Tagged HEADLINES

(JTA) — The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York is laying off about 40 percent of its staff in order to weather the financial crisis brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. The museum’s president and CEO, Jack Kliger, made the announcement Monday in a call with the staff,… Read more »

(JTA) — A new Holocaust memorial will be built in Vienna engraved with the names of 64,000 Austrian Jews killed by the Nazis. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday for the The Memorial to the Jewish Children, Women and Men of Austria who were Murdered in the Shoah, will… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Researchers at an Israeli government center say that tests of a coronavirus vaccine have been successful on hamsters and the vaccine could be ready by the end of winter if human trials are allowed in the coming weeks. The country’s Ministry of Health must approve the start… Read more »

(JTA) — Actress Winona Ryder said she was passed over for a movie role because the studio head thought she looked “too Jewish” and Mel Gibson once asked her if she was an “oven dodger.” Ryder talked about her experiences with anti-Semitism in Hollywood as part of wide-ranging interview… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Nearly 200 Israelis stranded in several Central American countries because of the coronavirus are going home. A special El Al flight left from Panama City on Thursday morning, the Spanish language Panama Star reported, in the first direct flight ever from Panama to Israel, according to… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two years after his bill trying to negate all conversions outside of the state’s Chief Rabbinate stalled in the Knesset,  Shas party head Aryeh Deri is trying again. Deri, now the interior minister, has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to float a bill to government coalition… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Knesset approved extending emergency measures targeting the spread of the coronavirus as the number of cases in Israel saw its largest one-day increase in the past two months. The legislation, which will remain in force for 45 days starting Wednesday, was approved late Tuesday night,… Read more »

(JTA) — The Auschwitz Memorial and the site of the former Nazi camp will reopen to visitors on July 1. The memorial and museum said it will open for guided tours and individual entry beginning on that date. Reservations must be made online. It closed to visitors in mid-March… Read more »

(JTA) — Amy Acton, the Jewish Department of Health director in Ohio who came under fire for the stay-at-home orders to stem the coronavirus crisis, including armed protesters carrying signs with anti-Semitic messages, has resigned. Acton, whose resignation was official on Thursday, will become the chief health adviser to… Read more »

(JTA) — Universal Music Group, one of the largest music corporations in the United States, has become the first major American music company to open a branch in Israel. UMG Israel will be based in Tel Aviv and be led by Yoram Mokady, a lawyer with no experience in… Read more »

(JTA) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief effectively rejected President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan and asked the United States to join a new international effort to broker a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. Josep Borrell said Monday that the Trump plan has created a… Read more »

(JTA) – When Ilana Goldberg scrolled through Instagram last Tuesday, much of her feed consisted of black squares as part of an initiative called #BlackoutTuesday to honor the Black Lives Matter movement. Then she saw a photo of student artwork posted by the Jewish Community High School of the… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli soldier rescued a Palestinian resident of Hebron from a mob of Jewish settlers and was attacked by the mob himself. By Monday morning, four people had been arrested in the attack, including a minor and two teens. The soldier from the Golani Brigade stationed… Read more »

(JTA) — A group of 37 members of the Peruvian Jewish community flew to Israel on a special charter flight amid high rates of COVID-19 in their native country and street riots that have broken out as a result of a scarcity of food and medical supplies. The group… Read more »

Nina Abrahams and Amit Bigler knew the coronavirus pandemic would have an impact on their wedding, which was already taking place in Israel, far from their home in New York. But they didn’t expect to have their guest list whittle down from 330 to about 20 — and for those… Read more »

A Black Lives Matter protester raises his fist during a march to honor George Floyd in New York City, May 31, 2020. (John Moore/Getty Images)

This story originally appeared on Alma. Take a moment and remember where you were when you first heard about the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. I was in Tel Aviv getting ready to go to the movies after Havdalah. I didn’t end up going —… Read more »

I would like to express our appreciation for the incredible donations of DVDs, CDs, yarn, hygiene items, coloring books, colored pencils, etc. to everyone who donated to our residents at B’nai B’rith Strauss Manor during this pandemic. The love and compassion everyone showed and the response was amazing. Our… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The number of deaths from the coronavirus in Israel reached 300 as a resurgence of COVID-19 followed the reopening of schools and many businesses. In recent days, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has topped 100 after it had been tamped down to under 20.… Read more »

(JTA) — The principal of a charter school in Arizona no longer has his job after a former employee posted on social media a series of anti-Semitic and racist messages the principal sent to her. Justin Dye left the Heritage Elementary Charter School in Glendale on Monday, the Arizona… Read more »

CLEVELAND (JTA) — I turned on my phone and felt an overwhelming sense of frustration, sadness and hopelessness. While I had been enjoying two days without electronics in observance of Shavuot and Shabbat, cities across the country were engulfed in a combination of civic protests and police riots. Weapons… Read more »