Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli police during clashes in eastern Jerusalem, Sept. 18, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — For Israelis, the Ten Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur have turned into days of violence. Unrest has swelled in Jerusalem following an Israeli ban on a protest group at the Temple Mount, the holy site known to Muslims as the Haram… Read more »
Hans Breuer at his pasture near Vienna, March 2015. (Courtesy of Hans Breuer)
(JTA) — Even at his remote sheep pasture in the Austrian countryside, Hans Breuer was too disturbed by the plight of the Syrian refugees streaming into his country to go about his daily routine. Especially troubling to Breuer, a 61-year-old Jewish shepherd and singer of Yiddish songs, were the overcrowded conditions at… Read more »
(JTA) — Israelis get around the globe, as anyone who has traveled to Thailand, Goa or Patagonia knows. Writers, too, are known for living outside the lands of their birth – Czech-born Milan Kundera lives in Paris and writes in French; Jhumpa Lahiri moved to Rome in 2012 and wrote her… Read more »
(Heritage Florida Jewish News via JTA) – It all started with a little bump on his neck. Now Jason Mendelsohn is on a mission to conquer cancer and spread the word about human papilloma virus-related cancer, or HPV. In April 2014, Mendelsohn was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, which… Read more »
Joc Pederson taking a swing against the Washington Nationals, Aug. 12, 2015. (Hillel Kuttler)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Ask Los Angeles Dodgers’ rookie outfielder Joc Pederson how his season is going, and he’ll talk about the team. “We’re playing great baseball, and that’s something we’re looking to continue to do,” a shy and wary Pederson told JTA recently following a spirited game of dice with… Read more »
Richard Joel NEW YORK (JTA) — Richard Joel, the president of Yeshiva University, announced that he will step down by the end of his current term. Joel, 65, made the announcement Sept. 10 in an email sent to Y.U. staff, students and alumni, and obtained by JTA. His term is set… Read more »
From left, Chef Roy Choi, Martin Short and Phil Rosenthal in a scene from the new PBS show "I'll Have What Phil's Having." (Courtesy WGBH)
(JTA) — Next year in Jerusalem. At least that’s Phil Rosenthal’s plan. Rosenthal is best known as the creator and behind-the-scenes genius of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” the successful sitcom starring (and based on the comedy of) Ray Romano. But now Rosenthal is in front of the camera and the… Read more »
WEIMAR, GERMANY - APRIL 12: The figural group by Fritz Cremer and the belltower at the memorial for the victims of the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald are seen during the marking the 70th anniversary of the camp's liberation which takes place at the Buchenwald memorial on April 12, 2015 near Weimar, Germany. The Nazis began incarcerating mostly political prisoners at the camp in 1937, and later added Jews and prisoners-of-war in an operation that provided slave labor for factories in the region. An estimated 56,000 prisoners died at Buchenwald before its liberation by U.S. troops on April 11, 1945 following an uprising by prisoners. (Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – A small government agency for preserving European historical sites has been accused of criminal malfeasance, roiling Jewish community officials who say the agency has played a critical role in memorializing Europe’s Jewish past. The controversy surrounding the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad offers a… Read more »
Refugee children visit a fire station in Berlin, September 2015. (Judith Kessler)
BERLIN (JTA) — When supporters of the anti-immigrant PEGIDA movement and right-wing extremists in the former East Germany started demonstrating by the tens of thousands this year against foreigners and “American Zionist” policies, I got mad. When the first refugee homes in Germany were set on fire, I was shocked. When… Read more »
Rabbi Barry Freundel exits the courthouse after entering his guilty plea, Feb. 19, 2015. (Dmitriy Shapiro)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Writing from his jail cell last week, just days before the Jewish New Year, Rabbi Barry Freundel said he was sorry. It was the rabbi’s first public statement since his arrest almost a year ago and his subsequent sentencing to 6-and-1/2 years behind bars for secretly filming women undressing in… Read more »
Haredi Orthodox Israelis protest in Jerusalem against compulsory military service for men, Aug. 25, 2015. (FLASH90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Secular and haredi Orthodox Israelis differ on many things, but there’s one thing both sides agree on: When it comes to religious affairs, the government is failing. That’s one of the findings of an annual survey of Israeli religious identification and attitudes toward religious policy released… Read more »
Jenn Book Haselwerdt (Courtesy of the author) My 4-year-old son can’t get enough of dragons and monsters, and — as is appropriate for his age — asking questions about dragons and monsters. Books about the topic have completely taken over our library shelf. He loves reading legends and contemporary stories about them, from luck dragons to… Read more »
The driver, Mohammed, holding an etrog. (Ben Sales)
ASSADS, Morocco (JTA) — We had to cross the gorge, and the only way was to walk single file on a narrow concrete gutter, maybe a foot wide, that bridged the two cliffs. Below us was a long, perilous drop onto the rocky depths. I was traveling deep into the rural communities of… Read more »
Don Francisco -- born Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld -- celebrating the 50th anniversary of his record-making show "Sabado Gigante." (Courtesy of Univision)
(JTA) — On Saturday, the Spanish language television network Univision will host the final broadcast of “Sábado Gigante.” With 53 years on TV, the world’s longest-running variety show is an eclectic, strange mashup of a game show, a talk show and live entertainment. There are singing competitions — the poor-performing contestants are… Read more »
Merchants walk a dirt path between the coastal city of Agadir, Morocco, and the highland etrog groves in Assads, Sept. 8, 2015. (Ben Sales)
ASSADS, Morocco (JTA) — Why the Jews want etrogs, Mohammed Douch does not entirely understand. What he does know is that they are his main customers. Each August and September, Jewish merchants come from around the world to his remote grove in the highlands of Morocco — an hourlong hike through… Read more »
Migrants and refugees with temporary documents board a ferry to take them to Athens at the port of the Greek island of Kos on August 14, 2015. (Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, Calif. (JTA) — Arab Americans advocating on behalf of Syrian refugees have found some unlikely allies in their effort to resettle families from the war-torn nation: influential Jewish groups. Over the last few days, HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, launched a petition drive calling on President… Read more »
Dr. Oliver Sacks speaks at Columbia University in New York City, June 3, 2009. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
(JTA) — On Aug. 30, at age 82, noted neurologist and author Dr. Oliver Sacks succumbed to a cancer that first plagued him nearly a decade ago, paused, and recently reappeared. One of his last essays, published posthumously, appears in the Sept. 14 issue of The New Yorker and… Read more »
(TAZPIT) – A statistical survey conducted by Smith Consulting Co. for the NGO, ‘Hiddush – For Religious Freedom and Equality’ has revealed the changes in the distribution of Israeli Jewish citizens according to the different religious denominations they identify with. The Hiddush NGO publishes its annual Religion-State Index every… Read more »
This week, a group of undergraduates from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University concluded a 10-day visit in Israel. During their trip they met with people from right and left, Arabs and Jews, Palestinians and Israelis, religious and non-religious Jews, settlers and others and, as future journalists,… Read more »
Jenna Langert (front row, fourth from left) with her Brandeis group in front of the Knesset menorah in Jerusalem Jenna Langert, 23, a 2014 University of Arizona graduate, is currently pursuing a two-year Master of Arts degree in international economics and finance at the Brandeis International Business School. Her specializations are in data analytics and business economics. Jenna traveled to Israel May 18-28 as part of the Hassenfeld… Read more »
