Jewish News

Guide to Buying Tzitzit

At the end of last week’s Parsha the Torah instructs us to wear tzitzit “in order to remember and fulfill all of [the] mitzvahs” (Bamidbar 15:40). To explain the mitzvah, the Midrash brings an analogy of a ship passenger who fell into the water. The captain throws him a line, shouting, “Hold onto the rope and don’t let go, otherwise ...

Groups Prepare for Siyum Hashas Events

Over 15,000 people are expected to participate in the central events of the upcoming Siyum Hashas, celebrating the completion of the cycle of study of the Talmud, set to take place in about five weeks. In Israel, the two central events will be held in Yad Eliyahu stadium in Tel Aviv, usually used for basketball games and concerts. A separate ...

Groupon to buy Grouper for $15M

American grouped purchases giant Groupon is entering Israel and purchasing local coupon website Grouper, Calcalist reported Tuesday. The deal is estimated at $15 million – an impressive return for an initial investment of only tens of thousands of shekels by Grouper’s founders: Dori Hilleli, Dotan Stav and Yuval Karjevski.The three founders are expected to receive about $4 million each. Ido ...

Group Slams Conversion Authority’s ‘Closed Door’

The ITIM religious rights advocacy group has accused the state’s Conversion Authority of adopting a “closed door policy” toward non-Israeli citizens interested in conversion, and claimed the authority has created a “negative image” that has led to an overall decrease in conversions.“It is unconscionable that the Conversion Authority is discouraging spouses of Israelis to convert within the national system,” ITIM ...

Group petitions court to halt vote on Jerusalem chief rabbi

A liberal religious Zionist organization is asking the High Court of Justice to put a freeze on the process of electing a chief rabbi for Jerusalem until the regulations governing the process are altered to better represent the public and prevent political deals.Ne’emanei Torah Ve’avoda on Monday filed a petition asking the court to basically reduce the weight of the ...

Group Abandons Shabbos Protest Against Gutnick

Protesters targeting mining magnate Joseph Gutnick have abandoned plans to rally outside a Melbourne synagogue on the Sabbath, after an eleventh-hour realisation that their action could be viewed as anti-Semitic.Students for Palestine, a group associated with the Socialist Alternative, had planned to protest later this month at the Adass Gutnick Hall against Mr Gutnick’s business presence in the West Bank, ...

Ground Zero Mosque Developer: Mosque Could Accommodate 1,000 Worshippers

Supporters of the “Ground Zero mosque” have been oddly obsessed with the idea that the proposed Islamic center shouldn’t be called a “mosque.” As Frank Rich wrote last Sunday in the New York Times: “It’s not a mosque but an Islamic cultural center containing a prayer room.”But the website for the project, once called the “Cordoba House” and now known as ...

Greenfield Opposes Club In Flatbush Near Yeshiva

Council Finance Chairman Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. and Councilman David G. Greenfield sent a joint letter last week to the New York State Liquor Authority, asking them to deny a liquor license to a planned bar and gentlemen’s club in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The proposed establishment, Pleasure Island, is located at 816 Avenue U and has raised concerns ...

Greenfield Disappointed By Massive Child Care Cuts In City’s Budget

In light of Mayor Bloomberg’s massive proposed cuts to child care programs in his preliminary Fiscal Year 2012 budget, Councilman David Greenfield sent a letter to yeshiva administrators on Sunday explaining what these cuts will mean for their yeshivas and child care programs.Greenfield explained that, in order to close the city’s projected $4.58 billion deficit, the Mayor has announced a ...

Greenfield Calls On Yeshivas To Register Parents To Vote

Councilman David G. Greenfield called on yeshiva administrators across New York to register yeshiva parents to vote at the same time that they register their children for yeshiva. Councilman Greenfield sent a letter to administrators today stressing that yeshivas are facing tremendous economic challenges at a time when state and local governments are grappling with multi-billion dollar deficits. His letter explained that ...

Greek victims of Nazi atrocities file claim for WWII damages from Germany

Greece will support a claim for compensation from Germany for a World War II massacre by Nazis, the prime minister said Wednesday.Residents of the village of Distomo, in central Greece, have won a battle in Italian courts for compensation from Germany, joining Italian plaintiffs seeking similar damages.Nazi troops executed 214 civilians on June 10, 1944 in Distomo, in one of ...

Greece’s Jewish Community Struggles to Stay Afloat

Personal letters were sent to members of the Jewish community in Athens in recent months asking them to pay annual community dues. This brash appeal for funds is just one of the previously unthinkable measures taken by Greece’s Jewish community in an effort to survive.“This never happened in the past,” said Ilana Demetrio, a Jewish resident of Athens. “The practice ...