Posts By Alexandra Pere

(JTA) — A New York suburb with a large haredi Orthodox population has declared a state of emergency over a serious measles outbreak. Rockland County will prohibit unvaccinated minors under the age of 18 from going to public places, including school, shopping centers, business and synagogues. The prohibition, which… Read more »

Ayala, 11, a student with a cognitive disability, communicates via a computer screen with her teacher, Rivka Dimant, in a school at Aleh Negev, a campus for Israelis with disabilities, Oct. 25, 2018. (Ben Sales)

OFAKIM, Israel (JTA) — Ayala’s eyes darted around the screen, choosing words and pictures as her teacher asked her rapid-fire questions. Ayala, 11, has a cognitive disability that prevents her from speaking. But she can communicate thanks to a screen that reads her eye movements and transmits answers to… Read more »

(JTA) — The Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh is paying it forward. The congregation has raised more than $40,000 to support the victims and their families of the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. “We feel compelled to come to the aid of those communities, just as our… Read more »

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (JTA) — On this island south of Barcelona, Jews celebrate Purim these days pretty much as they do most anywhere else in Europe. There’s the reading of the Book of Esther at the small synagogue near the marina, followed by a costume party bringing together… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The House hearing was about foreign aid, and almost as soon as it started it took a political turn: The most powerful congressional appropriator was asking one of Washington’s most influential lobbyists about bipartisanship. “What in your view would be the consequence of making Israel a… Read more »

(JTA) — Ukraine’s presidential elections is shaping up to be a case of life imitating art. The leading candidate in the March 31 vote is Volodymyr Zelensky, a Ukrainian-Jewish comedian who portrays a history teacher turned president in his hit television show “Servant of the People.” Polls conducted throughout… Read more »

(JTA) — U.S. President Donald Trump, who left Vietnam Thursday after failing to reach a deal on denuclearization with North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, said he believes Kim was not aware that American Jewish college student Otto Warmbier was in such bad shape. Warmbier was detained in the country for over a… Read more »

(JTA) — A French rabbi says half of his regular congregants have left his city because of anti-Semitism. “It’s a troubling phenomenon that began about 15 years ago,” Rabbi Nissim Sultan of Grenoble said in an interview Tuesday with the France Bleu Isère radio station. “I mean the departure… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) – It’s a story that would not sound too out of place in 2019: New York’s leading newspaper accuses the president of the United States of corruption and the latter sues the paper’s publisher for libel. Striking back, the publisher declares in an editorial that his… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — While looking at family photos, historian Pamela Nadell noticed how female relatives dressed differently with each generation. Her great-grandmother wore a high lace collar and covered her hair with a wig, like some Orthodox Jews. Her daughter’s go-to is a pair of skinny jeans. Nadell, a… Read more »

(JTA) — Israel is the 10th healthiest country in the world — 54 spots ahead of the United States. The Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, published Sunday, ranked 169 nations based on factors such as life expectancy and access to sanitation and medical care. Countries were penalized for tobacco use and obesity,… Read more »

JTA — A YouTube personality was shot outside of a synagogue and Jewish school in Los Angeles by a security guard who said the shot was meant to be a warning. Zhoie Perez, 45, a transgender free speech activist with a following in the thousands, was shot Thursday outside… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Shalva Band, a group of musicians with various disabilities, didn’t expect to advance so far in the competition to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest in May. But they made it all the way to the finals — and won’t find out if they… Read more »

GREENVILLE, S.C. (JTA) — When my father was 7 years old, he was placed in an orphanage. His own father had died and his mother’s mental illness prevented her from caring for him. Growing up, I heard his stories of “kid prison,” as he called it, and I dreamed… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A bipartisan slate of House members introduced a bill that would grant money to Holocaust education in schools. The Never Again Education Act would establish the Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund in the U.S. Treasury. The bill would combine appropriated funds and private donations. A release… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump linked his actions on Iran to the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, pivoting during his State of the Union address from his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal to a declaration that anti-Semitism must be confronted “anywhere and everywhere it occurs.” Trump… Read more »

(JTA) — A synagogue that was returned recently to Hungarian Jews following centuries of disuse hosted its first bar mitzvah in 332 years. The young celebrant, Yonatan Sebok, had his rite of passage event on Jan. 26 at the Buda Castle Synagogue, which reopened in September, the website Chabag.org reported Wednesday.… Read more »

(JTA) — A city in Germany has approved plans for a sausage museum to be built on the grounds of a former concentration camp. The national Bratwurst Museum would be built in an area that used to belong to the “Martha II” camp – an extension of the infamous… Read more »

(JTA) — Airbnb has been put on Florida’s list of scrutinized companies over its decision to remove listings of rooms and homes for rent in West Bank Jewish settlements. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Cabinet voted to place the company on the list following a recommendation by the… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — At a conference here on Jewish life in Africa, Magda Haroun spoke of being only one of a handful of Jews left in Egypt, a country that was once home to a Jewish community of 80,000. Abere Endeshaw Kerehu shared the struggles faced by the… Read more »