Jewish News

Raul Castro celebrates Hanukkah with Cuban Jews

Cuban President Raul Castro celebrated Hanukkah on Sunday with the island’s tiny Jewish community, a heavily symbolic act at a time when his government is holding a Jewish-American subcontractor on suspicion of spying.Neither Castro nor those assembled at Havana’s Shalom synagogue mentioned the name Alan Gross during the gathering, which was broadcast on the state-television newscast Sunday evening. But Gross’s ...

Rare Find of Temple Era Artifacts near Jerusalem

The discovery, like may others, was made during road excavation, this time at a new section of the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway, known as Highway 1. The archaeological site is known as Tel Motza, at the Motza turnoff less than five miles west of Jerusalem.A ritual building and a cache of sacred vessels date back approximately 2,750 years.“The ritual building at ...

Rare 15th Century Jewish Siddur to be Auctioned in Paris Sale

A rare 15th century festival prayer book written in Hebrew and estimated to be worth up to $800,000 will be exhibited in New York next week ahead of its sale at Christie’s Books and Manuscripts auction in Paris next month.The 400-page illuminated prayer book, or Mahzor, that was probably made in Florence is considered one of the finest and rarest ...

Rapper Finds Order in Orthodox Judaism in Israel

The tall man in the velvet fedora and knee-length black jacket with ritual fringes peeking out takes long, swift strides toward the Western Wall. It’s late in the day, and he does not want to miss afternoon prayers at Judaism’s holiest site.We have to get there before the sun goes down,” he says, his stare fixed behind a pair of ...

Raphael Golb gets six months in prison for impersonating Dead Sea Scrolls scholar

A disbarred lawyer convicted of impersonating a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar and four other academics online in a campaign to discredit their work is going up the river.A judge Thursday sentenced Raphael Golb to six months behind bars – for his stealing his victims’ e-mail identities and trashing them.Prosecutors wanted up to four years for the campaign of harassment against ...

Rangel Says No Plea Deal Yet to Ethics Charges

Veteran New York Rep. Charles Rangel said Thursday there’s no deal yet to settle his ethics case and avoid an election-season trial on charges of violating House rules. Shortly before a special panel was scheduled to meet, Rangel told reporters outside his office, “Until someone tells me there’s a deal, there isn’t.” Rangel’s comments came after Harlem friends of the ...

Rand Paul in Israel: US Foreign Aid Can’t be One-Way Street

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, a fierce opponent of US foreign aid who is being touted already as a likely 2016 presidential candidate, said in Jerusalem on Monday that the United States is and always will be a friend of Israel, but thinks “it will be harder and harder to be a friend if we are out of money.”Speaking to ...

Rallies Across Eretz Yisroel As Emanuel Parents Head To Prison

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox protesters gathered in Jerusalem and in Bnei Brak on Thursday to support the right of Ashkenazi Hasidic parents to keep their children in classes segregated from their Sephardi peers. Protesters snarled traffic in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, crowded onto balconies in crowded city squares, and waved posters decrying the court’s decision and proclaiming the supremacy ...

Rain, Snow Do Not Stop Chabad

High winds, heavy rain and the prospect of snow were no obstacle to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s annual gathering of Jewish outreach workers. Five hundred Chabad emissaries (shlichim) met in Nir Etzion hotel on Tuesday despite the “Frankenstorm” lashing the country.Those at the meeting are usually spread from Metula to Eilat in Israel’s 294 Chabad House outreach centers. The annual meeting ...

Rahm Emanuel makes final push for Chicago’s mayoral post

Rahm Emanuel, the former top aide to United States President Barack Obama, is making his final push to secure enough votes for an outright victory in Chicago’s mayoral race.Chicago voters go to the polls Tuesday with polls showing the 52- year-old Emanuel is the clear favorite to become mayor of Obama’s hometown.A Chicago Tribune survey in the last week showed ...

Rahm Emanuel Likely to Leave White House This Week

Although no final decision has been made because of family considerations, ABC News has learned that White House officials are preparing for Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to announce on Friday — as Congress adjourns for recess — that he is leaving his post to explore a run for mayor of Chicago.White House officials expect that President Obama will also ...

Rahm Emanuel Hosts Chabad Rabbi for Chanukah

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel offered his best wishes to downtown Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Meir Chai Benhiyoun and his family prior to the celebration of the public celebration of the first night of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, but skipped attending the lighting of the first candle of the public menorah that always takes place at Daley Plaza, the city’s ...