Sam Sokol
By Sam Sokol
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Life Meet Israel’s First Hasidic Med School Student
Does every Jewish mother want her son to become a doctor? Not always. If you’re a member of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel, where many young men are expected to spend their days learning Torah full-time, many mothers in these communities would much rather say, “my son the rabbi” than “my son the doctor.”…
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Life In Israel, There Are Poetry Slams For The Deaf
The audience in the Jerusalem basement bar is silent as Douglas Ridloff takes the stage and begins gesticulating, his expansive and wild movements matched by a series of exaggerated expressions reminiscent of Jim Carrey’s early work. His bald pate gleaming in the spotlight above a stubbled beard, Ridloff cuts a sparse figure in his loose…
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Fast Forward Man Assaulted, Called ‘F***ing Jew’ In Latest Brooklyn Anti-Semitic Attack
(JTA) — A Jewish man was attacked in an apparently anti-Semitic incident in New York over the weekend. The attack comes days after the New York Police Department reported that more than half of all hate crimes reported in 2018 and so far in 2019 were anti-Jewish. In the weekend incident, according to the New York…
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Fast Forward Washington Man Arrested For Threatening To Kill Kushner
(JTA) — Police have arrested a Washington state man for making death threats against Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. weeks after he posted his intentions on social media, The Washington Post reported. Chase Bliss Colasurdo, 27, who lives in the Seattle area, indicated that he wanted to murder Kushner, a key White House adviser and…
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Fast Forward Jews More Likely Than Christians To Be Critical Of Trump’s Israel Policy
(JTA) — American Jews are much more likely than their Christian counterparts to express criticism of President Trump’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a new survey. In a survey published Monday, the Pew Research Center found that 42 percent of American Jews said that Trump was favoring the Israelis too much, while a similar share,…
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Fast Forward Hundreds Attend Funeral Of 21-Year-Old American Killed By Hamas Rocket
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An American citizen killed while running for cover from a Hamas rocket was laid to rest in Jerusalem on Sunday evening. Hundreds turned out to bury Pinchas Menachem Prezuazman, a 21-year old American-Israeli from Ashdod. A member of the Ger Hasidic sect, he leaves behind a wife and baby. The fourth Israeli to be…
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Life Israeli Cardiologist Performs ‘First-In-The-World’ Emergency Heart Procedure
An Israeli cardiologist claims to have developed a “first in the world” heart procedure, by plugging a bleeding hole in a 29-year old’s heart, using a device that is usually used to unblock arteries. Prof. Victor Guetta, Director of the Invasive and Interventional Cardiology Unit at Sheba Medical Center, reports having used a device called…
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Life In Israel, Even Death Is Controlled By The Rabbinate
JERUSALEM – Several years ago, Yael Wittenberg, a religious mother of two from Israel, had a miscarriage. The hospital took the infant and, as per the widespread tradition here, transferred the body to a local burial society, known in Hebrew as a Chevra Kadisha, to bury in secret. Despite Wittenberg’s entreaties, neither would divulge her…
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