Jewish News

Midwest Intercollegiate Shabbaton: A Weekend for Mind, Body and Soul

It’s hard to say what the best part was of the Midwest Shabbaton, held April 19-21, 2013 at the Chabad Center of Jewish Life at the Univeristy of Illinois. Just spending Shabbat with over 300 fellow college students representing 10 universities at the largest Jewish gathering in the Midwest was pretty exceptional.Then there was listening throughout the weekend to the ...

Middle East diplomat causes terror scare on Denver-bound flight by lighting cigarette in bathroom

A Middle East diplomat sparked a bomb scare and a full-scale security alert on Wednesday night after he fired up a cigarette in the bathroom of a cross-country flight.Two jet fighters were scrambled to meet the United Airlines flight, President Obama was alerted and scores of police officers and FBI and Homeland Security Department officials mobilized to meet the plane.Read ...

Middle-aged men still rule US Jewish groups

The typical leader of a Jewish organization in the US is male, middle-aged and earns hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, according to a survey published by The Forward on Friday.Yeshiva University President Richard Joel topped the list of earners in the Jewish sphere, making $848,176, followed by Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center at $721,714 and ...

Michael Oren urges U.S. Jews to defend Israel against aggressors

NEW ORLEANS – Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, urged America’s Jewry to stand up for Israel on Monday during a panel on Israeli-U.S. relations as part of the Jewish Federations General Assembly.“I think it is fair for Israel to expect the American Jewish community to uphold our right to self-defense,” Oren said. “Israel expects American Jews to ...

MI5 believed Jewish underground wanted to assassinate Churchill

A member of one of the Jewish underground militant groups that sought to end the British Mandate in Palestine and establish the State of Israel suggested that then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, should be assassinated, according to the British newspaper Telegraph.Records of the British military intelligence unit MI5 reveal that a member of the Lehi pre-state militia ...

Mezuzah Ban Reversed

A Connecticut condominium association has reversed its decision to ban the display of mezuzahs on the doorposts of residents’ apartments.Barbara Cadranel, who had been instructed to remove her mezuzah from her doorpost or face a $50 fine per-day, has learned that she will be permitted to display the religious artifact.Cadranel’s attorneys, Nathan Lewin and Alyza Lewin, announced on Tuesday that ...

Metzger slams recent trend of ‘rabbi letters’

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger spoke out sharply on Wednesday night against the trend of rabbis’ letters addressing various social or political causes, declaring that such letters led to disparagement of religious leaders.In an address to members of Netzach U’Magen, a religiously- oriented organization that commemorates fallen Israeli soldiers, Metzger slammed the “mode” of letters that the Israeli public had ...

Messod and Michal Wizman Laid To Rest in Jerusalem

Scores attended the Jerusalem funeral of the young couple murdered last week in the Marrakesh terrorist bombing.Messod Wizman, 32, and his wife Michal (Zekry) Wizman, of Shanghai, China, were laid to rest in the Har Hamenuchot cemetery in Givat Shaul, Jerusalem.Accompanying family members of the young couple were Chabad representatives to Shanghai, China, where the Wizmans lived with their 3-year ...

Merkel honored by US Jewish group

The American Jewish Committee has honored German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her outspoken support for Israel and the Jewish people as a whole. The group’s executive director David Harris on Thursday presented Merkel with its Light unto the Nations Award at the chancellery in Berlin.Harris says in a statement that “outspoken support for the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and ...

Merkel Deplores Anti-Jewish Sentiment in Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday deplored the “high level of anti-Semitism” in her country, speaking after a meeting with the Central Council of Jews.Touching on a heated debate on male religious circumcision, she stressed the importance of religious tolerance, while also reiterating Berlin’s support for Israel in the recent Gaza conflict.Guaranteeing the freedom to perform religious rituals is a ...

Merkel Addresses Jewish Council

Chancellor Angela Merkel has become the first German leader to address the Jewish community’s annual council meeting, reassuring members that the government would protect their religious rights, in particular the right to practice rituals integral to their faith.Merkel’s speech comes after what the Jewish Council president called a “summer of discontent” following a controversial court ruling in the western city ...

Meridor: Sabre-rattling with Turkey should be avoided

Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor cautioned Turkey on Friday that it was bound by international law in its challenge to an Israeli naval blockade on Gaza, but stressed that Israel was not interested in a war of words with its once-close ally.Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday set the stage for a potential naval confrontation, declaring that Turkish ...