Rabbi Barry Freundel exits the courthouse after entering his guilty plea, Feb. 19, 2015. (Dmitriy Shapiro)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Writing from his jail cell last week, just days before the Jewish New Year, Rabbi Barry Freundel said he was sorry. It was the rabbi’s first public statement since his arrest almost a year ago and his subsequent sentencing to 6-and-1/2 years behind bars for secretly filming women undressing in… Read more »
Migrants and refugees with temporary documents board a ferry to take them to Athens at the port of the Greek island of Kos on August 14, 2015. (Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, Calif. (JTA) — Arab Americans advocating on behalf of Syrian refugees have found some unlikely allies in their effort to resettle families from the war-torn nation: influential Jewish groups. Over the last few days, HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, launched a petition drive calling on President… Read more »
Dr. Oliver Sacks speaks at Columbia University in New York City, June 3, 2009. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
(JTA) — On Aug. 30, at age 82, noted neurologist and author Dr. Oliver Sacks succumbed to a cancer that first plagued him nearly a decade ago, paused, and recently reappeared. One of his last essays, published posthumously, appears in the Sept. 14 issue of The New Yorker and… Read more »
Iranians walk through Tehran's old main bazaar, March 18, 2014. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – If you’re an American who likes Iranian caviar and pistachios, you’re in for a treat. Once the nuclear deal with Iran is implemented, the U.S. sanctions that until now have blocked the export of those Iranian foodstuffs into the United States will be lifted. Bon appetit.… Read more »
Hillary Clinton, then U.S. secretary of state, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Jerusalem office, Nov. 20, 2012. (Avi Ohayon/GPO via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – As U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton spent plenty of time in daunting foreign territory. No, I’m not talking about Myanmar here. I’m speaking of the mind of Benjamin Netanyahu. A batch of emails released this week as part of the trove related to the… Read more »
Amna Farooqi, with megaphone, says she comes to the leadership of J Street U "because I care deeply about the people in Israel and the people in Palestine." (Courtesy of J Street)
POTOMAC, Md. (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) — J Street U’s new president Amna Farooqi has made no secret of being a “Pakistani American Muslim.” That’s how she described herself in a keynote speech this spring at J Street’s national convention in Washington, D.C., when she was a board member.… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — When Issamar Ginzberg enters his Jerusalem office on a sweltering summer day, he’s wearing a long black coat tied at the waist and a black hat. His long, scraggly beard and sidecurls, or payos, offer no relief from the heat. The office — thank God —… Read more »
(JTA) – Several years ago, Jessica Berman and her husband, Brad, bumped into her high school boyfriend. “If you aren’t working as a lawyer in hockey, I’d be amazed,” Berman recalled him saying. The ex had her pegged. Berman, 37, has been employed by the National Hockey League for… Read more »
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, shaking hands with his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Yaalon, before boarding a military aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, July 21, 2015. (Carolyn Kaster/Pool/AP Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The moment the Iran nuclear deal becomes law, as seems increasingly likely given growing congressional support for the agreement, the focus of the U.S.-Israel conversation will shift to the question of what’s next. What more will Washington do to mitigate the Iranian threat and reassure… Read more »
The new Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Gulfport, Miss., June 2015. (Josh Tapper)
BILOXI, Miss. (JTA) — Standing on an empty lot at the corner of Camellia Street and Southern Avenue, Brad Kessie wistfully inspected one of two sago palms that marked the pathway to Congregation Beth Israel, which had stood here for nearly five decades before Hurricane Katrina struck 10 years… Read more »
Yigal Amir, who assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, appearing before the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem, Sept. 8, 2004. Amir allegedly has received funds from Honenu, an Israeli nonprofit with tax-exempt status in the United States. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) – Taxpayer dollars in the United States and Israel are subsidizing Jewish terrorism against Arabs, a complaint filed with the New York state Attorney General’s Office alleges. The accusations follow a recent expose by Israel’s Channel 10 about the work of the 13-year-old Israeli nonprofit Honenu, which provides financial support to… Read more »
After months of work, the mivkeh was dedicated at Orthodox synagogue Oveh Sholom on Aug. 16, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Suzanne Pollak)
WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) – When prominent Washington rabbi Barry Freundel was arrested last year for secretly videotaping dozens of women using the mikvah adjacent to his Orthodox synagogue, the sense of sacredness of the ritual of mikvah immersion was shattered for some local Jewish women. Local artist Rena Fruchter recently… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — To Jewish parents of young children on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Karina Zilberman is something of a celebrity. She is the tall, blonde, guitar-strumming founder of the 92nd Street Y’s Shababa, a multigenerational musical celebration of Shabbat whose name is a mash-up of the modern… Read more »
Jiminy Peak has become a popular August destination for haredi Orthodox Jews. (Uriel Heilman)
HANCOCK, Mass. (JTA) — The lazy days of August have a special flavor in the rolling hills of the Berkshires, in western Massachusetts. The flowers are blooming in dazzling colors, the corn at roadside farm stands is delectably sweet, the lakes are refreshingly cool, and the area’s picturesque New England villages… Read more »
Israeli cyclist Yoav Bear competing in the U.S.A. Pro Challenge in Colorado, Aug. 18, 2015. (Courtesy of Cycling Academy)
(JTA) – As Israeli bicyclist Yoav Bear sped through the end of Stage 2 of the U.S.A. Pro Challenge race at nearly 11,000 feet of elevation in the Colorado Rockies, he thrust his water bottle into the hand of a young spectator clutching an Israeli flag. Bear’s gesture made… Read more »
Sen. Bernie Sanders speaking at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding in Clear Lake, Aug. 14, 2015. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Bernie Sanders’ best friend is a Zionist who teaches Jewish philosophy, he had a formative experience on a kibbutz and “Saturday Night Live” dubbed him the “old Jew.” Still, Sanders can’t get away from the inevitable “But where is he on Israel?” question, especially now that… Read more »
(JTA) — Across the United States, Jewish community groups have appeared unsure about exactly how to respond to the Iran nuclear deal. Consider Massachusetts. Three groups in the state last month attempted to coordinate a single statement on the Iran nuclear deal now under consideration by Congress. The underlying… Read more »
(JTA) — There are 28 Jewish members of Congress: 26 Democrats, one independent who caucuses with the Democrats and one Republican. Nine of them are senators and 19 are representatives. Nine back the Iran deal, seven oppose it and 12 are undecided. The positions of Jewish lawmakers are being watched as Congress decides… Read more »
Mendel Segal, aka "RaBBi-Q, cleaned up at the Chicago Kosher BBQ Competition with first places in chicken, brisket and beans on his way to being the grand champion, June 2015. (Courtesy of Segal)
LEAWOOD, Kan. (JTA) — Mendel Segal wears two particular titles that each reflect a devotion to tradition, imply an unending pursuit of precision and command immediate respect. One is rabbi. The other is pitmaster. The 33-year-old Orthodox rabbi (and follower of the late Lubavitcher rebbe) is readying to oversee… Read more »
From left, Jill Totenberg, Nina Totenberg and Amy Totenberg viewing their father's Stadivarius violin, which was stolen after a concert 35 years ago, at an FBI news conference in New York City announcing the recovery of the violin, Aug. 6, 2015. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Jewish violin virtuoso Roman Totenberg enjoyed a long life, making it to the ripe old age of 101. But that wasn’t quite long enough to be reunited with the prized instrument that was stolen from him in 1980. The FBI officially announced Thursday that it had recovered Totenberg’s… Read more »
