Articles written by Asaf Shalev
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Israel says US sex offender won't get citizenship
(JTA) – Israel’s top immigration official says the country will not award citizenship to Baruch Lanner, a rabbi and convicted sex offender from the United States. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked’s announcement, made Tuesday to the Jerusalem...
A Rothschild who debunks conspiracy theories for a living is writing the book about Jewish space lasers
(JTA) - To a conspiracy theorist, last week seemed to offer evidence that the Rothschild family is plotting to undermine Elon Musk. It started when the Tesla tycoon bashed the Democratic Party and...
Heirs of Holocaust victim sue Israel Museum over rare medieval hagaddah
(JTA) — Just days before Jews around the world gathered with their families and friends to read the Haggadah as part the Passover holiday, one family of reunited Holocaust survivors filed a lawsuit to reclaim a 700-year-old haggadah that they say...
New Mexico's Jewish community fears 'implosion' as lawsuits allege harassment and mismanagement
(JTA) – With his livelihood on the line, Rob Lennick texted the wrong Deborah. The CEO of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico, Lennick sent a message asking for support of an extension to his contract. He was also asking for a $30,000 forgivable...
ADL develops algorithm to track antisemitism on social media
(JTA) – When it comes to antisemitism on social media, the algorithms governing the major platforms shoulder some of the blame for their reach. But the Anti-Defamation League hopes to fight the spread — by creating an algorithm of its own. The Je...
In appeal to US Jewish leaders, Zelensky calls Russian invasion 'pure Nazism'
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In an emotional call with American Jewish leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky characterized the Russian invasion of his country as “pure Nazism.” Zelensky also invoked his Jewishness in an appeal for assistance wh...
The Great Resignation is fueling a rabbinic hiring crisis that could leave synagogues without leaders
(JTA) – In early December, Judaism’s Conservative movement sent a disquieting message to dozens of synagogues looking for a new rabbi: Many of you won’t make a hire this year. At least 80 Conservative synagogues anticipated rabbi vacancies —a...
Jewish charities among top funders of Islamophobia, says report by Muslim civil rights group
(JTA) – Charitable foundations with ties to Jewish federations and Jewish families feature prominently in a new report about the flow of tax-deductible donations to organizations that a leading Muslim civil rights lobby has identified as...
Florida Jewish federation says its anti-hate ad was rejected by Facebook algorithm
(JTA) — Just ahead of Chanukah, the Jewish Federation of Broward County in Florida tried to purchase an ad on Facebook, a simple post calling attention to the problem of antisemitism as a part of a new nationwide campaign called “Shine a...
Backlash mounts against Orthodox author accused of abusing minors
(JTA) — In what some are heralding as a watershed moment in the Orthodox world, reports of sexual abuse by a prolific author of children’s books have now led multiple booksellers to stop making his work available. Meanwhile, advocates and at...
Israel approves national budget
(JTA) — In what was seen as a crucial test in Israel’s longstanding governing crisis, the country’s lawmakers managed to approve a national budget for the first time in more than three years on Thursday. A failure to do so by a Nov. 14...
Prayerbook sold for $8.3 million
(JTA) — An 700-year-old Jewish prayerbook from Germany, offered for sale by a French Jewish organization to shore up its finances, sold at auction on Tuesday for $8.3 million. Known as the Luzzatto High Holiday Mahzor, the prayerbook easily...
BDS resolution to be withdrawn as sponsor cites concerns about antisemitism
(JTA) — The sponsor of a bill that would have made Burlington, Vermont, the first city in America to divest from Israel is withdrawing his legislation, citing concerns that it would promote antisemitism. Councilmember Ali Dieng, who sponsored the...
At least 150 sex abuse lawsuits filed against NY Jewish institutions under Child Victims Act
(JTA) - At least 150 child sex abuse lawsuits were filed against Jewish institutions in New York over the past two years under a special law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations barring...
Burlington BDS resolution to be withdrawn as sponsor cites concerns about anti-Semitism
(JTA) — The sponsor of a bill that would have made Burlington, Vermont, the first city in America to divest from Israel is withdrawing his legislation, citing concerns that it would promote antisemitism. Councilmember Ali Dieng, who sponsored the...
Fire antisemitic blogger, 70 State Department employees demand in letter to Blinken
(JTA) — Six months after his internet posts attacking Jews came to light, a U.S. Foreign Service officer remains employed by the State Department while at least 70 of his co-workers sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding his...
Calls on Pope Francis to clarify comments
(JTA) — Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has asked Pope Francis to retract a recent comment about Jewish law that it said might lead Catholic listeners to “derogatory conclusions” about Jews. Rabbi Ratzon Arusi, chair of the Chief Rabbinate’s...
American Jews mobilize in response to building collapse in Orthodox enclave
(JTA) - As the United States woke up to news of the building collapse in Surfside, Florida, it quickly became clear that the disaster is an American Jewish tragedy. The 12-story building in the heav...
Boycott Israel? No, Ben & Jerry's is boycotting social media
(JTA) – Pro-Palestinian activists were swarming the social media comments sections of Ben & Jerry's to demand the company boycott Israel. In response, Ben & Jerry's appears to have indeed...
Amid crisis, New York Times posts job for Palestinian affairs reporter
(JTA) — As the world’s attention has turned to the crisis engulfing Israel and the Palestinian territories, a leading media outlet posted a brand-new job opening. The New York Times announced Wednesday that it is looking to hire a reporter who...
186-year-old letter detailing early American diplomatic visit to Holy Land surfaces in Jerusalem auction
(JTA) — A detailed account of one of the earliest American diplomatic voyages to Palestine has surfaced as part of an upcoming auction in Jerusalem. The account appears in a handwritten letter from one of the passengers of the USS Delaware, a...
Is your name on this list? Your Jewish roots might be in Cairo, Baghdad or nearby
(JTA) — In the late 1800s, the Ottoman Empire was looking to conscript men into its army, including the several thousand young Jewish ones who were living in the city of Baghdad. The Jewish community didn’t like the idea of the imperial forces...
NY Times' Bret Stephens is editing a new Jewish journal, starting with an issue on 'Jews and social justice'
(JTA) - New York Times opinion columnist Bret Stephens has taken on a side gig as the editor of a new limited-run journal of essays about Jewish issues. The journal, titled Sapir, is an initiative of...
Israel to spend $50M compensating families of children who disappeared in state's early years
(JTA) — The Israeli government approved a plan Monday to provide compensation of up to $60,000 to some of the families of children who went missing while in state care in the 1950s. But advocacy groups and several of the families have already...
Ruderman foundation, main donor to Jewish inclusion efforts, ends its disability giving
(JTA) — To many in the Jewish world, the Ruderman Family Foundation is synonymous with efforts to increase inclusion for Jews with disabilities. Based in Boston, but active across the United States and in Israel, the foundation has doled out some...
