Sorted by date Results 1105 - 1129 of 1365
(JNS) — Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America has picked a veteran Jewish and nonprofit communal leader as its new CEO. Naomi Adler, most recently the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, will assume her new position on Tuesday. She replaces Janice Weinman, who retired at the end of June. “Hadassah’s ability to assemble and engage a diverse membership is second to none,” said Adler, who also led two different United Way organizations in New York. “Whether it’s advancing Zionism, fighting anti...
(JNS) — The shockwaves from the Taliban’s lightning-quick takeover of Afghanistan are continuing to reverberate throughout the Middle East, and Islamist forces are feeling energized by the U.S. withdrawal. But according to Prof. Eyal Zisser, a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University, that boost in morale isn’t translating into rash attacks and warfare. “I think that while the extremist forces are seeking to build on the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s victory for morale purposes, they are...
(JTA) - Reports of the demise of the Canadian Jewish News have been, not for the first time, greatly exaggerated. On Sept. 1, the publication - the largest Jewish news organization in Canada - will rebrand as a digital-first enterprise after abruptly shutting down operations in April 2020 and then resuming a trickle of content over the last year. It is the second relaunch for the 61-year-old nonprofit, which previously shut its doors in 2013 before garnering enough community support to restart...
NEW YORK — This summer, 498 participants took part in Yachad programs across the United States, Canada and Israel. Yachad, a division of the Orthodox Union, is a leading organization for individuals with disabilities in the Jewish community and is one of the only organizations to offer summer programs for Orthodox individuals with disabilities ages 8 to 65 years old. This summer, the group ran its Yachad Integration Program (YIP) for campers in camps Lavi, Morasha and Nesher. The YIP program allows campers to enjoy a separate bunk while j...
Israeli swimmer Mark Malyar wins a second gold and sets another world record at Tokyo Paralympics By Emily Burack (JTA) — Israeli swimmer Mark Malyar continued his historic Paralympics on Sunday, winning another gold medal and breaking his own world record. Malyar won the 400-meter freestyle race in the S7 category, days after winning gold in the men’s 200-meter individual medley in the SM7 category. He set a new world record in that race, too. Malyar, 21, completed Sunday’s race in 4:31.06, two seconds better than his previous record, which he...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - In his first meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, President Joe Biden said that although he prefers diplomatic means to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, he is not afraid to "turn to other options" on the issue. The pledge captured what both men, who are in varying degrees of political precariousness right now, hoped to extract from the meeting: A bigger focus on what they agree on than what they disagree on, and the start of a new era in relations...
(JTA) — Israeli leaders rarely criticize a law passed by an ally government as outright “antisemitic.” But that’s what Foreign Minister Yair Lapid did on Aug. 14 in response to a newly passed law in Poland that indirectly makes it impossible for Jews and others to sue for property stolen from their families in World War II. “Poland today approved — not for the first time — an immoral, antisemitic law,” he said in a statement. Poland, which faces continual criticism throughout the European Union for its restrictive abortion and media policies,...
(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 Commission for Interreligious Affairs, sent a letter to the Vatican expressing concerns about an Aug. 11 lecture there on God giving the Torah to the Jews, Reuters reported Wednesday. The Torah is the name given to the first five books of the Jewish Bible. “God offered them the Torah, the Law, so they could under...
(JTA) — The owners of a Ukrainian cafe housed in a former synagogue said they worked two lightning bolts into the logo to advertise the reenergizing qualities of the coffee there. Instead they waded into a political minefield because they ended up reproducing the symbol of the SS, Nazi Germany’s murderous elite force. On Tuesday, the owners said the whole thing “is a case of a font gone wrong” and apologized to “anyone whose feelings may have been hurt.” It was a trial that was never fully implemented, they said, and will drop the logo. Cafe...
(JTA) - Zebulon Simantov, Afghanistan's last Jew, has not left Kabul, despite the best efforts of some Jewish figures and organizations. One of them was Moshe Margaraten, a haredi Orthodox fixer whose passion is bringing Jews out of danger. Margareten paid Moti Kahana, an Israeli-American businessman who helped extract people from war-torn Syria, to be a middleman and get Simantov out - but Kahana told Margareten what many others had heard: Simantov was not leaving because of his longstanding...
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – Hackers posting death threats, including “I’ll enter synagogues and kill everyone,” broke into the online mourning ceremony for a former Jewish school principal in Rio de Janeiro. “Death to Jews,” “I’ll explode,” “Sieg Heil” and “dirty Jews” were also part of the attack during the shiva session Sunday on Google Meet in honor of Dora Fraifeld, a beloved figure at the pluralistic Eliezer Max School for nearly 40 years. Fraifeld died last week. The hackers also used scenes of Adolf Hitler along with Nazi symbols and slo...
By Philissa Cramer (JTA) — Jewish communities around the world are reactivating their refugee-support networks as they prepare to help resettle Afghans who have fled the Taliban takeover of their country. In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Afghans have been airlifted from Kabul after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan with the U.S. exit from the country after 20 years. Many will spend time in another country while they wait to be admitted to the United States, but some are already arriving – and needing support as they adapt to a sud...
‘Enthusiasm’ remains uncurbed: Larry David’s 11th season with HBO debuts in October By Ron Kampeas (JTA) — Will there be a Martha’s Vineyard episode, and if there is, who plays Alan Dershowitz? The pandemic-delayed 11th season of Larry David’s signature misanthropic series, “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is set to debut on HBO in October, the show announced today via social media. “You’re allowed to be happy, but not in front of me,” the post read Monday, above a production photo of David hoisting up a small dog. HBO announced in June 2020 that it...
(JNS) - Newly installed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi celebrated the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the failure of the United States to leave smoothly after 20 years entrenched in the country, marking the beginning of what's likely to be a more aggressive stance there and on other fronts in the Middle East. American leaders have accused Iran of backing the Taliban in the fight against its military forces in Afghanistan. While a withdrawal was announced by the Biden administration earlier...
(JNS) - The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is responding to the Aug. 14 earthquake that struck southwestern Haiti by providing critically needed medical supplies - surgical instruments, fluids, IV starters, sutures, gloves, masks, face shields and clean linens - to local hospitals treating the wounded. The 7.2-magnitude event and its aftershocks flattened thousands of homes, businesses and other buildings as the resulting death toll reached an estimated 1,300 as of Sunday night....
(JTA) - Amid the Taliban's total takeover of Afghanistan this week, some had specific concerns about one person: that country's last remaining Jew, 62-year-old Zebulon Simantov. Simantov, who has in recent years lived in Kabul's only synagogue, said earlier this year that he would leave before the Taliban arrived, possibly for Israel. He has also said that the Taliban jailed him during the fundamentalist Muslim group's last hold on power in Afghanistan, and that they tried to convert him and reg...
(JNS) — Iran’s efforts to produce enriched uranium metal have progressed, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency report released on Monday. According to the report, which was issued to member states, Iran has produced 200g of uranium metal-enriched up to 20 percent, Reuters reported. In response, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price called on Tehran to “cease its nuclear escalations and return to negotiations.” “Iran has no credible need to produce uranium metal, which has direct relevance to nuclear weapons development,” sa...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — While most of the foreign policy world is focused on President Joe Biden’s moves in Afghanistan in the wake of the stunning turn of events there, the first anniversary of another important Middle East development quietly took place last week. The first part of the Abraham Accords, the historic cooperation agreements between Israel and several of its Arab neighbors, brokered in large part by the United States, turned one year old on Friday. The United Arab Emirates signed a treaty to normalize its relations with Israel for...
(JTA) — For the second year, COVID-19 has made it so Jews who want to attend High Holidays services must undergo a complicated risk calculation. Is it safe to go to synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Should I bring my children? Is the shofar — the horn whose blasts punctuate the holy days — a potential vector of disease? Last year, five months into the global pandemic that has killed more than 4.5 million people globally, the answers were fairly straightforward, if dispiriting: Stay home, or at least stay masked and very far apart...
(JNS) - A number of Jewish groups have significant concerns about how Israel's conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip this spring will correlate into anti-Jewish sentiment on North American college campuses as the fall semester begins. Most colleges are resuming in-person and on-campus classes after nearly three semesters of virtual learning as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. Even with the rapidly spreading Delta variant, universities are getting ready to start in full force, at...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — Several U.S. Ben & Jerry’s franchisees have sent a letter to the company calling on them to rescind their July 19 decision to stop doing business in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The letter was signed by franchisees in Seattle, Boston, San Francisco and St. Louis, among other major cities, that operate 30 stores and generate $23.3 million in combined revenue. “There is a danger that the pursuit of social justice will descend into political correctness or result in the adoption of overly simplistic solutions...
(JNS) — Ongoing Arab protests in recent weeks in the West Bank against the Palestinian Authority over the killing of opposition activist Nizar Banat by security forces have led to heavy criticism of the P.A. for suppression. According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute published on Tuesday, the protests have expressed deep dissatisfaction over ongoing corruption and the absence of democracy. The unrest followed the decision this spring by P.A. head Mahmoud Abbas to postpone elections out of a fear of losing to other f...
(JNS) - Three Israeli documentary filmmakers arrived home safely from Nigeria at the end of last week, after what they described as 20 "hellish days" detained under inhumane conditions by the government's Department of State Services security agency. Rudy Rochman, David Benaym and Noam Leibman had set off for the African country as part of their "We Were Never Lost" documentary project aimed at telling the stories of disconnected and lesser-known Jewish communities around the world. However,...
(JNS) — Representatives from the U.S. and Israeli Air Forces met last month to discuss a remarkable development: what the Israel Defense Forces described as “updated orders for the cooperation between the two nations’ air-defense systems during emergency situations.” The Israeli delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Gilad Biran, commander of the IAF’s Air Defense System, and the American delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Greg Brady, commander of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, which is based in Germany. “The purpose of the meeting was...
(JNS) - Many in the Jewish world are sharing in Israel's record-setting four medal wins at the just-concluded 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Leading the pack were rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram and men's gymnast Artem Dolgopyat, both of whom captured gold medals during the two weeks of competition. Additionally, Israeli Avishag Semberg took home a bronze for taekwondo, while the Jewish state's mixed judo team also celebrated with a bronze-medal win. Team Israel Olympic baseball members had hoped...