Jewish News

Jewish Theological Seminary gets $2.67 Million Grant

The Jewish Theological Seminary received a $2.67 million grant from the Avi Chai Foundation to implement its strategic plan at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education.JTS announced the funding this week for a Davidson School plan that includes providing resources to U.S. Jewish day schools, educators and leaders in Jewish education, as well as increasing its organizational capacity. ...

Haredi Community is a Vital Factor in Jewish Life

The haredi community is a vital factor in Jewish life and in the t State of Israel President Shimon Peres told a group of some 60 students from the Mir, Hebron, Ateret Israel and Ponevich yeshovot on Wednesday when they met with him at his official residences. Peres also decried the “dialogue of hate” and the attempts to delegitimize the ...

Muslim’s Unceasing Search for Jewish Mom

It is the stuff of which films are made and novels are written. His absorbing story is such that it connects three continents, Asia, Europe and North America, five countries India, Israel, Canada, United Kingdom and Pakistan, and two communities seen as natural adversaries today – the Jews and the Muslims.Urdu poet and Hafiz-e-Koran (one who has memorized the entire ...

Two Trees (of Life) Grow in Brooklyn

Zachary Ruttenberg first connected with Chabad last year in Mumbai, India, where he was living at the time. Two young rabbinical students from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., showed up at the synagogue where he was praying—Magen David in Colaba—and said if he was ever in Brooklyn, he should look them up. A year and several countries later, Ruttenberg did just that; ...

An End to Kosher Slaughter? Stem Cell Meat Takes on Factory Farming

In order to keep the price of meat down and quantities of production up, farmers have developed methods for mass producing meat that are both cruel to animals and harmful to the environment. The method is known as factory farming.Each full-grown chicken in a factory farm, where the majority of chickens are raised, has as little as six-tenths of a ...

Polish Photographer Uses Jewish Cemetery for Naked Photo Shoot

Polish photographer Lukasz Szczygielski has apologized for conducting a photo shoot with a half-naked model at the Jewish cemetery in the southern Polish town of Checiny.Szczygielski explained that he wanted to draw attention to the neglected cemetery. “I wanted to draw attention to the neglect of the place. The cemetery is forgotten, he told Gazeta Wyborcza. The model posed against ...

Exploring London’s Jewish West End

The history of the Jewish East End is well-documented, but few know the history of the Jewish West End. At its peak in the late 19th century, about 25,000 Jews moved here from the East End of London and Eastern Europe and Yiddish was the predominant language heard on these streets.London’s core, Soho, unites all four corners of the metropolis ...

Merkel’s Dachau Visit Sparks Controversy

Angela Merkel will become the first German chancellor to visit the former Nazi concentration camp Dachau on Tuesday, as she steps up warnings about the far-right threat while campaigning for a third term.Ahead of an evening election rally in Dachau, northwest of Munich, Merkel will arrive at the memorial at 5:45 p.m. local time. After making a short speech, she ...

West Coast Shluchim Gather

On Sunday, 12 Elul, the Shluchim of the West Coast held their annual Kinus. This year however, it was held in a very unique place – Temecula, California – where Rabbi Yitzy Hurwitz is on Shlichus. The Kinus, with the theme of Simcha, Bitochon and Emunah, was held there in order to give chizuk to Rabbi Hurwitz, who is battling ...

Women Reform rabbis: Stop the hatred

Dozens of female rabbis belonging to the Reform movement called out against a letter drafted by 27 wives of prominent rabbis calling on Jewish women not to date Arabs, work in places where Arabs are employed or volunteer for National Service with them. In their own letter, the Reform rabbis said the wives’ call was aimed at excluding Arab-Israelis from ...

War on Western Wall Reaches Court

The Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, women’s organizations and various pluralistic movements have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice on against the prime minister and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The groups are demanding that seculars, Reform Jews and women be given equal representation in the management of the Western Wall, and are asking the ...

Urgent Call to Restock Shaitel Gemach

With the High Holidays quickly approaching and too many people feeling the pinch of the economic downturn, more women than ever have been calling the Pesha Leah Shaitel Gemach, desperate for what is likely to be the only new item they’ll acquire for Yomtov. “Our supply of shaitels has quickly depleted, dashing the hopes of countless women who’ve turned to ...