Jewish News

‘Shurat HaDin’ Files Suit Over Australian Israel Boycotts

An Israeli civil rights group, Shurat HaDin, has filed a class action complaint under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 with the Australian Human Rights Commission over a Sydney professor’s participation and public support of boycotts of Israel including an academic boycott of Israeli universities. Recently, faculty and students at Sydney University called for the severing of links with Israeli institutions, actions that would be deemed ...

Cross Country Bikers Reach Ohio

Nine bicyclists riding across the United States stopped in New Albany, Ohio last week to help raise awareness of the Friendship Circle, a Jewish program that pairs teens with special-needs children and adults.“It’s something more than just riding cross country,” said 18-year-old Efraim Shaw of Monsey , N.Y.Friendship Circle started in Detroit in 1994 when Jewish leaders hoped to pair ...

Aaron Panken Named President of Reform Movement’s Rabbinical School

Rabbi Aaron Panken has been elected president of the U.S. Reform movement’s rabbinical school. The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion announced the decision made by its board of governors on Wednesday.Panken, 49, of Mamaroneck, N.Y., has taught rabbinic and Second Temple literature at HUC-JIR in New York since 1995. He has served as vice president for strategic initiatives, dean ...

N.J. Schechter School Closes Three Weeks Before Year Starts

Come August 29, Solomon Schechter in East Brunswick, New Jersey, will not re-open its doors. The decision to close the school came only three weeks before the slated start of school.On August 7, parents received an email from the head of school stating: “Unfortunately, I have to confirm what is, for all of us, the worst possible news for our ...

The ‘Vegas’ Bar Mitzva Boy is Giving His Gifts Away

Sam Horowitz, whose bar mitzva entrance video has gone viral on YouTube, has donated thousands of dollars of his gift money to an Israeli youth village.Sam, of Dallas, and his parents asked guests at the bar mitzva to make a contribution to the Ben Yakir Youth Village in central Israel in lieu of gifts, and are requesting that those who ...

Talks Over Oldest US Synagogue Fail

Mediation has failed in lawsuits between the oldest US synagogue and the country’s first Jewish congregation over ownership issues.Lawyers for the leaders of New York City’s Congregation Shearith Israel and Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island tell The Associated Press they were unable to agree during mediation overseen by a federal judge. The lawsuits will now move forward.The dispute started after ...

Hiddush Advocates for Israeli Tennis Team’s Punishment

On Thursday, a press release was sent by Hiddush, an organization for religious freedom and equality, to the International Tennis Federation to request that they respect the decision made by the Israel Davis Cup team not to compete on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.The team was scheduled to play against Belgium on Yom Kippur for one game out of ...

How to Keep Kosher While Backpacking in South America

When we think of traveling on vacation to far distances in today’s day and age, the mere thought of an uncomfortable journey almost seems unfathomable. We are used to the highest level of service and, thanks to technology, the world at our fingertips. From kosher mountaintop resorts to kosher cruises in the Mediterranean, the discerning frum traveler can experience luxurious ...

Rare Schindler Documents Sell for $122,000 at Auction

A collection of documents from World War II industrialist Oskar Schindler, including a letter he signed that made the way for the rescue of more than 1,000 Jewish factory workers, has fetched more than $122,000 at an online auction.The letter, dated Aug. 22, 1944, describes permission to move Schindler’s enamelware factory and its workers from Poland. Historians say that move ...

You Only Live Twice

Samuel Sandler, an aeronautical engineer and head of the Jewish community in Versailles, France, announced a few weeks ago that he’d had the local synagogue registered as a national landmark. “My feeling is that our congregation will be gone within twenty or thirty years,” he told friends, “and I don’t want the building demolished or, worse, used for improper purposes.”Once ...

New Chief Rabbis Sworn in, Commit to Bringing Am Yisrael Together

In the presence of family, friends, rabbis, justices and public officials, the new chief rabbis, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, were sworn in on Wednesday.In a ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, the rabbis swore allegiance to the State of Israel and committed to provide fair justice in their role as members of the Supreme Rabbinical Court. The ceremony ...

Rabbi Ariel: ‘Banks are the Last Place to Borrow Money From’

If you need a loan, the place to get it is at a gemach, a free loan society, that charges no interest, but may include a “usage fee,” according to Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel. Rabbi Ariel was on the “short list” for Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, and is considered a scholar of note by religious Jews from both the Religious Zionist ...