Jewish News

Toronto G20 protest hints at more to come

TORONTO (Reuters) – Kicking off protests that will draw thousands to Toronto during two top-level summits next week, oil-smeared demonstrators urged Canada on Thursday to stop subsidizing fossil fuels and act against world poverty.The group paraded through Toronto’s financial core with an outsized papier-mache head of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, handing out fake C$1 billion bills that spoofed the ...

Torah scribe wields her quill against segregation of women

On a small desk, squeezed between a closet and a wall, the writing of the first women’s Torah scroll in Israel began a few weeks ago. The scribe, Hanna Klebansky, says she hopes the writing and reading of the scroll will send a message contradicting that of the segregation of women.Klebansky is hardly the stereotypical Torah scribe. She is 39, ...

Top Sephardi rabbi’s aide tied to illegal porn sales

In early 2005, porn producer and actor Ashley Gasper realized that someone was bootlegging his films. Counterfeit copies of “Jules Jordan’s Flesh Hunter 6” and “Jules Jordan: Feeding Frenzy 2,” among other titles, were showing up among the DVDs being returned to his distributor.According to a recent decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Gasper ...

Top Rabbis Declare: No Compromise on Haredi Draft

Two of the most senior haredi rabbis in Israel, Aharon Leib Shteinman and Shmuel Auerbach, have both declared over the past two days that there is “no room for compromise” on the issue of haredi enlistment.Their pronouncements came after reports last week that Shteinman, the spiritual leader of the haredi community, was not opposed to the principles of one particular ...

Top Jewish moments at the 2012 Golden Globes

A loose collection of memorable moments for Hollywood Jews and their tribal sensibilities at the Golden Globe Awards:Howard Gordon takes home an award for best television series – drama, for “Homeland,” based on the Israeli format “Hatufim (Prisoners of War)” (but does not even mention Israel in his acceptance speech!): “I want to thank Rick Rosen at WME (William Morris ...

Top Jewish leader and close Netanyahu ally blasts PM for lack of diplomatic plan

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, who in the past was considered one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s biggest donors and supporters, lashed out at the prime minister’s diplomatic policy Monday night. He made the comments in a speech to Jewish members of parliament from around the world as they attended a conference in Jerusalem.Read More: @ haaretz.comYou might also like:Netanyahu invites extreme ...

Too Few Women Lead Major U.S. Jewish Federations, MK Says

A special Knesset subcommittee is eliciting candid assessments about the role of women in Jewish community life, while posing searing questions about the relative lack of women in Jewish leadership roles.Some 10 presenters from leading organizations in Israel and North America addressed a special subcommittee of the Knesset’s Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee during a 90-minute session Tuesday, chaired ...

Tony Kushner awarded $100,000 prize for ‘challenging the status quo’

Who said great artists must starve? Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter, and polarizing political voice, will be awarded $100,000 for “Creative Citizenship” at The Nation Institute’s Annual Gala on Dec. 5 in New York.A closer look at the social missions of the sponsoring organizations (The Puffin Foundation and The Nation Institute) indicates Kushner is being recognized for ...

Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth converts to Islam after a ‘holy experience’ in Iran

Tony Blair’s sister-in-law has converted to Islam after having a ‘holy experience’ in Iran.Broadcaster and journalist Lauren Booth, 43 – Cherie Blair’s half-sister – said she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’.She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting ...

Tommy Hilfiger: I’m not an anti-Semite

“Tommy Hilfiger is a racist – if he would have known African Americans and Asians would be wearing his clothing, he would have given up his international fashion career.” This is the popular rumor started years ago about the successful American fashion designer. It began online and quickly leaked to the press.Over the years the rumor grew bigger and bigger, ...

Tisha Be’av Video Gets Hostile Reception from Egypt

A video that a Jerusalem religious educational organization released on YouTube ahead of the Tisha Be’av fast has received significant attention from the Egyptian press and public in the five days since it was posted.The video, which the Temple Institute says is designed to “change the way people think about the Temple and the commandment to rebuild it,” has garnered ...

Times Square terror suspect Faisal Shahzad picked up cash for plot at L.I. Dunkin’ Donuts

The Times Square terror suspect got $4,000 cash for his warped plot in a clandestine meeting at a Long Island Dunkin’ Donuts, sources told the Daily News on Thursday night. Faisal Shahzad drove from Connecticut to the doughnut shop near the Ronkonkoma Long Island Rail Road station to pick up his blood money, the sources saidRead More: @ nydailynews.comTags: cash, dunkin donuts, Faisal Shahzad, terror ...