(JTA) – For many Cuban Jews – the majority of whom now live in the United States – it has been a bittersweet week. Like countless Jews around the world, they cheered the release of Alan Gross, the American Jewish telecommunications contractor who had been held in a Cuban… Read more »
National
Gross’ release, and changes in diplomatic ties, signals new day for Cuban Jews
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Alan Gross was imprisoned while trying to connect Cuba’s isolated Jewish community to the wider world. The deal that got him released five years later may do just that and much more. Gross’ flight home to suburban Washington on Wednesday with his wife, Judy, was part… Read more »
Highlighting campus sexual assault, Jewish groups have taken a lead
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (JTA) – Jewish campus groups were ready for the painful national dialogue that took place in the wake of murky rape allegations at the University of Virginia. That’s because organizations like Hillel and historically Jewish Greek houses such as Alpha Epsilon Pi, Zeta Beta Tau and Sigma… Read more »
Female rabbis at forefront of pioneering prayer communities
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — A decade ago in Los Angeles, two organizations opened their doors with a call to prayer — or they would have if they had any doors to open. Ikar, led by Rabbi Sharon Brous, and Nashuva, led by Rabbi Naomi Levy, were conceived separately. But… Read more »
Knife attack at Chabad headquarters in New York raises security questions
NEW YORK (The Jewish Week via JTA) — Just three weeks after terrorists killed four worshippers in a Jerusalem synagogue, a man entered a Brooklyn shul and stabbed a 22-year-old Israeli student. New York police officers fatally shot the 49-year-old assailant, who reportedly shouted “Kill the Jews.” At a… Read more »
To security officials, Chabad attack underscores importance of preparedness
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The stabbing of a rabbinical student at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in New York underscores three things that Jewish security officials have been urging in recent years: Be alert for copycats, cooperate with law enforcement and don’t stay away from shul. American Jewish community officials have been on… Read more »
Under Israel-friendly Ashton Carter, no major shift expected at Pentagon
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Ashton Carter has championed the sale to Israel of state-of-the-art combat aircraft, has aligned himself with Iran hawks and was observed becoming misty-eyed when serenaded by Israeli soldiers. Carter, 60, President Obama’s secretary of defense nominee, has been depicted in the media as the un-Chuck Hagel:… Read more »
Clinton, at Saban Forum, endorses Obama’s Middle East policy
WASHINGTON (JTA) — From the drive for Israeli-Palestinian peace to nuclear talks with Iran, Hillary Rodham Clinton is endorsing President Obama’s Israel-related positions. Clinton, who was Obama’s secretary of state during his first term, spoke Friday night with Haim Saban, the Israeli-American entertainment mogul who through the Brookings Institution… Read more »
Black, Jewish and challenging ideas about the face of federation
(JTA) — When Ilana Kaufman, a program officer at the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, arrived at San Quentin State Prison for a meeting with the Jewish chaplain at California’s oldest correctional facility, the chaplain couldn’t seem to find her — even though Kaufman was standing in plain sight.… Read more »
U.S. Jewish groups opposing Israel’s Jewish state law worry about consequences
WASHINGTON (JTA) – It’s not unusual to hear U.S. Jewish groups speaking out against laws that discriminate and framing their protests as protecting Jewish interests. What’s unusual is that the target this time is the Israeli government and the proposed law emphasizes Jewish rights. At issue is Israel’s nation-state… Read more »
With Iran talks extended, some in Congress are rushing to step in
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Two factors make congressional intervention on Iran almost inevitable: The inability of nuclear negotiators to reach a deal by the deadline and the Republican sweep of midterm elections on Nov. 4. The talks, centered on the status of Iran’s nuclear program, were extended from Monday’s deadline… Read more »
With Herzliya condo project, East End rabbi pitches Hamptons-style Zionism
NEW YORK (JTA) – If they buy it, they will come. That’s the philosophy behind a new luxury apartment project in Israel called The Hamptons in Herzliya Pituach that’s attempting to link two very swanky locales in the service of strengthening Diaspora Jews’ connections to Israel — and selling… Read more »
Jewish teens invited to share “Big Ideas” via video and win up to $5,000
Teens with Most Popular Ideas to Engage Peers in Jewish Life Will Present to 150 Top Philanthropists What: What’s Trending? Jewish Teens! Video Contest Leading up to BBYO International Convention (IC) 2015, Jewish teens around the world are invited to share their innovative ideas for how to engage more Jewish teens in… Read more »
BBYO and DoSomething.org partner for successful teen-led Thanksgving food drive
Washington, DC – BBYO and DoSomething.org‘s five-week hunger advocacy and awareness campaign, Can-Tribute, will conclude on Sunday, Nov. 30. To date, 15,000 youth across North America collected 200,000 pounds of canned goods to donate to food banks in their communities. Just in time for Thanksgiving, these young people have… Read more »
Obama’s order not to oppress the ‘stranger’ resonates with Jewish groups
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Obama did not mention Jews once in his Nov. 20 speech announcing immigration reforms, but he ended with a flourish that would be immediately recognizable to anyone who has sat through a Passover Seder. “Scripture tells us that we shall not oppress a stranger, for… Read more »
At G.A., federations zero in on collaboration
There was the vice president of the United States, two Supreme Court justices and an Academy Award-winning actress with a compelling Jewish story. There were Jewish professionals, lay leaders, clergy and recent college graduates. The West Point cadets’ Jewish choir performed. The Israeli prime minister appeared via satellite from… Read more »
As Iran deadline looms, Obama faces intense skepticism in Congress
WASHINGTON (JTA) — With the Nov. 24 deadline for an Iran deal looming, there’s no guarantee that the Obama administration will achieve its long-sought goal of an agreement over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. But there’s at least one outcome that is a virtual certainty: Obama will face a… Read more »
New exhibit brings to life 350 years of American Jews in the military
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Mementos of Jacob Goldstein slide across the 3-foot-by-4-foot horizontal screen like cards being dealt at a casino: his photograph, his name, an Operation Urgent Fury headline denoting the 1983 military campaign in Grenada, Goldstein’s explanatory text summarizing his role during the invasion. Even more striking than… Read more »
Amid drought, Jewish groups push conservation agenda
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Devorah Brous’ San Fernando Valley home is shaded by green trees, studded with 19 fruit trees and patrolled by a pair of affable chickens that strut around the backyard. But at the moment, she is eager to show a visitor her dying lawn. Comparing the… Read more »
One year after boycott vote, Israel issue still divides ASA
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Members of the American Studies Association gathered last year for their annual meeting and a vociferous debate on the wisdom of initiating an academic boycott of Israel. One year later, the debate is over and the boycott resolution has long since passed — but the… Read more »