Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg speaks at a rally in New York City, Jan. 15, 2020. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — We ran a story last week on where the top seven Democrats running for president stood on Iran policy. Try as we could, we could not pin down a position for Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who was not included in the last debate,… Read more »
A view from outside the former death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland (Alexandre Marchi/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
OSWIECIM, Poland (JTA) — As the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz approaches, survivors are preparing to gather and commemorate the event, testifying to their faith in life over death. Political and religious leaders from around the world will be there, too, declaring that what happened in that dark abyss will… Read more »
Maria Nowak at her 100th birthday celebration in her home in Krakow, Poland, Jan. 20, 2020. (Tytus Kondracki)
(JTA) — One week before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, dozens of European officials arrived in Poland for a large commemoration event at Auschwitz. The delegation from the Brussels-based European Jewish Association visited the former Nazi death camp, located about 20 miles from Krakow, on Tuesday. Few of the officials,… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli soldiers shot three suspected Palestinian terrorists on Wednesday who had crossed the Gaza border fence into southern Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the infiltrators were hiding in a wooded area opposite Kibbutz Kissufim near the border. After one of the… Read more »
(JTA) — Amar’e Stoudemire has signed to play with the defending Israeli basketball champions Maccabi Tel Aviv, stirring calls of traitor from fans of his former Israeli squad of which the one-time NBA All-Star was a part owner. Stoudemire returns to Israel through the end of the season after… Read more »
Graham Chapman, left, and Terry Jones in a scene from Monty Python's "Life Of Brian," which debuted in 1979. (Warner Brothers/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Terry Jones, one of the core members of the Monty Python comedy troupe, died Tuesday night at 77. He had been suffering from dementia. In addition to starring in numerous Python productions, the beloved comedian directed some of the group’s biggest films, including “Monty Python and the… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — French President Emmanuel Macron shouted at Jerusalem police officers on Wednesday when they tried to accompany him into a Jerusalem church owned by the French government and considered French territory. “We know perfectly — everybody knows the rules. I don’t like what you did in front… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin promised Polish President Andrzej Duda “some kind of platform” to speak if he attended the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, according to a Rivlin official. The president’s residence director-general, Harel Tubi, told Radio South that Rivlin plans to invite Duda to… Read more »
At left, Joint Arab List members present their party list to the election committee at the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, Jan. 15, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90); at right, Labor Party leader Amir Peretz and Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz are seen at a meeting of the Labor-Gesher and Meretz parties list in Tel Aviv, Jan. 20, 2020. (Flash 90)
(JTA) — Two center-left parties in Israel merged their electoral lists last week ahead of a submission deadline for the March 2 election. Labor, the “founding party” of Israel, will run with Meretz, a left-wing party long committed to ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state. This reluctant… Read more »
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Jewish community center in Krakow along with a congressional delegation and received honorary membership. The bipartisan delegation led by Pelosi visited JCC Krakow on Tuesday after visiting the site of the former Auschwitz Nazi camp and touring the Auschwitz… Read more »
Jews wearing Star of David badges in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland. (Jewish Chronicle/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Half of American adults are unaware of basic facts regarding Nazism and the Holocaust, including the number of Jews who were killed and how Nazis came to power. Those are some of the findings of a new study by the Pew Research Center released on Tuesday, about… Read more »
An aerial view of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, Dec. 17, 2019. Dozens of world leaders are set to converge there for a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A major gathering of world leaders in Jerusalem meant to highlight the world’s determination to learn the lessons of the Holocaust has become mired in controversy even before it has started, dragging Israel into a battle over history debates still raging in Europe three-quarters of a… Read more »
(JTA) – A Polish lawmaker at the European Parliament shared on social media a drawing showing cows at a slaughterhouse wearing striped uniforms with yellow stars like the ones the Nazis made Jews wear at concentration camps. Sylwia Spurek, a 43-year-old Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats representative, shared… Read more »
Humberto Lopez, left, and Paul Baker, Jewish Latino Teen Coalition quinceañera co-chairs, display wind chimes presented to them and longtime JLTC Leader Shari Gootter (not pictured). Local artist Julie Szerina Stein created the unique pieces, which capture both cultures to make a “milagro-mizrach,” she says, using the Spanish word for a votive folk charm and the Hebrew word for an ornament hung on an eastern wall to indicate the direction for prayer.
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona welcomed more than 150 people Jan. 5 to honor Jewish Latino Teen Coalition founders Humberto Lopez and Paul Baker at a quinceañera/15th year celebration. Young adult alumni shared their stories, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and former Mayor Jonathan Rothschild delivered greetings, and Shari… Read more »
Susan Claassen will star in the Invisible Theatre’s production of “Becoming Dr. Ruth,” a one-woman show by Mark St. Germain, which will run Feb. 11-23. “It is a privilege and awesome responsibility to portray this amazing and iconic woman who has been a Jewish ‘She-ro’ to so many including… Read more »
Thousands of pro-gun rights protesters assembled outside the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Jan. 20, 2020. (Ron Kampeas)
RICHMOND, Va. (JTA) — Hedy Lapkin’s boyfriend wanted to attend the pro-gun rally in this capital city, but she had reservations. “My boyfriend has a lot of guns,” Lapkin, 79, said of her 83-year-old boyfriend. “He said, ‘You want to go to the rally?’ I said, ‘Are you out… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested immunity in the three corruption cases against him — and now the Knesset will discuss. The Israeli parliament’s Arrangements Committee said on Tuesday that the House Committee will begin immunity hearings on Jan. 30, though a House Committee has yet to… Read more »
Bryan Gryka, the chef and general manager of Milt's Barbeque for the Perplexed, will now be a controlling owner of the kosher restaurant. (Courtesy of Gryka)
CHICAGO (JTA) — A group of longtime employees is taking ownership of Milt’s Barbecue for the Perplexed, the popular kosher restaurant here that has been donating its profits to support local charities for seven years. Within months of opening in 2013, Milt’s menu of home-smoked meats and barbecue dishes… Read more »
(JTA) — The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, which preserves and promotes the study of Eastern European and Yiddish culture, has laid off four librarians to make up for a budget shortfall. The news was first reported by the Forward, which reported that the layoffs constitute the entire library staff.… Read more »
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a ceremony welcoming Ukrainians who were freed by pro-Russian rebels during a prisoner exchange at the Boryspil Airport outside Kyiv, Dec. 29, 2019. (Sergei Chuzavkov/AFP via Getty Images)
(JTA) — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine extolled Israelis as a “united, strong, powerful” and “unique” people in his first interview for an Israeli publication. The Times of Israel published the interview with the Jewish Zelensky on Sunday ahead of his arrival in Israel to attend the World Holocaust… Read more »
