National « AZ Jewish Post

Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Jr. and Justice Elena Kagan stand at the top of the steps following her formal Investiture Ceremony pn Oct. 1, 2010. (Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)

Jewish groups welcome Supreme Court’s ‘ministerial exception’ ruling

Posted under National, News on January 13th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two groups each known for their internal divisions on religion-state issues found themselves in a degree of accord this week: the justices of the United State Supreme Court and the organized Jewish community. In a decision issued Wednesday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the right of religious institutions to use “ministerial exception” [...]

Jewish Republicans watch nervously as favorites savage one another

Posted under National, News on January 10th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the Republican primary fight moves from New Hampshire to South Carolina, Newt Gingrich is stepping up his attacks on Mitt Romney and some prominent Jewish Republicans — who have a rich, mutually admiring history with both men — are wondering what happens next. Gingrich and a pro-Gingrich SuperPAC — reportedly funded [...]

Jack Lew, center, helps light the "national menorah" organized by American Friends of Lubavitch, with the group's director, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, left, and his father, Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, the director of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, Dec. 20, 2011. (Baruch Ezagui, courtesy American Friends of Lubavitch)

With Jack Lew’s appointment, Jewish community again has a White House address

Posted under National, News on January 10th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — @JewishWhiteHouse is back. President Obama on Monday announced that Jack Lew, his director of the Office of Budget and Management — a Cabinet-level position — would replace William Daley as White House chief of staff. Lew, 56, was chosen for his long years in government and his reputation as a skilled multitasker [...]

Rick Santorum, shown speaking to Iowa high school students in West Des Moines on Jan. 3, 2012, is reaching out to pro-Israel donors to boost his campaign following his strong showing in the state's caucuses. (Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons)

Santorum’s social conservatism could be a tough sell for Jews

Posted under National, News on January 9th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rick Santorum’s near-win in Iowa has made him the GOP’s latest “not Romney” to pick up steam, but he may have his work cut out for him in attracting Jewish support. Pro-Israel insiders say the Santorum campaign is now aggressively reaching out to Jewish givers who helped him when he was a [...]

Three winners in Iowa and three takeaways for Jews

Posted under National, News on January 4th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — There were three winners in the Iowa Republican caucuses: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and, not far behind them, Ron Paul. There were also (at least) three takeaways for Jewish observers: foreign policy matters, evangelicals matter — and Ron Paul matters. The importance of foreign policy in the 2012 presidential race, even in [...]

The ‘Jewish Jordan’ talks basketball, Judaism, and giving back

Posted under Arts and Culture, National, News on December 30th, 2011. Leave a Comment »

(JUF News) — “Jewish Jordan” — that’s the nickname Sports Illustrated gave Tamir Goodman when he was merely 17 years old and a high school junior at the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. Ranked among the best 25 high school basketball players in America, Goodman seemed set to become the first Orthodox Jew to play for [...]

Rep. Ron Paul, a Republican candidate for president whose views on Israel have unsettled some Jewish conservatives, speaking at the Western Republican Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, Oct. 19, 2011. (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons) /

Jewish conservatives push back against Paul surge

Posted under National, News on December 27th, 2011. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ron Paul’s unlikely rise in the Republican presidential race has Jewish conservatives on edge. The Texas congressman had been regarded as a fringe figure whose views, especially on foreign policy — including his opposition to the U.S.-Israel alliance — put him far outside the Republican mainstream. But new polls show Paul in [...]

Jack Rosen, second from left, the chairman of the American Council for World Jewry, in Pyongyang with a top North Korean official and other members of an ACWJ delegation in this undated 2009 photo. (Courtesy ACWJ)

When the Jews went to North Korea

Posted under National, News, World on December 23rd, 2011. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – When a delegation from the American Council for World Jewry went to North Korea, its agenda was typical of visits by Jewish organizations to developing nations: promote outreach to Israel, offer to broker assistance and training, gently raise problematic defense relations with Israel’s enemies. Pyongyang’s agenda was much simpler but just [...]

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama listening to a performance by the West Point Jewish Chapel Cadet Choir in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Dec. 8, 2011. (Pete Souza/Official White House Photo)

West Point’s Jewish choir sings for the president and diversity

Posted under Chanukah, National, News, Special Sections on December 20th, 2011. Leave a Comment »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) – It doesn’t get more “only in America” than this: A Christian president with an African-born Muslim father throws a Chanukah party at the White House, and the featured act is the West Point Jewish Chapel Cadet Choir — a group that serves as a beacon of Jewish pride and identity at the nation’s top [...]

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, left, was one of the conservative voices at this year's Reform biennial and Rabbi David Saperstein was one of the many liberal voices, Dec. 15, 2011. (Union for Reform Judaism)

Can Reform Jews be politically conservative? Yes, say the “1 percent”

Posted under National, News on December 19th, 2011. Leave a Comment »

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (JTA) — It’s not easy being a political conservative in the most liberal of Jewish religious denominations. Just ask the 40 or so people among the more than 5,000 attendees at last week’s biennial conference of the Union for Reform Judaism who showed up for a session on political conservatism. “We didn’t [...]