Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a prominent leader in the haredi Orthodox community, called on his followers to pray alone without a prayer quorum. The ruling on Sunday came after a steep rise in the number of coronavirus cases in Bnei Brak, a mostly haredi city in Israel,… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The National Library of Israel has created an archive to document the impact of the coronavirus on Jewish communities around the world. The Jewish Community COVID-19 Archive will be made up of “ephemera items” — materials not generally intended for long-term preservation. Such items often help… Read more »

(JTA) — The Alfred Landecker Foundation has created a fund to provide emergency support for Holocaust survivors affected by COVID-19. The 1 million euro ($1.12 million) fund is meant to support elderly survivors who are vulnerable to the coronavirus and who are suffering from the effects of self-isolation. The… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Hundreds of members of Israel’s haredi Orthodox community attended the funeral of a religious leader despite government restrictions on the number of people who can participate in such ceremonies due to the coronavirus crisis. About 400 mourners gathered in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Aviva Karoly, an attorney originally from Queens, New York, and her husband, Tzvi, were raised in religious Zionist homes and always dreamed of living in Israel. In preparation, the couple had sent their 6-year old son Adi to a Hebrew-speaking preschool. They also put off purchasing… Read more »

(JTA) — One of the crazier weeks in Israeli politics in recent memory ended on a fittingly dramatic note: Benny Gantz, the former army chief who came close to unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in three straight elections, laid down his proverbial arms. Gantz will join a so-called unity… Read more »

(JTA) — At least twice a day, Micol Naccache breaks down in tears over what the coronavirus is doing to her city of Milan and its Jewish community. A high school teacher and mother of two, Naccache describes herself as “an optimistic person.” But she is struggling to stay… Read more »

WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) — Like so many others, I am feeling the spiritual loss and pain of our current inability to learn Torah and pray together in person. Many mourners are devoted to the customary recitation of Kaddish for a deceased close relative and struggling with how to do… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Robert Levinson, the Jewish-American former FBI agent missing since 2007, has died in Iranian custody, his family said. Iran has claimed over the years that the regime did not know his whereabouts. On Wednesday, the family posted the “devastating” news “with aching hearts” on Twitter on… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — As his Blue and White party was on the verge of breaking up, its leader, Benny Gantz, was elected speaker of the Israeli Knesset on Thursday evening. Gantz has been tasked with forming a coalition government following elections earlier this month, Israel’s third vote in less… Read more »

(JTA) — Before everything changed, Jalna Silverstein and Asael Papour were planning a wedding much like many other Jewish nuptials on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They had a band and caterer lined up, a ceremony planned for the synagogue where Silverstein grew up and all the little… Read more »

We’re creating space to mourn Jews who are lost to the coronavirus at a time when Jewish mourning practices are nearly impossible to observe. If you’ve lost someone dear to you, we invite you to share their story with us using this form. Maurice Berger, 63, was a noted… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The White House has come to an agreement with Democrats and Republicans on a $2 trillion stimulus package, the biggest in U.S. history, in response to the major economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus. The Senate approved the package, 96-0, at midnight Wednesday. It could undergo… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein must reconvene the parliament and schedule a vote on naming his replacement, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Monday. The decision by an extended five-judge panel gives Edelstein until Wednesday to schedule the vote. He was expected to respond to the Supreme Court directive… Read more »

(JTA) — Arie Even, the first Israeli to die from the coronavirus, was buried in the dead of night with mourners standing six feet apart and funeral workers wearing Hazmat gear. Even, 88, a native of Hungary who survived the Holocaust, was a retired Israeli diplomat. He died Friday… Read more »

(JTA) — The last surviving German recognized as a righteous gentile for saving Jews during the Holocaust died on Monday. Gertrud Steinl, who was recognized by Yad Vashem in 1979 as a Righteous Among the Nations, died a day before her 98th birthday. Steinl’s death was confirmed to the German… Read more »

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (JTA) — I was born in Dzalalabad, Kyrgyzstan, to Polish Jews who had fled Warsaw following the Nazi onslaught in 1939. When they met up with the Russian forces and refused Russian citizenship, my parents, like thousands of others, were shipped off to Komi SSR, a… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Some 38,000 people work at Jewish community centers across North America, staffing preschools, camps, gyms, classes, activities for seniors and more. Because of the coronavirus crisis, a lot of them are going to lose their jobs. “The cuts are going to be painful and deep,”… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) —  A vicious rumor has been making the rounds: Hasidim are neglecting to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously because we are selfish. But as someone born and bred in the Satmar community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who now lives in Jerusalem and writes for Yiddish publications, I can… Read more »

(JTA) — Police in Lakewood, New Jersey, have arrested at least two Jewish men for hosting weddings with more than 50 people present, in violation of state rules designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy last week banned gatherings of more than 50… Read more »