Israeli army veteran Yinon Cohen, 31, surprised his ski instructors at Challenge Aspen with his determination to ski unaided except for his prosthetic legs. (Nina Zale) (JTA) — After Yinon Cohen lost his legs in an accident involving a rocket-propelled grenade, it wasn’t clear he’d ever be able to walk again, much less ski down a peak in the Rocky Mountains. A fresh-faced soldier in the Israel Defense Forces’ elite Golani brigade, Cohen was in… Read more »
(L-R): Johnny Pekats (U.S.); Mordechai Ronen (Canada); Ronald Lauder; Rose Schindler (U.S.); Joseph Madrowitz (U.S.) (Courtesy Shahar Azran) AUSCHWITZ, POLAND– Fifteen Auschwitz survivors, aged 80-94, returned this morning, Monday January 26, to the infamous death camp, Auschwitz, some for the first time. Ahead of the 70th anniversary celebration of the Auschwitz liberation on January 27, the World Jewish Congress (WJC), the USC Shoah Foundation, organized the historic visit… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) – When Benjamin Netanyahu faces the Congress next month, two things are unlikely to come up in his speech: a consideration of diplomatic protocol and an analysis of the efficacy of sanctions. Media attention ahead of the speech has focused on the diplomatic crisis set off by… Read more »
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog won’t be debating each other ahead of Israel’s March election, but English speakers in Tel Aviv who packed an event hall here got the next best thing: Candidates from five parties came out for a panel-style… Read more »
WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) – For Orthodox Jews, President Barack Obama’s proposed tax reforms present a numbers-crunching paradox: Income he designates as well-off may mean just getting by for large families. Obama’s 2015 budget, which was introduced Monday, aims to offset economic breaks to upper-income families to… Read more »
Israeli arcaeologist Yoram Haimi, right, has been warning of threats to important historical artifacts at the Sobibor death camp in Poland, September 2013. (Courtesy of Yoram Haimi) SOBIBOR, Poland (JTA) — After he uncovered the path that two of his uncles followed to the gas chambers at Sobibor, Yoram Haimi thought the complex he had worked years to unearth would be preserved for posterity. So when Polish authorities announced in 2011 that they would build a… Read more »
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres, with microphone, meeting in Tel Aviv with, from left, Sayyid Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America, Rabbi Steve Gutow of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States, Jan. 20, 2015. (JCPA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — After the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last month, Kari Alterman heard from every one of her Detroit-area Muslim dialogue partners, all of them calling to express their sadness and concern. They just didn’t do so publicly. Statements condemning violence are normally made after formal dialogues… Read more »
Some Israelis stayed up all nightto watch the Patriots celebrate their fourth Super Bowl victory in 14 years, Feb. 1, 2015. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images) TEL AVIV (JTA) — There were wings, beers, giant TV screens, and football fans wearing New England Patriots sweatshirts and Seattle Seahawks jerseys. If not for the fact that it was 1 a.m. and former Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid stood in the center of the bar, it could… Read more »
Amos Oz revisits interviews with soldiers he recorded almost 50 years ago in 'Censored Voices.' (Dogwoof) PARK CITY, Utah (JTA) — In the wake of Israel’s seemingly miraculous triumph in the Six-Day War in 1967, the country’s victorious soldiers were lionized as heroes. But in private, even just one week after the conflict, many of them didn’t feel that way. One describes feeling sick to… Read more »
The HT Challenge is a social media campaign initiated by the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking and supported by Women’s Philanthropy Social Action of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona in an effort to create awareness and abolish modern day slavery. Sex trafficking is often associated with large sporting events… Read more »
(Jewniverse via JTA) – It might seem that the only Jews left in Pakistan are underground – in Karachi’s lone Jewish cemetery. But that’s not quite so. Faisal (Fishel) Benkhald, the son of a Muslim father and Iranian Jewish mother, dares to call himself a Jew in a country… Read more »
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and owner Robert Kraft are all smiles after beating the Inidanapolis Colts, but will a Super Bowl victory be tainted by "Deflategate?" (Elsa/Getty Images) (JTA) – “Deflategate,” the controversy surrounding the New England Patriots that has made national news, made its way to a Houston business conference led by a rabbi. Rabbi Yossi Grossman, dean of the Jewish Ethics Institute, on Monday transformed the football prattle into a high-minded look at ethics on… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When Israel wants something from the United States, it typically makes three stops: the pro-Israel lobby, Jewish members of Congress and the White House. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored all three when he accepted an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to address Congress about… Read more »
Protesters clashing with Israeli police following the funeral of Sami al-Ja'ar in Rahat, in southern Israel, Jan. 18, 2015. (Activestills.org) TEL AVIV (JTA) — In an economically depressed town populated largely by a minority group, a young man is killed under disputed circumstances. In the days that follow, riots consume the town, pitting frustrated and angry residents against the police, who maintain their officers acted in self-defense. But activists… Read more »
Rabbi Rachel S. Mikva Religious ideas can be used both constructively and destructively, says Rabbi Rachel S. Mikva, Ph.D., the upcoming Rabbi Albert T. Bilgray scholar-in-residence at Temple Emanu-El. Mikva aims to encourage critical thinking about “Dangerous Religious Ideas” in the 29th Bilgray Memorial Lectureship series from Feb. 5 to 7, in collaboration… Read more »
KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) — Holocaust survivors gathered in Krakow on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz amid unease regarding the safety of Jews in Europe. Some 100 survivors from 19 countries — each with a child, grandchild or companion — are expected to attend official ceremonies on… Read more »
Stav Shaffir makes a point at a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee in Jerusalem, Sept. 3, 2014. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Stav Shaffir was angry. The 29-year-old firebrand is known for her outbursts, which have gotten her kicked out of multiple Knesset hearings in the past year. But when she rose in the Knesset on Jan. 21 to answer Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett’s charge… Read more »
The conservation laboratory at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, which was established two years after the German army's retreat in 1945. (Katarzyna Markusz) OSWIECIM, Poland (JTA) — Seventy years ago this month, Germany evacuated 58,000 prisoners from the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau, burning documents and blowing up gas chambers and crematoria. On Jan. 27 — the day now celebrated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day — the Soviet Red Army arrived,… Read more »
WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week) — For the second year running, a bid to pass a bill intensifying sanctions against Iran appears to be foundering on threat of a presidential veto. In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Obama vowed to veto further sanctions legislation, saying it would… Read more »
International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced a preliminary examination concerning the "situation in Palestine." (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — On Jan. 16, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, launched a “preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine.” Here is a review of what that means based on interviews with experts on international law and statements by the ICC and Israeli and U.S. officials. Has… Read more »
