WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — Krzysztof Sliwinski, a longtime Catholic activist in Jewish-Polish relations, gazed wide-eyed at the swooping interior of this city’s Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Nearly two decades in the making, the more than $100 million institution officially opened to the public last month amid… Read more »
Posts By Jigsaw Digital
Budapest bistro Matzah Soldier drawing trendy clientele with a fresh take on grandma’s cooking
BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — On a corner in the heart of the former Jewish ghetto here, David Popovits sits down for some matzah ball soup and super-sized dumplings at his newly opened kosher-style restaurant. A burly, 40-year-old Hungarian Jewish businessman, Popovits used to eat in the restaurant as a… Read more »
Deception deals blow to reputation of prominent Orthodox rabbi, Michael Broyde
NEW YORK (JTA) — Until last week, Michael Broyde was considered one of the most respected Orthodox rabbis in America. A professor of law at Emory University, the author of dozens of books and articles, and a leading authority on the intersection of religious and secular law, Broyde was… Read more »
Who bombed Boston? Word for now is caution.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The day after the Boston Marathon bombing, President Obama called it an “act of terrorism.” What kind of terrorism, no one was ready to say — a caution that derives from years of wrongful speculation that on occasion has ruined innocent lives. Hours after the attack… Read more »
The Birthright Israel flip side: Fewer high school students traveling to Israel
NEW YORK (JTA) — With the summer travel season fast approaching, providers of Israel programs for teenagers are bracing themselves for what several say could be a season of historically low travel in a year unaffected by major security concerns. Over the past decade, Israel travel among those aged… Read more »
In aftermath of Boston Marathon bombings, Israeli Independence Day fetes are toned down
NEW YORK (JTA) — Israeli Independence Day celebrations in Boston were muted and security was increased in the wake of bombings that left three dead and dozens injured at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Mike Rosenberg, director of community relations at Maimonides, a Jewish day school in… Read more »
‘Running Rabbi’ recounts chaos at Boston Marathon, vows to run in next year’s race
(Jewish Exponent) — “It was a beautiful day. I was so excited to run and having such a good run. The crowd was unbelievable. The whole experience was amazing. It was almost magical.” That’s how the Boston Marathon began for Rabbi Benjamin David, head rabbi at Adath Emanu-El in Mount… Read more »
In U.S. fight over visa waiver exemption for Israel, both sides cite discrimination
WASHINGTON (JTA) – A legislative effort led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to enable Israelis to enter the United States without visas may be stymied by the government – Israel’s government. The hitch is Israel’s inability or unwillingness to fully reciprocate, something required for visa-free travel to… Read more »
Plagiarism scandal finally fells France’s celebrity chief rabbi, who resigns
(JTA) — “When Gilles Bernheim speaks, France listens.” That’s how Avraham Weill, the chief rabbi of Toulouse, describes what he believes was the main appeal of his charismatic mentor, who on Thursday resigned as chief rabbi of France after admitting to several instances of plagiarism and falsely using an… Read more »
Construction of new Kotel site may begin within one month, Sharansky says
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Natan Sharansky said the implementation of his plan to expand the non-Orthodox prayer site at the Western Wall could begin in as little as one month. In an interview Thursday with JTA, Sharansky sounded cautiously optimistic about his proposal to create an egalitarian space equal in… Read more »
In Iran talks, North Korea parallel goes only so far
WASHINGTON (JTA) — If you have nuclear weapons, all sorts of bad behavior will be tolerated. That’s the lesson some are worried Iran may be learning from North Korea’s increasingly confrontational stance against South Korea and the United States. Pyongyang has stepped up its belligerent rhetoric in recent days,… Read more »
Remembering Jackie Robinson’s fight with black nationalists over anti-Semitism
NEW YORK (JTA) — Moviegoers who head this weekend to the AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9 for the opening of “42” will see the story of how Jackie Robinson displayed legendary courage, class and talent in the face of immense pressure and racial hatred as he broke down baseball’s color barrier.… Read more »
Rabbi Grafman, Dr. King and the letter from Birmingham Jail
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Southern Jewish Life) — “Are you still a bigot?” Every year for the rest of his life, students studying the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” would call Rabbi Milton Grafman, knowing little of the situation in 1963 Birmingham, and pose that question. His… Read more »
Thatcher remembered for her affection for Britain’s Jews
WASHINGTON (JTA) — History will remember former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for relentlessly facing down communism and helping to turn back more than three decades of socialist advance in her country. But it was Thatcher’s embrace of British Jews and insistent promotion of Jews in her Conservative Party… Read more »
Israel at 65: From Rummikub to the ‘God Particle’: A timeline of Israeli innovations
NEW YORK (JTA) — While a great deal of international and media focus has been placed on Israel’s military conflicts, the country quietly has become an energetic, ambitious incubator of entrepreneurialism and invention. What follows is a timeline chronicling some of the most important and interesting innovations produced by Israelis during… Read more »
Security prep for Memphis Klan rally seen as national model
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (JTA) — Cantor Ricky Kampf descends from the bimah, adjusts his prayer shawl and strides up the aisle, cutting through the cavernous sanctuary to greet the familiar out-of-towner. “Y’all here for the shindig?” Kampf says at the Baron Hirsch Synagogue here as he grasps the hand of… Read more »
Seeking Kin: In two cases, the lost are found
The Seeking Kin column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA) – Earlier this month, a “Seeking Kin” column concluded with Rozanne Dittersdorf of New York expressing hope that Phyllis Garfunkel, a childhood friend with whom she lost contact in the late 1940s, “found happiness over… Read more »
Diane von Furstenberg, fashion icon and Holocaust museum supporter
NEW YORK (JTA) — Diane von Furstenberg takes a seat at her long, farm table-inspired desk inside her office on the fifth floor in this city’s Meatpacking District. The studio is so vividly colored, so overly patterned and so decked out in exotic tchotchkes, von Furstenberg is one of… Read more »
For one Holocaust survivor, Siemens was a roadblock to his story
BERLIN (JTA) — I was 23 when I first met my cousin Gilbert Michlin. He was sitting at a brasserie near his office in Paris wearing a dark suit with a folded handkerchief poking out of the breast pocket. His short, dark hair was perfectly combed. He said, in… Read more »
Exhibit recalls Jewish refugees and Nazi prisoners held together in Canadian prisons
VANCOUVER, Canada (JTA) — When Austrian and German Jews escaped Nazism by fleeing to Britain during the 1930s, the last thing they expected was to find themselves prisoners in Canada, interned in camps with some of the same Nazis they had tried to escape back home. But that’s what… Read more »