National

(JTA) — Six days ago, on Shabbat, Rabbi Jonathan Perlman was hiding in a pitch-black storage closet as one of his congregants was shot dead in front of him. The time since has been filled with funerals, counseling congregants and figuring out how to move forward as a community,… Read more »

(JTA) — Before he shot dead 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, Robert Bowers blamed one Jewish organization: HIAS, an immigrant aid group that has been helping refugees since the 1880s. “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” he wrote on his website. “I can’t sit by and watch… Read more »

  PITTSBURGH (JTA) — Cecil Rosenthal would always ask after your sick mother or inquire about your marriage — or divorce. His brother, David, a jokester, loved the police and every year would buy the same sunglasses with mirrored lenses. At a moving ceremony Tuesday, relatives stood before a… Read more »

This is a developing story.  (JTA) — The chief medical examiner of Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County released the names of the 11 victims of the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh Saturday. The victims include two brothers, as well as a husband and wife. The youngest victim was 59 and the oldest… Read more »

PITTSBURGH (JTA) — It is after all, as any local will tell you, Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. People here look out for one another. So when a group of students from Alderdice, a high school in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, emerged from their synagogues, their homes, their cafes after three… Read more »

(JTA) — The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting should be a turning point for the security of American Jewish institutions, a former leader of Belgian Jewry said. Joel Rubinfeld, a former president of the CCOJB umbrella group of Belgian Jewish communities and the current president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism,… Read more »

(JTA) — The shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue that has left 11 people dead has been described as “horrific,” “heinous” and “devastating” by Jewish leaders, politicians and Israeli leaders. “Our hearts are broken,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh posted on Facebook, saying it was making an exception and using social media… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Federal authorities arrested a man on Friday in Florida in connection with a series of mail bombs sent to figures who have been the target of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric. The media reported that the man was in his 50s. At least 12 explosive devices have… Read more »

Nancy Johnson, left, and Tim Hartin

Two Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona affinity groups will hold a joint event next month to discuss America’s growing opioid crisis and its effects on the local community. The Tucson Maimonides Society and Tucson Cardozo Society will host two local experts on the subject. Nancy Johnson, R.N., Ph.D., the… Read more »

The Trump Administration recently proposed an unprecedented expansion in our country’s public charge rules for applicants for citizenship. For the first time, a legal immigrant to the United States can be considered ineligible for citizenship simply because they utilize SNAP — our nation’s food stamp program. These new public… Read more »

Rep. Lee Zeldin speaks at an event hosted by the Zionist Organization of America on Capitol Hill, May 9, 2018. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) —  There are 16 Jewish Republican candidates running in U.S. House of Representatives races this fall. Two are incumbents and 14 are challengers. JTA is breaking down the races, assessing where the candidates stand on the political spectrum, noting their Jewish involvement and reporting what… Read more »

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, touring Israel on one of her final overseas trips as a congresswoman, is being feted as one of the Jewish state’s best friends in Congress. Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1989, met Monday… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — An unknown assailant sent bombs to at least four prominent targets this week, each with a notable return address: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Jewish congresswoman from South Florida. The question arises: Why would the assailant want to implicate her in attacks on George Soros, the Jewish… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — On Sunday, a day before thousands of American Jews descended on this Israeli city to air their differences with the nation’s government, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin had a listening session. Rivlin invited a select group of about 100 American Jews to his official residence in… Read more »

(JTA) — The Conservative movement’s rabbinical association will allow its rabbis to attend intermarriages. The policy change, which reverses a ban of four decades, was made last week in a vote of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which determines the centrist movement’s Jewish legal rulings.… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Ten Jewish-American baseball players gained Israeli citizenship and can now help the country’s national team in international competition leading up to the 2020 Olympics. The players together applied for and received citizenship on Wednesday at the Bureau of Population and Immigration office in Jaffa. They and… Read more »

(JTA) — When one hears the name Rube Goldberg, one concept instantly comes to mind: those fun machines that complete simple tasks in overly complicated and humorous ways. Think a ball rolling down a long ramp that hits a series of dominoes, which hits something else, so on and… Read more »

ENCINO, Calif. (JTA) — Curiosity about my ancestry spurred me to order an at-home genetic testing kit by mail earlier this year. Maybe my blonde hair was a result of some hidden Swedish genes? When the kit arrived, I quickly spit in the tube and sent it off, not… Read more »

(JTA) — In 1922, Harvard University President Abbott Lawrence Lowell had a problem: His school had too many Jews. At least that’s what he thought. As the country’s Jewish population ballooned in the early 20th century, the Jewish proportion of Harvard students increased exponentially, too. In 1900, just 7… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Fliers blaming Jews for the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared in seeming random locations around the country last week. “Every time some Anti-White, Anti-American, Anti-freedom event takes place, you look at it, and it’s Jews behind it,” the fliers read. They showed an image of the… Read more »