Ben Sales
By Ben Sales
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Fast Forward Egyptian Jewish Leader Magda Haroun Backs Push Against Islamists
(JTA) — When Magda Haroun was out on the streets during the unrest now rocking Egypt’s capital, she saw someone standing over the body of a dead soldier. “Not even a Jew would do this,” she heard him say. Haroun, the president of the Egyptian Jewish community, doesn’t enjoy hearing anti-Semitic slurs on the street….
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Fast Forward Israeli Family That Fought Ultra-Orthodox Radicals Forced To Leave Beit Shemesh
(JTA) — Two years ago, Hadassa Margolese became a symbol of resistance to haredi Orthodox domination after she allowed her 8-year-old daughter, Na’ama, to tell an Israeli reporter how religious men had spit on her as she walked to school. The report made headlines around the world and cast Margolese into the spotlight as a…
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The Schmooze Dr. Oz Goes to Israel
(JTA) — Dr. Mehmet Oz sat down to talk with JTA on the Tel Aviv coast last week, but what he really wanted to do was go to the beach. Oz, the surgeon and well-known TV personality, was in Israel for the first time and had a packed itinerary. He traversed the country from the…
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Fast Forward Double Dynasty Win in Israel Chief Rabbinate Vote a Letdown for Critics
(JTA) — In a city with a seemingly infinite number of kosher restaurants, Jerusalem restaurateurs have a tough time obtaining certification from the country’s Chief Rabbinate. Proprietors of the city’s eateries have long complained of exorbitant fines, strict limits on what food they may buy and lax certification supervisors. But they had no choice: the…
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Fast Forward French Muslims Hope To Learn on Israel Visit
Standing in long, colorful robes and wearing traditional rounded hats, a group of men stood in reverent silence as one of their leaders placed a memorial wreath at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust museum. The group was a delegation of 19 Muslim leaders from France, in Israel to learn more about the Jews and their…
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Culture Jewish Filmmaker Goes Uptown
Like most Jewish camp staff members over 21, Mark Blackman isn’t in it for the money. Blackman, 27, enjoys working with kids at Maryland’s Camp Airy, as well as taking walks near the mountains. He calls it “home to me.” But more than anything, Mark Blackman has returned almost every summer since 1998 because camp…
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News Exploring Ties Between Halacha and Shariah
Abraham and Isaac — or, as some would have it, Ibrahim and Ishmael — took center stage when a panel including Muslim imams and some of America’s most prominent Modern Orthodox rabbis discussed their respective legal systems and foundational texts, and their implications for Jewish-Muslim relations today. The October 30 seminar “Ancient Texting” brought together…
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The Schmooze Israeli Rabbi Wants To Bring Polygamy Back
One thousand years ago, German Jewish sage Rabbeinu Gershom forbade polygamy in the Jewish community. Now, a rabbi in Israel wants to reinstate the practice. Rabbi Yehezkel Sopher, who heads the organization Complete Jewish Family, placed an advertisement in a popular pamphlet handed out at synagogue calling for the return of plural marriage, according to…
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Culture Why do Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas?
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Culture We tried to fix Hallmark’s Hanukkah problem. Here’s the movie we made instead
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News Ben Shapiro is mounting a last stand against right-wing antisemitism. It’s not going well.
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Fast Forward Vance says ‘religious liberty is a Christian concept.’ Where does that leave Jews?
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