Tagged Jerusalem

Jerusalem’s Old City, virtual reality edition: A game brings quarantined people around the world into the holy neighborhood

A scene from “The Holy City,” an immersive virtual reality experience that takes users into Jerusalem's Old City. (Nimrod Shanit/Blimey)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — This time of year — the convergence of Passover, Easter and Ramadan — is peak tourism time for this city. This year is the first time since 1992 that all three festivals fall in the same month. But traveling as a tourist to Jerusalem right now… Read more »

My family synagogue burned down in Minnesota this week. We lost much more than a building.

The Adas Israel Congregation in Duluth, Minn., burned down of yet unknown causes, Sept. 9, 2019. (Duluth News Tribune Screenshot)

NEW YORK (JTA) — American Jews woke Monday morning to the ancestrally terrifying image of a synagogue on fire. It was my family’s shul: Adas Israel in Duluth, Minnesota. There is a dollhouse model of the Great Synagogue of Vilna in Israel’s Museum of the Jewish People. “That is… Read more »

Israeli city inaugurates a ‘Donald Trump Square’

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The central Israel city of Petah Tikvah inaugurated a city square in honor of President Donald Trump. Donald Trump Square was inaugurated on Wednesday to thank Trump for his support of Israel, especially the president’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The square is… Read more »

First openly gay Orthodox rabbi ordained in Jerusalem

Newly ordained Rabbi Daniel Atwood is congratulated by Rabbi Daniel Landes at the Jerusalem Theater on May 26, 2019. (Sam Sokol)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A gay rabbinical student denied ordination by a liberal seminary in New York was welcomed into the rabbinate in Jerusalem, breaking a longstanding taboo against homosexuality in the Orthodox community. Daniel Landes, a prominent American-Israeli rabbi, granted semichah, Hebrew for ordination, to Daniel Atwood alongside a… Read more »

Dozens of Ukrainian lawmakers want embassy moved to Jerusalem

(JTA) — Nearly one-fifth of Ukraine parliament members co-signed a draft resolution urging their new president to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy there. Of the 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada, 86 signed on as co-authors of a bill submitted for a vote on Friday,… Read more »

Tucson’s Next Gen men gain insight on Israel exploration trip

The recent Next Gen Men’s Group trip to Israel was no run of the mill tour. Participants returned believing that Israel-Palestine issues are far more complicated than they thought before the journey, says participant Larry Gellman. What defined the trip for Gellman and others was the unique opportunity to… Read more »

Why Democrats sat on their hands when Donald Trump celebrated recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel

Democratic Reps. Steny Hoyer, left, and Nancy Pelosi at the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, Jan. 30, 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

(JTA) — President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel made it into his State of the Union speech. “Last month, I also took an action endorsed unanimously by the Senate just months before: I recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” he said to applause, mostly from… Read more »

The top 10 moments that mattered to Jews in 2017

From a wave of bomb threats to JCCs and a neo-Nazi in Charlottesville and to Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, 2017 was not a quiet year for Jews. (JTA collage)

  (JTA) — The past year was not a quiet one, to say the least. From the tumultuous first year of Donald Trump’s presidency to a wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers to the flood of high-profile sexual harassment allegations, Jews — like so many others —… Read more »

Debates with Israel weigh on Reform movement’s largest-ever gathering

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, addresses delegates at its 2017 biennial in Boston, Dec. 7, 2017. (Courtesy of the Union for Reform Judaism)

BOSTON (JTA) – President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel became an unexpected agenda item as 6,000 members of the Reform movement from across North America gathered here for their four-day convention. Addressing the Union for Reform Judaism’s 2017 biennial on Friday, Sen. Elizabeth… Read more »

What Palestinian reconciliation means for Israel

Hamas and Fatah leaders shake hands following the signing of a reconciliation deal at the Egyptian intelligence services headquarters in Cairo, Oct. 12, 2017. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a wait-and-see approach to last week’s Palestinian reconciliation deal. Netanyahu spoke out publicly and loudly against the move toward unity between the feuding Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, calling it a threat to Israel and a setback to peace.… Read more »

Hundreds of Jews respond to John Kerry’s speech with West Bank solidarity tour

Joseph Waks, fourth from the right, poses with Jewish visitors and soldiers at the Oz Vegaon tent outpost in the West Bank, Jan. 2, 2017. (Courtesy of Avi Hyman Communications)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – About 200 Jews from around the world toured the West Bank in response to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent speech warning of the dangers of settlement expansion. The group, organized on short notice by Miami-based fashion designer Joseph Waks, visited Jewish communities and met… Read more »

How Israel is courting tourists from India and China

The Israeli government launches several initiatives to promote Israel as a destination for tourists from India and China. (Itamar Grinberg, Israeli Ministry of Tourism)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Bollywood star and Indian fashion icon Sonam Kapoor appeared on the cover of the June-July issue of Harper’s Bazaar Bride, India, she did so wearing a sheer pink confection and a radiant smile. Behind her sprawled the Old City of Jerusalem.  It wasn’t happenstance.… Read more »

OP-ED We can love Jerusalem as Jews without taunting its Muslims

Jewish boys wave Israeli flags near the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem as part of celebrations for Jerusalem Day, June 5, 2016. (Zack Wajsgras/Flash90)

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA) — Normally, to quote the famous song, “I love a parade.” Except when I don’t. This weekend was the celebration of the 49th anniversary of the reunification ofJerusalem during the Six-Day War. The anniversary was accompanied by gleeful — one might even say ecstatic — observances throughout the… Read more »

With Israeli-EU relations strained, Netanyahu looks toward Asia

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with President Xi Jinping of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 9, 2013. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, sat kiddy-corner in armchairs at this week’s international climate summit near Paris, talking and laughing. “We have the best of relations, and they can be made even better,” Netanyahu told Modi at the meeting. To which Modi… Read more »

Op-Ed: For kids with disabilities, time to move from inclusion to normalcy

Rachel Fishheimer is the director of education at the Jerusalem facility of ALEH, an Israeli network of treatment facilities for children with severe disabilities. (Courtesy: Rachel Fishheimer)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Just the other day, I overheard someone saying that they had a wonderful interaction with the “Down syndrome employee” at their local cafe. Though it happened to have been a sweet story, I cringed. It also got me thinking about the limitations of our campaigns promoting… Read more »

Why Israelis are fearing a third intifada

Palestinian protesters in the West Bank throwing stones and burning tires during clashes with Israeli security forces over the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Sept. 30, 2015. (Flash90)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — First it was clashes on the Temple Mount. Then a mother and father were shot before the eyes of their four children. Then two men were killed in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City. Now Israelis fear the wave of conflict will only rise.… Read more »

Netanyahu: No Palestinian state on my watch

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview that as long as he is Israel’s prime minister, a Palestinian state will not be established. The interview was published Monday on the Israeli news website NRG, a day before Israelis head to the polls, as Netanyahu attempts to shore… Read more »

Op-Ed: Heaven save us from a holy war

This week we have learned that Adam Everett Livvix, a 30-year-old from Texas, was arrested in Israel for allegedly plotting to attack the Dome of the Rock with explosives. Thanks to the collaboration between Israeli security agencies and the FBI, an incident of colossal implications was prevented. The Palestinians,… Read more »