Susan Esther Barnes (JTA) — Susan Esther Barnes had had a rough two years. Her father’s death in April 2011 came as a shock; she hadn’t even known he had been hospitalized. And his widow’s leaving town for a week complicated plans for his funeral and burial. As executor of his will,… Read more »
SDEROT, Israel (JTA) — A thick concrete bomb shelter sits by the side of a central street in this embattled southern Israeli town, but Naomi Moravia can’t get inside. Shelters like this one are crucial in Sderot, which is located about a mile from the Gaza Strip and is… Read more »
A model of the Second Temple at an exhibit of Third Temple vessels in the Temple Institute's offices in Jerusalem. (Ben Sales/JTA) JERUSALEM (JTA) – No praying. No kneeling. No bowing. No prostrating. No dancing. No singing. No ripping clothes. These are the rules that Jews must abide by when visiting the Temple Mount, the site where the First and Second Holy Temples once stood, located above and behind the Western… Read more »
Ilya Farber during his trial in Tver, Russia, July 2013. (Zhekov.ru) MOSCOW (JTA) — Clutching the bars of the defendant’s cage, Ilya Farber assumes the posture of a crucifix as he proclaims his innocence and pleads for freedom with characteristic thespian flare. “I implore the judge to rule in favor of the children,” the Moscow-born Jewish artist begs the court,… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — It’s not that often that Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah fall so close together on the calendar. This year they are but three days apart, providing an opportunity for some introspection on an issue that should be of concern to the entire American Jewish community:… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta, let’s begin by stating for the record: No, the Leo Frank case was not the impetus for the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. It is true that the organization, now… Read more »
(JTNews) — I have a bush outside of my house that blooms brilliant flowers each spring. With those flowers come honeybees. Lots and lots of bees. When the bush starts growing out of control and I have this urge to break out my clippers and start trimming, something stops… Read more »
Aron Berger being interviewed earlier this year outside his daughter's state-funded elementary school in Antwerp. (Cnaaan Liphshiz) (JTA) — New government regulations are threatening the pedagogical autonomy of Antwerp’s haredi Orthodox schools and sowing division between hardliners and moderates over whether to bring the community’s school system into conformity with secular educational standards. Earlier this summer, the Flemish government issued decrees that would force both state-funded… Read more »
Happier times for Ethan Kadish, who remains critically ill in a cincinnati hospital after being hit by lightning at summer camp. (Courtesy Kadish family) NEW YORK (JTA) — On Aug. 17, two weeks after Ethan Kadish’s 13th birthday, the members of his family gathered around a Torah scroll in the chapel of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for a small ceremony marking his entrance into adulthood. This was not the Bar Mitzvah that Scott and… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — In 5773, the religious wars just would not go away. In Israel, elections that extended Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure as prime minister delivered big wins to two anti-Orthodox-establishment upstarts, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett. For the first time in nearly two decades, Israel’s coalition government included… Read more »
Rabbi Uri Topolowsky and his family, seen here during a recent trip to Jerusalem, have left New Orleans and relocated to surburban Maryland. (Courtesy Uri Topolosky) (JTA) — It didn’t take long after Rabbi Uri Topolosky moved to New Orleans in 2007 for the moderate Orthodox rabbi to win plaudits for helping the city’s Jewish community heal following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The congregation Topolosky was hired to lead, Beth Israel, had seen its building… Read more »
Secretary of State John Kerry said chemical weapons had been used to kill scores of people during the ongoing civil war in Syria in an appearance at the State Department, Aug. 26, 2013. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Following reports of what was almost certainly a chemical weapons attack in Syria, the White House has made moves indicating it may be inching closer to military intervention in the 2 1/2-year civil war there. Among the moves: moving warships toward the eastern Mediterranean and… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — Incidents of physical and sexual abuse at Yeshiva University were not limited to its high school for boys, an investigation has found. The investigation commissioned by the university and carried out by the New York-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell followed reports of sexual abuse… Read more »
"Today Show" host Kathie Lee Gifford, shown at an event in 2009, expressed her desire to become a rabbi. (Shutterstock) NEW YORK (6NoBacon Staff) — President Obama closed out his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard with what was likely a very funny round of golf. According to CNN, the president teed off on Saturday at Farm Neck Golf Club with Larry David, co-creator of “Seinfeld” and creator of “Curb Your… Read more »
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Here’s the buzz about Rosh Hashanah: Beyond a congregation or family, it takes a hive to have a holiday. You may have your tickets, new dress or suit and High Holidays app, but without the honey in which to dip a slice of apple, where… Read more »
Eric Anderson as Shlomo Carlebach in the Broadway production "Soul Doctor." (Carol Rosegg) NEW YORK (JTA) — Few figures in the last hundred years — if any — have had as broad an impact on Jewish life as Shlomo Carlebach. Despite the controversies that dogged Carlebach in his lifetime, today there is nary a quarter of the Jewish world where his melodies… Read more »
Eritrean refugees gathering outside Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem for a demonstration against the deportation of refugees from Israel, June 9, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Hanging by his feet in a torture cell in the Sinai Desert, Dawit Demoz knew he had only one way to escape a nearly certain death: He would have to make good on his captors’ demand of a $3,500 ransom to buy his freedom. Demoz,… Read more »
Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman gestures toward a new platform built for egalitarian prayer at Robinson's Arch. (JTA/Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s religious services minister, Naftali Bennett, has unveiled a temporary platform for non-Orthodox prayer at Robinson’s Arch, the archaeological site adjacent to the Western Wall plaza used by egalitarian groups. The platform, which will include Torah scrolls, prayer books and prayer shawls and be open… Read more »
While the bloody civil war in Syria rages on, Israel keeps a watchful eye on the Israeli-Syrian border, making sure the fighting between the rebels and the Assad forces doesn’t spill over into the Golan Heights. One of the rebel groups calls itself the Martyrs of the Yarmouk Brigades.… Read more »
LOS ANGELES (Jewish Journal) — I started building my sukkah in December. To those of you who are sukkah DIYers, you know how ridiculous this sounds. A sukkah is the ritual hut that Jews build each year on the holiday of Sukkot, which begins this year on the evening… Read more »
