Fish heads are commonly included in the Sephardic custom of "yehi ratzones." (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — For Rosh Hashanah, many of us eat an apple dipped in honey as an auspicious sign for a sweet new year. The symbolism is clear, and the ritual as easy to pull off as squeezing a bear-shaped plastic bottle of honey. But what kind of a… Read more »
Rabbis in swing states say their High Holidays sermons won't address the election head on, but will touch on more general civic themes. (Lior Zaltzman)
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah came around last year, Rabbi Aaron Gaber wanted to grapple with an issue roiling the country. So he decided to focus his sermon on racism. But several members of Brothers of Israel, a 120-family Conservative synagogue in suburban Philadelphia, weren’t pleased. “Some of the… Read more »
A flier posted in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn lists why haredi Orthodox Jews should vote for Donald Trump in November. (Courtesy of Jewish Democrats for Trump)
NEW YORK (JTA) — American Jews are likely to vote for Hillary Clinton in November, but American Jewry’s fastest-growing community is likely to go the other way. A solid majority of haredi Orthodox Jews will vote for Donald Trump, say experts and Republican operatives in the haredi enclave of Borough… Read more »
Hundreds of demonstrators in Los Angeles protesting the Iran nuclear deal, July 26, 2015. (Peter Duke)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Trump and Clinton campaigns issued tough-on-Iran statements in the wake of a report alleging that negotiators allowed Iran secret loopholes in the nuclear agreement. The Institute for Science and International Affairs, a think tank founded by a former United Nations nuclear weapons inspector, David Albright,… Read more »
Mira Marcus, the city of Tel Aviv's director of international press, with her dog Shani at the Kelaviv dog festival in Tel Aviv, Aug. 26, 2016. (Andrew Tobin)
It’s not every day you see a dog getting a massage. But in this Israeli city, somehow it seems expected. At Tel Aviv’s first official dog festival, hundreds of dogs took over Yehoshua Park and its dog park on Friday afternoon. As canine customers wandered among vendors selling dog-related products… Read more »
Sea Secret’s “Magic Marine” modest swimsuit (Courtesy of Sea Secret)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — According to the latest tally, at least 30 French municipalities have banned the product that the Paris-born businesswoman Yardena G. sells for a living. Yardena, a haredi Orthodox mother of nine from Jerusalem, owns the Sea Secret fashion label of modest swimwear for devoutly religious women.… Read more »
