Jewish News

Jewish Americans Mull 2012 Obama Re-election Bid

Jewish Americans are looking ahead to the 2012 presidential race, and President Barack Obama’s re-election bid – and they’re beginning to wonder.Among those reconsidering their support are New York’s former Mayor Ed Koch. “I believed that then-Senator Obama would be as good as John McCain (in the 2008 election) based on his statements at the time, and based on his ...

Jewish Agency Targets Russian-Speaker at Confab

In the ancient, cobble-stoned, quintessentially European city of Maastricht, Holland, this past weekend, a gathering of more than 200 Jewish youth was brought together to strengthen Jewish identity and communal associations on the continent.Organized and hosted by the Jewish Agency for Israel, the four-day seminar targeted Russian-speaking Jewish youth from across Europe, and Germany in particular.The specific topic of the ...

Jewish Agency plans to ax funding for immigrant students

Thousands of immigrants could be forced to drop out of school if the Jewish Agency moves forward with a plan to end scholarship funding at the end of the current academic year.Senior agency officials say the Jewish Agency plans to stop transferring funds to the Immigrant Student Authority toward the end of the year, a consequence of internal reorganization at ...

Jerusalem’s Western Wall gets an iPhone app

JERUSALEM — IPhone users can now visit Judaism’s holiest prayer site from anywhere in the world.The Israeli foundation that administers the Western Wall has launched an iPhone application that streams live from the site around the clock – except on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays, when transmissions are forbidden by Jewish law.Read More: @ washingtonpost.comReaders found more information by searching for:iphone ...

Jerusalem’s new smash hit: Maccabi Mea Shearim b-ball team

They play in black uniforms, hide their ‘peyes’ behind their ears. They don’t have a budget or a seal of approval from rabbis – but they are well-equipped when it comes to faith. Meet Jerusalem’s new smash hit: the Maccabi Mea Shearim basketball team.This week, the team, whose members all live in or around the famous Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox neighborhood – ...

Jerusalem’s long-awaited rail system is ready

After years of delays and a billion-euro price tag, Jerusalem’s light rail system, which has stirred controversy across the Holy City, is gearing up for its long-awaited launch in the first half of next year.Construction work has backed up traffic in already car-choked Jerusalem for years, leaving locals and shopkeepers frustrated and fed-up.“The population has suffered since the work began ...

Jerusalem suburbs will one day be part of Palestinian capital

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad declared Tuesday that the suburbs of Jerusalem would one day be part of the eternal Palestinian capital, according to Israeli media reports. Fayyad made his remarks at a reception marking the inauguration of two East Jerusalem schools in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Dahiat al-Barid, on the Palestinian side of the separation fence.The Palestinian premier ...

Jerusalem Students Greet Oldest Couple to Make Aliyah

A class of 33 eighth grade students from Hebrew University High School (Leyada) in Jerusalem greeted the oldest couple to make aliyah in the history of Israel earlier this month. The Israeli students, aged thirteen to fourteen years old; many with parents or grandparents who happened to have made aliyah, have spent the past two months studying aliyah in a ...

Jerusalem scholars trace Bible’s evolution

A dull-looking chart projected on the wall of a university office in Jerusalem displayed a revelation that would startle many readers of the Old Testament: The sacred text that people revered in the past was not the same one we study today.An ancient version of one book has an extra phrase. Another appears to have been revised to retroactively insert ...

Jerusalem Rabbi Hears Divorce Cases as Daughter Represents Spouses

A Jerusalem religious court judge is under investigation by the State Prosecutor’s Office after he was found to have ruled on divorce cases in which his daughter or son-in-law represented the husband or wife.The judge, Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Rabinovitch, was found by the judicial ombudsman, retired Supreme Court Justice Eliezer Goldberg, to have decided divorce cases in which his daughter, ...

Jerusalem protest: Haredim fight for Shabbat

Haredim resume Shabbat protests: Hundreds of people rallied in the capital Saturday, clashing with police and trying to block a Jerusalem road to protest the opening of the Karta parking lot on Shabbat.Police officials estimated that some 800 people were protesting at the site by 6 pm. Some protestors yelled “Nazis” at police officers facing them. Other demonstrators dubbed a female ...

Jerusalem Old City’s Jewish Quarter almost entirely Haredi, study finds

Prof. Daniel Sperber, a resident of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City and an Israel Prize laureate in Jewish studies, has noticed a demographic and sociological change in the Jewish Quarter over time, from a diverse neighborhood of secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews to one that is almost entirely Haredi (ultra-Orthodox ).Sperber also serves as a rabbi of the ...