(JTA) — After a week in which the headlines seemed to grow more grim by the day, it’s worth remembering that even as cities go dark across the globe, the world continues to turn. Babies are born, people are getting married, and thankfully the sun still rises every morning.… Read more »
National
Jewish groups, clergy call on U.S. to expand food aid during Covid-19 crisis
Eidtor’s note: This post has been updated to reflect that the number of signatories is now more than 650, and the statement is still open for signing. On Tuesday, the National Council of Jewish Women (www.ncjw.org) and MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger (www.mazon.org) called on the U.S. government to increase and… Read more »
Saying Kaddish from balconies and fasting: How Hasidic Jews are responding to the coronavirus
Chabad children in Argentina study in the movement's online school in 2007. During the new coronavirus outbreak, the school has offered guidance to other Jewish schools transitioning to remote learning. (Courtesy of the Nigri International Shluchim Online School)
NEW YORK (JTA) — One of Avi Webb’s favorite times of the week is Sunday morning, when he takes his children to morning prayers at his synagogue and stays for a lesson on Hasidic thought. His kids play at an arts and crafts table while he studies. Webb is… Read more »
5 Jewish NGOs join appeal to Congress for $60 billion cash infusion
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Five Jewish nonprofits are among about 100 that are asking Congress to inject $60 billion into the sector to weather the coronavirus pandemic. The groups in their letter this week say that they are on the frontline of assisting the poor during the crisis and that… Read more »
HIAS offers suggestions, digital resources for National Refugee Shabbat March 20-21
HIAS created National Refugee Shabbat 5780 as a moment for congregations, organizations, and individuals around the country to dedicate a Shabbat experience to refugees and asylum seekers. While the National Refugee Shabbat was planned For March 20-21, local congregations such as M’kor Hayim are postponing to a later date… Read more »
Coronavirus shutters 770 Eastern Parkway, Chabad movement headquarters, for the first time ever
(JTA) — As the world shut down around it, the Brooklyn headquarters of the worldwide Chabad movement carried on as usual — until late Tuesday night, when its neighborhood’s rabbinic leadership ordered synagogues closed to combat the spread of the coronavirus. All week, men came and went from the… Read more »
I’m a veteran expert in stopping epidemics. Here’s why Jewish institutions should cancel everything.
Keeping the synagogue pews empty temporarily is seen as one way to stop the spread of COVID-19. (Getty Images)
CHICAGO (JTA) — I am an infectious disease epidemiologist who worked at the World Health Organization on epidemics in over 25 countries around the world. As a physician and member of the Jewish community, I prize the Jewish teaching that places the saving of a life above all other laws and… Read more »
No visitors, no group dinners: How Jewish nursing homes are trying to keep seniors safe from the coronavirus
Residents learn Facebook at the Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly in Massachusetts. (Suzanne Kreiter/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Benita and Michael Ross are glad to live a half-hour’s drive from their granddaughter’s college, Brandeis University. So when the Boston-area school announced Thursday that it would close due to the novel coronavirus, Benita would have invited her granddaughter to stay with them. Except she… Read more »
As the coronavirus epidemic looms, American Jews brace for a Shabbat like no other
A ribbon expressing support is tied to a pole outside the Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, in New York's Westchester County, which was quarantined after a member tested positive for the coronavirus, March 10, 2020. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — As of Thursday, Alex Matthews felt confident that the synagogue he leads in Newburyport, Massachusetts, would be able to hold services as scheduled this Shabbat. Even as growing numbers of Jewish communities began shutting down schools and synagogues and, when possible, moving operations online, Congregation… Read more »
Dead Sea Scrolls fragments at DC museum are fake, its officials say
(JTA) – The 16 Dead Seas Scroll fragments housed at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., are forgeries, museum officials said Friday. “We’re victims — we’re victims of misrepresentation, we’re victims of fraud,” CEO Harry Hargrove said at an academic conference hosted by the museum, National Geographic… Read more »
Drop ‘Hunters,’ the head of Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust foundation tells Amazon
(JTA) — The director of the Holocaust foundation founded by Steven Spielberg has called on Amazon Prime not to produce a second season of “Hunters,” its fictional show about a crew of Nazi hunters in 1970s America. “Survivors of the Shoah sought justice, not revenge,” Stephen Smith, who heads… Read more »
Jared Kushner relative solicits coronavirus tips for him on Facebook
(JTA) — A physician with family ties to senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said he solicited advice on Facebook for Kushner on how to deal with the coronavirus. Kurt Kloss, whose daughter is married to Kushner’s brother, on Wednesday asked a group of fellow emergency room physicians on… Read more »
Preparing for the ‘worst-case scenario’: Jewish aid groups scramble amid the coronavirus outbreak
Masbia kosher supervisor Pesach Gittleson assembles boxes containing food for people who may be quarantined or unable to obtain food due to the coronavirus outbreak. (Alexander Rapaport)
NEW YORK (JTA) — The run-up to Passover is the busiest time of the year for Masbia, a nonprofit that operates three kosher soup kitchens in Brooklyn and Queens. The organization has to order all kosher-for-Passover food and scrub one of its locations’ kitchens so it can prepare food… Read more »
Brown committee recommends university divest from companies that ‘profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land’
(JTA) — A Brown advisory committee has issued a formal recommendation that the Ivy League university divest from “any company that profits from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.” The recommendation was contained in an official report made to the university president and its highest governing body, The Brown… Read more »
Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison
(JTA) — Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Wednesday, more than two weeks after being found guilty on two counts of rape and sexual assault. Weinstein, 67, could have been sentenced to a maximum 29 years or as little as five years,… Read more »
From ‘Spock’ greetings to chopstick Torah pointers, synagogues are getting creative amid the coronavirus outbreak
To minimize the spread of germs, congregants at Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley are using disposable chopsticks in lieu of a shared yad when reading from the Torah. (Courtesy Alan Sokoloff)
(JTA) — On a typical Friday, some 200 people show up for services at Temple De Hirsch Sinai, a Reform congregation in Seattle. But last week, there was no one in the pews as Rabbi Daniel Weiner welcomed Shabbat in the synagogue’s smaller sanctuary. Instead, some 1,500 people watched… Read more »
Amid coronavirus fears, Tucson Festival of Books is cancelled
The Tucson Festival of Books board of directors canceled the 2020 festival, which was scheduled for this weekend, March 14 and 15, after more than 100 authors withdrew due to fears of coronavirus (COVID-19). “We know the festival brings much joy to many in our community,” an announcement from… Read more »
In a dramatic step, Israel to require 14-day quarantine for all travelers from abroad
(JTA) — Israel will require all travelers from abroad to complete a 14-day quarantine, according to the latest regulation aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the country. The decision, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late Monday, capped days of open deliberations about how far Israel… Read more »
Elizabeth Warren, who drew progressive Jewish support, quits presidential race
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who drew strong support from Jewish progressives, has dropped her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Multiple media outlets reported Warren’s decision on Thursday in the wake of a disappointing primary campaign in which she failed to win a single state, including… Read more »
In Texas, a conservative Jewish teen helps unite Democrats and Republicans
Adam Hoffman is developing a curriculum on how to overcome political polarity. (Diller Foundation/JTA)
Adam Hoffman isn’t your average American Jewish teen. The grandchild of Holocaust survivors on his mother’s side, he’s a sixth-generation Texan on his father’s side. An Orthodox native of Houston and graduate of Jewish day schools, Hoffman, 19, is now a freshman at Princeton University in New Jersey. What… Read more »
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