Jewish News

Blagojevich Considered Oprah for Senator

Here’s a question you must have thought about a thousand times: would you take a billion dollar cut in pay to be a United States Senator? For a few fleeting days in 2008, Oprah Winfrey was high on Rod Blagojevich’s list of candidates, but he never extended a formal offer.Read More: @ nbcchicago.comYou might also like:Shul girl OprahChabad: Oprah explores Hassidic ...

BlackBerry maker ‘to unveil ‘BlackPad’ tablet to take on iPad next week

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) is set to unveil its version of a tablet computer to take on the iPad next week, it was claimed today.The BlackPad, as it has been nicknamed, will be launched before the end of the year and will have a seven-inch touch screen and at least one built-in camera, a source told the Wall ...

Black Hats Traditionally Worn by Orthodox and Hasidic Jews Are Now Trendy, According to the Times

The Borsalino hat, a wide-brimmed black felt fedora commonly worn by Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish sects, has now gotten trendy amongst hipster folks, the Times reports. Kids in Williamsburg are wearing them with skinny jeans and sneakers, and Cole Haan shot Trinidadian hip-hop artist Theophilus London (who is decidedly not Jewish) wearing his in their spring ad campaign. When the Times asked him about ...

Black and Jewish, and Seeing No Contradiction

In yeshivas, they are sometimes taunted as “monkeys” or with the Yiddish epithet for blacks. At synagogues and kosher restaurants, they engender blank stares. And dating can be awkward: their numbers are so small, friends will often share at least some romantic history with the same man or woman, and matchmakers always pair them with people with whom they have ...

B’Klyn Residents To Sound Off On Botched Snow Response

The City Council blizzard hearings move to Borough Hall Wednesday night to give Brooklyn residents a chance to vent over the mismanaged snow cleanup.Last night, Staten Islanders took turns blasting the response to the Christmas weekend storm that paralyzed the City and dumped up to 30 inches on the borough.Three weeks after the blizzard, there was still plenty of anger.Read ...

Bitter herbs sweet for Poland’s Jews

The Passover herbs are bitter, but the symbolism is sweet for Poland’s Jews, a community which has emerged from the shadow of Nazi German genocide and communist-era anti-Semitism.As Jews worldwide commemorated the ancient Exodus from Egypt with traditional fare from dry matzah crackers to herbs in saltwater recalling their forebears’ tears, those in Poland say they are grounded confidently in their faith ...

Birthright Israel tours are insulting young Jews’ intelligence

I did an extremely rash thing last week, promising this column would, for once, not just be about criticism, but also try and propose ideas for bridging the widening chasm between a young generation of American Jews and their counterparts in Israel. Thinking about it over the last few days, and actually sitting down now to write it, I feel ...

Birthright ‘Baby Boomers’ Head to Israel

Studies carried out recently among US Jews indicate that only one in five has visited, or is planning to visit Israel.The worrying findings have led the UJA Federation of New York to present an innovative plan: “Birthright Israel for Boomers” – a tourism program aimed at adults that follows the outline of programs already in place for the younger generation.Next ...

Binghamton Chabad Fights ‘Yeneh Machlah’ in Style

The fight against Yeneh Machlah is personal for Binghamton University student Jessie Rubin and her family, who shared their stories at Chabad at Binghamton’s girls-only fashion show Thursday evening.The women of Sigma Delta Tau sorority, Eta Zeta and the Fashion Club joined Chabad to sponsor “Fashion for a Cure” to raise breast cancer awareness and celebrate women who have battled breast cancer.“Tonight’s ...

Bin Laden had ‘no clue’ about Sept. 11 retaliation

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden had no idea the U.S. would hit al-Qaida as hard as it has since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, a former bin Laden associate tells WTOP in an exclusive interview.“I’m 100 percent sure they had no clue about what was going to happen,” says Noman Benotman, who was head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group ...

Billboards for Gilad Shalit

At Times Square, known as the crossroads of the world, seven words flash across a 30-by-40 square foot, hi-definition digital billboard: Let Gilad know he is not alone. Corporal Gilad Shalit marked his 24th birthday on August 28, — his fifth birthday as a hostage of Hamas, which kidnapped him from an IDF border patrol in June of 2006. He ...

Bill to make Israel a Jewish state: a solution in search of a problem

Many people are surprised to discover that Israel doesn’t have a formal constitution. Basic Laws, passed by the country’s parliament (known as the Knesset), serve as a working constitution for the courts and government. Last week, one third of Knesset members introduced a bill to recognize Israel as a Jewish state that would become the nation’s newest Basic Law if ...