News

(JTA) — More than a year after the Tree of Life attack in Pittsburgh, every classroom in synagogue religious schools, Jewish day schools and preschools in western Pennsylvania will now be equipped with medical and emergency equipment. It’s a project of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, whose Security… Read more »

(JTA) — An association of Italian rabbis has urged congregants to pray for the well-being of the hundreds of people there and beyond infected with the coronavirus. “We wish to express our empathy, and that we share the pain for the victims and pray for the healing of the… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli butter lovers, give your finance minister a pat on the back. Moshe Kahlon signed an order on Wednesday to lift duties and quotas on imported butter in an effort to alleviate a prolonged shortage in Israel, the business daily Globes reported. The order is limited… Read more »

(JTA) — Syrian state media reported that an Israeli drone had attacked a car and killed one person in a Syrian village near the border with Israel. The SANA news agency said the attack on Thursday took place in Hadr, a village in Quneitra province that is located in… Read more »

(JTA) — The owner of a toy shop near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport infected his wife with the coronavirus, bringing the number of known cases in that country to three. The man, who was not named, spent about 30 hours at the Red Pirate costume shop at the height… Read more »

(JTA) — No matter who is running on the Democratic presidential ticket in 2020, he or she is likely to get the Jewish vote by a wide margin, according to a new survey. The survey, released Friday by the Jewish Electorate Institute, found that two-thirds of Jewish voters said… Read more »

(JTA) — A Jewish firefighter from New York has sued his ex-boss allegedly for using anti-Semitic language against him in the work environment. Jonathan Cummings alleges that in 2017, Assistant Chief Fire Marshal Michael Durkin of the Bureau of Fire Investigation sent a text message to someone in the… Read more »

(JTA) — Charter school supporters in Los Angeles are targeting a Jewish school board member with attack mailers that some critics have called anti-Semitic. The mailers portray Scott Schmerelson as greedy, corrupt and determined to score fast cash by exposing children to deadly vaping and McDonald’s French fries, the… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Five years ago this week, Amos Geva took an EasyJet flight from Berlin to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport for a very short visit home. On his agenda: dinner with his family, a trip to the ballot box and media interviews about his efforts to encourage Israeli… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that same-sex couples and single men should be eligible for surrogacy in the country, saying its surrogacy law now is discriminatory. The court gave the government one year to change the law, Ynet reported. The laws “disproportionately harm the right to… Read more »

(JTA) — Facebook removed 30 fake accounts that were designed to keep Arab Israelis from voting in next week’s national elections. The Arabic-language accounts were uncovered by the nonprofit organization Democratic Bloc and were confirmed removed on Tuesday, Haaretz reported. The pages encouraged the Arab community to boycott the March… Read more »

(JTA) — Answering criticism of a float that depicted Holocaust victims dancing with Nazis alongside crematoria, the Spanish town that hosted the parade said the display was allowed only because its creators had described it as a form of commemoration. The municipality of Campo de Criptana offered the explanation… Read more »

(JTA) — A bill that would allow the Bible to be taught as an elective in West Virginia public schools passed in the state legislature over the objections of a Jewish third-grader who testified that the measure was a “bad idea.” The measure would allow social studies courses on… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — As the coronovirus spread worldwide, Israel’s Health Ministry called on Israelis to refrain from unnecessary travel abroad and said that any Israeli returning from Italy must self-quarantine for two weeks. On Thursday, the Health Ministry announced that an Israeli man who returned from Italy earlier this… Read more »

(JTA) — Democratic presidential candidates Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg said they will not attend AIPAC’s annual conference because it overlaps with Super Tuesday. Their absence leaves former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg as the only Democratic candidate to confirm that he will speak at the prominent Israel lobby’s… Read more »

(JTA) — Domestic extremists in the United States — most them from the far-right — killed 435 people in the decade that ended this past December. According to a new study by the Anti-Defamation League, half of those murders were committed to further the killer’s ideology. The other half… Read more »

REISTERSTOWN, Md. (JTA) — When Sarah Julia Seldin arrived at the main national gathering of Jewish foodies in 2016, she was disappointed to find no programming aimed specifically at people like her. There were sessions on kosher cooking, Jewish food ethics and the realities of kosher animal slaughter. But… Read more »

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (JTA) — Two months after his wife was murdered in the attack on this city’s only kosher grocery store, owner Moshe Ferencz was back behind the counter this week. The store, which has partially reopened in a new location, still doesn’t have regular hours. But the reopening… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Instead of trying to bring peace to the Middle East, former Trump administration envoy Jason Greenblatt will now try to bring investments. Greenblatt will join the global venture investments platform OurCrowd as a partner with responsibility for building ties in the region, the company announced Wednesday.… Read more »

(JTA) — The most seriously injured victim of the stabbing attack at a rabbi’s home in Monsey opened his eyes after 59 days in a coma. Josef Neumann, 72, has been on a respirator since the Dec. 28 attack during a Hanukkah party. He was one of five people… Read more »