Jewish News

Serbia WWII Death Camp to ‘Multicultural’ Development?

Historians and Jewish leaders have expressed concern that Siberia’s largest World War II death camp may be transformed into a commercial development, The Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported.The leaders reportedly met to discuss the future of the Staro Sajmiste death camp, which is located on the outskirts of Belgrade, following reports that it may be turned into to “multicultural” development, with a memorial for ...

Senior Ultra-Orthodox Leader Pays Historic Visit to Israel Museum

The head of the Karlin-Stolin Hasidic dynasty received a behind-closed-doors tour of the Israel Museum last week, the first official visit there by a major ultra-Orthodox leader.Rabbi Baruch Shochat is known for his openness to art and culture, and encourages his followers to take an interest in art and archaeology. The guided tour of the Jerusalem museum, which lasted about ...

Senior Hamas Leader: Shalit Deal Proves Kidnapping Works

Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya says the Shalit-for-terrorists deal proves kidnapping works, and he promises more abductions. The Israeli Cabinet late Tuesday night approved freeing kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,027 terrorists and security prisoners.Al-Hayya, a Gaza legislator and a senior academic and political figure, told the Chinese news agency Xinhua, “Our prisoners can only be released through this way. The ...

Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia Dies

Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a fiery orator versed in the classics and a hard-charging power broker who steered billions of federal dollars to the state of his Depression-era upbringing, died Monday. He was 92. A spokesman for the family, Jesse Jacobs, said Byrd died peacefully at about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va. He had been ...

Sen. Feinstein Fuels Support for Dividing Jerusalem

Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, whose roots are Jewish and has a large Jewish following, has come to the aid of U.S. President Barack Obama and has drafted a letter encouraging U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to pressure Israel against “the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.” The use of the terms, instead of ...

Self Mastery: A Study of Michtav M’Eliyahu – Giving and Taking

Hashem created man in His image. Just as He “Noten lechem l’chol basar,” gives sustenance to all of his creations, we should train ourselves to become givers.In Kuntres Hachesed, the Michtav M’Eliyahu speaks about the love a man should have for his wife. The Gemara in Yevamot says that one should love his wife as much as he loves himself and ...

Segregation of the sexes spreads among Orthodox Jews

When a recent online exposé revealed that women on a city-franchised bus were required to sit in the back, those who seemed to be least outraged were the women who actually ride the bus and live in the two heavily Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhoods it connects.“It never bothered me,” said Rachel Freier, a lawyer from Boro Park who rides another segregated ...

Segregation of the sexes reaches Israeli youth club

The “women singer ban” phenomenon has reached Tel Aviv high schools. A recent Haaretz inquiry has revealed that an alternative youth movement, “Yehuda and Israel” – with whom year 10 students are required to participate in a “Personal Commitment” program – recently hosted a performance in which female singers performed, and male audience members were forbidden. In addition, the youth ...

See you on Shabbat!

Positive aspects to Diaspora living: A Jew can find kosher food and a sympathetic environment almost everywhere around the globe. A group of young Americans led by Rabbi Benzion Klatzko of Ohio, decided to take advantage of the Diaspora reality and use it for a one of its kind hospitality program – the Jewish version of couch surfing.The Shabbat.com website gives ...

Seculars Can Visit on Shabbat

If you’re a secular Jew and have religious friends, you’ve probably been invited by them occasionally to “do Shabbat in our house.”Up until now, if you accepted the invitation, you would have had to arrive at their home before the start of Shabbat, but a new halachic ruling aims to change that.The ruling, obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth, was not written ...

Secular Tel Aviv’s very own ‘messiah’

Tel Aviv has long prided itself on being a secular, cosmopolitan outpost in a land overflowing with religions, saints and shrines – but now it has its very own “messiah”.Sitting cross-legged on the ground in a gritty part of town by a bustling open-air market, he exudes the air of a Biblical character, down to his long hair, beard and ...

Secular Jerusalemites pick up tips at seder workshop

With a week to go before Passover seder night, some people are not making do with spring cleaning and gift shopping. Late last week, around 40 secular Jerusalemites gathered at the Beit Avi Chai cultural center in the capital for a workshop on the seder.Passover has become a burdensome holiday for Israelis, the workshop’s leader, Prof. Avigdor Shinan, told the ...