Religion & Jewish Life

In Mallorca, a year of breakthrough for descendants of Jews

PALMA, Spain (JTA) — A stone’s throw from the majestic Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma, commonly referred to as La Seu, is a dusty cobblestoned alleyway that serves as a hidden reminder of Mallorca’s complex Jewish past. Carrer de Monti-Sion, or Mount Zion Street, has borne witness to… Read more »

QB’s signature pose has Jews and Gentiles “Tebowing”

Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow's signature kneeling move has become an Internet sensation even among Jews, who admire the football player's strong expression of faith. (Jeffrey Beall via CC)

NEW YORK (JTA) — The biggest story in the NFL this season is Tim Tebow, a devout Christian quarterback who doesn’t throw very well but has helped the Denver Broncos pull off a string of last-second victories. But the rugged Tebow’s signature move comes when play has stopped —… Read more »

Shh! Don’t talk about sex at Yeshiva University

A sex essay that appeared in a Yeshiva University student publication has prompted an intense debate about reproductive health, Orthodox Jewish modesty and freedom of speech. (Illustration by JTA)

NEW YORK (JTA) — It wasn’t your typical college sex scandal. There were no accusations of molestation, inappropriate faculty-student relationships or date rape charges. Instead, the precipitating incident was the publication by a student-run newspaper of a female student’s first-person account of a premarital sexual encounter. But this is… Read more »

‘Twinning’ project brings Muslims and Jews together

At a Nov. 20 event in New Brunswick, N.J., sponsored by the People of Abraham United Against Hunger, Muslim and Jewish volunteers gathered to prepare and serve meals to the homeless. (Zamir Hassan)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Daisy Khan seemed right at home in the ornately decorated main sanctuary of B’nai Jeshurun, a large and vibrant synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. “I want to thank you for inviting us into this sanctuary, which is very much like a mosque,” said Khan,… Read more »

Fred Karger for president: A gay Jewish Republican’s White House dream

LOS ANGELES (Jewish Journal) — In the course of an election campaign, most presidential candidates talk about what they’ll do if — or, if they’re particularly bullish, when — they’re elected. But Fred Karger isn’t like other Republicans running for president, and not just because he’s openly gay and… Read more »

Love, marriage, and the Chief Rabbinate

(Jewish Ideas Daily) — The organization Tzohar has just resumed performing its popular “alternative” weddings in Israel, ending a dispute with the Ministry of Religious Services that was resolved only after a media war and a high-level Knesset meeting. Tzohar won — but has not won much. After Prime… Read more »

In tiny Gibraltar, an outsized Jewish infrastructure

Members of Gibraltar's largely Sephardic, largely Orthodox community pick up children from the communiyt's primary school, which is seeing record enrollment. (Alex Weisler)

GIBRALTAR (JTA) — Four synagogues, a mikvah, a kosher coffeehouse and separate boys and girls religious high schools. Combined, they suggest a community far larger than just 750 Jews. But Gibraltar — the tiny British overseas territory of 30,000 that sits at the foot of Spain and at the… Read more »

At Reform biennial, changes at the top, but focus on the grass roots

NEW YORK (JTA) — When more than 5,500 people gather at a massive hotel just outside Washington next week for what is slated to be the biggest-ever biennial convention of the Union for Reform Judaism, they will be taking part in a transformative moment for the organization. The longtime… Read more »

Ad campaign flare-up obscures bigger challenge: Luring home Israeli expats

Among the ads in Israel's recently canceled campaign to lure expats home was this spot that one critic described as "Netanyahu Government Suggests Israelis Avoid Marrying American Jews."

NEW YORK (JTA) — A few different sparks led to last week’s flare-up over a two-month-old Israeli ad campaign to lure home expatriates in the United States. An ad suggesting that a child of Israelis living in America would mistake Chanukah for Christmas. The claim by an influential blogger… Read more »

At Orthodox mental health group’s forum, openly gay Jews get their say and some support

Mordechai Levovitz

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (JTA) — The 15th annual conference of Nefesh International, an association of Orthodox mental health professionals, was a study in inclusion. Dr. Judith Guedelia, the director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s neuropsychology unit, became the first woman to receive the conference’s Esther Solomon Mental Health Award. Several… Read more »

Linking to Jewish fair trade: The bike chain menorah

Bike chain menorah, a fair trade product hand made in India, creates a link to Jewish values. (Edmon J. Rodman)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — When on Chanukah we say “A great miracle happened here,” the “here” isn’t China. I thought it was. With bins of electric menorahs, strings of dreidel lights and flashing LED dreidels, all “Made in China,” I thought I had Chanukah covered. That is until I… Read more »

In Detroit, Jewish resurgence led by young aims to transform city

DETROIT (JTA) — Blair Nosan grew up in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, attended the University of Michigan and then, like thousands of other young Jews from the beleaguered state, moved away. Though she grew up in a heavily Jewish area Nosan, 26, had felt disconnected both from… Read more »

American-style Jewish fraternities cross Atlantic to Britain

LONDON (JTA) — Historically Jewish fraternities are leading the introduction of American Greek culture to the United Kingdom, but not everyone is throwing a toga party for England’s latest import. Over the past year, Zeta Beta Tau and Alpha Epsilon Pi — Jewish fraternities whose membership is open to… Read more »

Amid recession, newly minted rabbis find congregational jobs harder to land

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi Jordi Gendra feels fortunate that he found a full-time job at Temple Beth Shalom, a central Pennsylvania Reconstructionist synagogue, shortly before the recession hit. But now the 41-year-old spiritual leader is worried that the job he began in 2007 won’t last. The budget of… Read more »

Seeking Kin: ISO orphaned former Tel Aviv flatmates

Paul Ellbogen is the first name appearing on this monument to 23 soldiers killed in a battle near Modin on Sept. 24, 1948 during Israel's War of Independence. The death of his wife a few years later left their two children as orphans. (Avishai Teicher)

JTA’s new column, “Seeking Kin,” aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. BALTIMORE (JTA) — The Ellbogen children, Edna and Michael, nearly became Mordechai “Moti” Malkin’s adopted siblings in early 1950s Israel. Six decades later, the 66-year-old Herzliya resident wants to know what’s become of them. When Paul… Read more »

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder explains how to do well by doing good

Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield recently spoke at a Jewish Federation of Greater Washington event. (Jewish Federation of greater Washington)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A scoop of Ben & Jerry’s may taste like heaven, and for company co-founder Jerry Greenfield, the business of making ice cream has a spiritual side as well. “There is a spiritual aspect to business, just as there is to people,” Greenfield told a crowd of… Read more »

Orthodox woman chosen as Rhodes Scholar

Miriam Rosenbaum (Princeton University, Office of Communications)

NEW YORK (N.Y. Jewish Week) — In the fading November light of Shabbat, Miriam Rosenbaum walked from the West Side to the East Side, and then to a building on Park Avenue where she walked up 18 flights — Shabbat had more than an hour to go — to… Read more »

Shoah Foundation gathers stories of Rwandan genocide

LOS ANGELES (The Jewish Journal) — The USC Shoah Foundation Institute is home to more than 52,000 videotaped testimonies about the Holocaust, and people searching the archive’s index enter a single keyword into their queries more than any other: “Auschwitz.” “Auschwitz seems to be the one that people go… Read more »

How to succeed in picking a chief rabbi successor in Britain

Jewish leaders in Britain have outlined the process they will follow in seeking to identify a successor to the current chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks. (Office of the Chief Rabbi)

LONDON (JTA) — Increased transparency and the inclusion of women’s voices will be cornerstones of the process that Orthodox leaders in Britain have devised to find a replacement for the country’s longtime chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, who will step down in September 2013. Stephen Pack, the president of… Read more »