedly a pernicious and ugly force — get so much more attention than white anti-Semitism, though it poses less of a threat?”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
1 year
“To be a Black girl from Jersey who decides that Dana Owens is no longer big or accurate enough to describe who she is,” says the journalist Danyel Smith, “and to change her name to Queen Latifah — it was just bold.”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
In the novel "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow," a Jewish character creates a Holocaust computer game similar to @br 's real board game "Train." But "Train" goes uncredited. I wrote about the controversy & the ethics of Holocaust games ➡️ @jewishsf
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
This looks to be a significantly larger demonstration by Israel United in Christ than the one at Barclays on Nov. 9.
@Krisplashed
Kristian Winfield
2 years
Black Hebrew Israelites are outside Barclays Center singing ahead of Kyrie Irving’s return from suspension tonight
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Andrew Esensten
3 years
Some personal news, as they say. @ilanayurkiewicz
@jewishsf
J. The Jewish News of Northern California
3 years
Mazel tov to Dr. Ilana Yurkiewicz and our very own culture editor Andrew @Esensten ! Check out this week's full lifecycle announcements here: #Weddings #MazelTov #JoinTheJewishConversation
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
On seeing an Asian Jewish Seder plate (based on his African American Seder plate): “I cried because it means that things are changing. We’re doing the work, and someone’s child will be able to see themselves in something that is expanding the boundaries of Torah.”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
3 years
Israel is moving forward with the deportation of over 100 African Hebrew Israelites who lack legal status in the country, according to community activists.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 years
@summerbrennan @mordkhetzvi On the one hand: they tried to be inclusive. On the other: they didn’t try hard enough to get it right. It’s so 2019.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
TOMORROW: Jewish satirist Andy Borowitz ( @BorowitzReport ) will be in S.F. for a @cityartssf event. His new book, "Profiles in Ignorance," traces the arc of vacuity and lies that have, in Borowitz’s view, infected the American conservative movement.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
TONIGHT: Michael Twitty ( @KosherSoul ) will speak about his new memoir at @JCCSF . “I’m kind of blatant about the idea that being American is by default being intersectional," the Black, Jewish and gay author told me recently. Details ➡️ @jewishsf
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 months
“It doesn’t make sense that the most prominent Black Jew in entertainment is going through this right now,” @ylove told me. “I feel like there’s antisemitic forces at play here regarding the war.”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
4 years
High Holidays during a pandemic means virtually attending services wherever you want. I'm at Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, led by Rabbi Capers Funnye.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
Are you a JOC (Jew of color) artist looking to promote your work? @bechollashon has put out a call for visual, written, or performance pieces that respond to the current moment through a Jewish lens. Deadline to submit is August 15. @RabbiRuth
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 months
This is actually very funny
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Andrew Esensten
3 years
A multiracial Jewish family appeared on network television for quite possibly the first time last week. I spoke w/ paterfamilias @theJoshuaRS about being on #HomeSweetHome , working w/ series creator @ava , and searching for a home in the Jewish community.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
4 years
They made Hubie Brown work on Christmas with no voice smh #NBAXmas
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
It turns out there are actually 3 active NBA and G League players who are Jewish. Domantas Sabonis' wife Shashana told me today the @SacramentoKings All-Star center converted before they wed in 2021.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
"I love this idea of 'Jewpanese' because...it's me saying that I am worthy of each of these cultures." For @jewishsf , @EmmaAudreyGoss spoke with my friend Carmel Tanaka about her oral history project on folks with Jewish & Japanese heritage.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
For years, I had been hearing land acknowledgment statements read before Jewish events in the Bay Area. I got curious about that practice, and about what Jewish solidarity with Native Americans looks like beyond those statements. My story in @jewishsf :
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
“Fine said Jewish interest in wrestling has increased in recent years, in part thanks to Maxwell Jacob Friedman (known simply as “MJF”), the current AEW world champion and an outspoken and proud Jew.”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
It's certainly possible that Brown was unaware that the people in this video represent IUIC. An NBA reporter should ask him...
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
While Kyrie Irving serves a suspension for promoting an antisemitic film, Orthodox Jewish hooper Ryan Turell makes his pro debut in the G League. What a world
@nbagleague
NBA G League
2 years
RYAN TURELL MAKES HIS G LEAGUE DEBUT WITH THE @MotorCityCruise ! 🔥 The @YUNews legend is looking to become the first Orthodox Jew in NBA history.
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Andrew Esensten
3 months
Hebrew Israelites: Black people are the descendants of the ancient Israelites! Mormons: We’re the descendants of the ancient Israelites! This guy: Palestinians are the descendants of the ancient Israelites! Jews: We’re so tired.
@nntaleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
3 months
If this is true then the entire idea falls apart (it appears to be largely true according to genetics); further Yemenis and Morrocans were also converts. Palestinians are the descendants of the ancient Israelites.
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Andrew Esensten
3 years
During her confirmation hearings today, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson referred to Yah Kai v. Napper, a 2016 trademark infringement case she heard as a D.C. district court judge that involved members of the African Hebrew Israelite community.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
1 year
Hundreds gathered at Shir Hadash in Los Gatos tonight to pray for Israel and show solidarity. @jewishsf
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
5 years
NYT: The NJ kosher supermarket attackers were “acting on their own,” no formal Hebrew Israelite ties established.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
1 year
A bit of good news from Israel: Yosef Kibita, the first member of Uganda's Abayudaya Jewish community to apply for citizenship in Israel, has received temporary residency status following a court battle. (via Sara Cohen/FB)
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
6 years
My favorite cartoon in this week’s @NewYorker , by @lizadonnelly (who must be a cat person).
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
“No one who has heard the Black Hebrew Israelites on street corners with megaphones in hand can deny the racial trauma they cantankerously amplify nor ignore the Black suffering, from slavery to the present day, from which they desperately seek relief.”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
The African Hebrew Israelites deserve Israeli citizenship after nearly 50 years in the country. My case @haaretzcom .
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
1 year
@AvivaKlompas @WashWizards Aviva, these are Maccabi Ra'anana players, not Wizards players. The Wizards don't wear shorts with Israeli flags on them. Maccabi Ra'anana played several games against NBA teams this month during the NBA pre-season.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
1 year
A Palestinian student at El Camino Community College in SoCal referred to "the oppressive apartheid state of Israel" in her graduation speech on Fri. She said she was inspired by a speaker who singled out Israel during CUNY Law School's graduation in May.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
Twitty: “I love Judaism. I’m also not ashamed to say there are lots of elements of African spirituality in my life.”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
Twitty: “The fact that we — our mothers, the women — used food to express love when they knew that their children could be the victims of enslavement or genocide at any moment. So they prayed over the food, and those prayers became part of the tradition.”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
That's not alt-history. It's actual history. The country is called Liberia. 🇱🇷
@Slate
Slate
7 years
Amazon announces Black America, an alt-history show in which freed slaves get their own country:
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
There’s been lots of discussion about who Hebrew Israelites are/aren’t, but little attention has been paid to how many there are & how their ideology spreads. I looked at the data & spoke with folks inside & outside the movement for ⁦ @JTAnews ⁩.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
“Also when we sit around eating, we talk about the next food we’re going to have. This is what people in constant exile do.”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
Starting to see a pattern.
@maggieNYT
Maggie Haberman
7 years
This is not dissimilar to the Holocaust Day statement including "all sufferers" not mentioning Jews
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Andrew Esensten
3 years
Props to @MeyersLeonard for educating himself and doing teshuvah (repentance). We should all be rooting for him to get back on an NBA team
@thislouis
Louis Keene
3 years
Meyers Leonard says he had suicidal thoughts after he used an antisemitic slur on a livestream last March:
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
On Clubhouse yesterday, Amar'e Stoudemire said Jews of European descent are converts and the U.S. government conspired to keep Black people from knowing their true identity as the children of Israel. (h/t @VocabMalone )
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
9 years
My favorite cartoon in this week's @NewYorker , by Edward Steed. cc @summerbrennan
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
Hope Jared's having a restful Shabbos!
@markmobility
Mark Elliott
7 years
If this is true, we would regard Kushner as a traitor -- former top CIA official
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
On Jews and African Americans: “We’re the only two peoples on the face of the earth that demand you eat awful things. Why do we have to eat our oppression?”
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
1 year
A new docuseries on Tupac Shakur and his mother Afeni features the rapper’s first manager in the Bay Area, a Jewish woman named Leila Steinberg. I spoke with her about what it was like mentoring (and learning from) Pac ➡️ @jewishsf #DearMamaFX
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
8 years
Just learned that folks with verified accounts on @twitter get filters to weed out racist, anti-Semitic, etc. tweets. Why not give to all?
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
2 years
Best J. cover ever?
@jewishsf
J. The Jewish News of Northern California
2 years
If you're a print subscriber, keep your eye out for this year's Hanukkah cover in your mailbox, the first ever @jewishsf x @maimonides_nutz collaboration
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
8 years
My favorite cartoon in this week's @NewYorker , by @PaulNoth (cc @summerbrennan ).
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
7 years
Wearing my lucky @Ohmeomy socks for today’s @LAClippers game. It’s an important one. #ItTakesEverything
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
10 months
More than 200k people of African descent live in Israel, including Jews, Hebrew Israelites and asylum seekers. For @JTAnews , I spoke with several Black Israelis who are sharing their stories and defending Israel on social media.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
3 years
The affected African Hebrews will be contesting the deportations in court, according to Haaretz.
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@esensten
Andrew Esensten
1 year
#ClipperNation has lost its North Star. May Jack Esensten’s memory be a blessing. And may @LAClippers win a championship one day for him!
@RandiGeff
Randi Geffner
1 year
the loss of a legend. 💔🏀💔
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