Posts By Shayne Tarquinio

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Designing a new emoji is not simple. Sefaria, the online free Jewish library, has found this out in recent months. The organization wanted to reach more and younger people, to get them to use the resources on its website. They thought that a Torah emoji would… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Herbert Diess believes he has a special obligation to combat the rise of the far right in Europe because the company he leads was once quite literally its engine. “Volkswagen has because of its history, and our history in the Second World War, we have an… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The weirdest part of an Orthodox anti-vaccine conference here was probably when the emcee, a rabbi wearing a black hat and white beard, quoted the Gospel of Luke. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” he cried, reciting the Gospels nearly verbatim.… Read more »

This story originally appeared on The Nosher. Israelis love their barbecue. They do it on the beach. They do it on their hikes. They grill whenever and wherever possible — empty parking lot? Let’s do it! When that smoky aroma fills the air, you know a celebratory meal is… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The blame game started shortly after midnight Thursday morning. The Knesset’s vote to dissolve itself and hold a second national election in five months had hardly been posted on the chyrons of news networks in Israel and around the world when the major players in the… Read more »

(JTA) — Many modern-day Jews aren’t all that familiar with Shavuot, which celebrates the day when the Israelites first received the Torah from God and falls seven weeks after Passover marked their Exodus from Egypt. Jews with some familiarity of Shavuot probably know the holiday as a day for… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — The United States is investigating an Israeli-Argentine businessman for allegedly helping to hide the secret fortune of embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Diego Adolfo Marynberg, 44, also known as Zev Marynberg, based in New York and Buenos Aires, reportedly is under the spotlight of… Read more »

This story originally appeared on Kveller. A few months ago, when two of my kids and I boarded the London Underground, all eyes seemed to rest on us. My son’s small black kippah, which he always wears, seemed to be drawing dozens of staring faces — and also a… Read more »

This story originally appeared on Alma. I don’t remember exactly how soon it was after we became engaged that my fiance, Tony, offered to convert to Judaism. But I do remember telling him not to. For us, the decision to be married was less of a romantic whirlwind than… Read more »

This story originally appeared on The Nosher. You’ve probably heard of cheesecake or blintzes as traditional foods to enjoy for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, but get ready to fall in love with a cheese-filled carb treat you have never heard of: Bessarabian cheese buns. This family recipes come… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A gay rabbinical student denied ordination by a liberal seminary in New York was welcomed into the rabbinate in Jerusalem, breaking a longstanding taboo against homosexuality in the Orthodox community. Daniel Landes, a prominent American-Israeli rabbi, granted semichah, Hebrew for ordination, to Daniel Atwood alongside a… Read more »

BERLIN (JTA) – It is dangerous to identify publicly as Jewish in Germany, including wearing a kippah, Germany’s commissioner on anti-Semitism said. In a wide-ranging interview, Felix Klein told the Berliner Morgenpost on May 24 that he could not recommend that Jews wear a kippah everywhere and any time… Read more »

(JTA) — Harvey Weinstein and his former studio’s board members have reached a tentative settlement deal for $44 million with women who accuse him of sexual misconduct, The Wall Street Journal reported. The disgraced film producer, who is Jewish, has denied sexually harassing or abusing over 75 women. He… Read more »

(JTA) — Nearly one-fifth of Ukraine parliament members co-signed a draft resolution urging their new president to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy there. Of the 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada, 86 signed on as co-authors of a bill submitted for a vote on Friday,… Read more »

(JTA) — British Jews thanked Prime Minister Theresa May for being a “true friend” to their community following her announcement Friday that she is stepping down. May said she will step down as Conservative Party leader on June 7 after failing to convince lawmakers to support her Brexit deal.… Read more »

(JTA) — A French-Jewish taxi driver was mugged and beaten in what he said was an anti-Semitic crime by perpetrators who targeted him because of his Jewish-sounding name. The driver, a 33-year-old man from the Paris region whose first name is Israel Hai, said he accepted a ride in… Read more »

CHICAGO (JTA) — High school administrators in two Chicago suburbs are halting distribution of yearbooks after students were alleged to include anti-Semitic, Nazi and white supremacist elements. Highland Park High School, located 15 miles north of Chicago, is a leafy suburb with a sizable Jewish population. Students there are… Read more »

(JTA) — May 9 was Israel’s Independence Day, which commemorates the country’s official Declaration of Independence in 1948. The country celebrated with rallies, fireworks displays, flyovers by the Israeli Air Force and family barbecues. It was a hard-fought independence — the day after the declaration, a coalition of Arab… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) – Anti-Jewish incidents made up more than half the hate crimes reported in New York City in 2018 and so far this year. The 71st Precinct, which includes the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, reported nine incidents, the most of any precinct in the five boroughs.… Read more »

(JTA) — After decades of relative obscurity, the tale of the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara has become one of the best-known Holocaust rescue stories, rivaling those of Oskar Schindler and Irena Sendler. The late Sugihara, who issued thousands of life-saving visas to Jewish refugees in Lithuania in defiance of… Read more »