Toby Axelrod
By Toby Axelrod
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Culture WATCH: A 90-Year Old English Gentleman Becomes A German Rabbi
(JTA) — For many Germans, Rabbi William “Willy” Wolff is the first Jewish religious leader they have ever met. And he’s the perfect man for the job. Diminutive, with a disarming chuckle and twinkling eyes, Wolff, who turned 90 in February, effortlessly breaks down that uniquely German condition of “Berührungsangst” – literally “fear of contact” with others….
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Breaking News Frankfurt’s Jews Sever Links With Chabad Over ‘Disrespect’ And ‘Insults’
(JTA) — The umbrella group representing the Jewish community of Frankfurt is distancing itself from the city’s Chabad-Lubavitch chapter following a series of alleged instances of “disrespect” shown against local non-Chabad rabbis. In an open letter published March 20, the Jewish Community of Frankfurt am Main group wrote that the city’s synagogues will no longer provide rooms…
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Opinion What A ‘Kippah Walk’ In Berlin Doesn’t Tell Us About Anti-Semitism
(JTA) — It’s literally become old hat: Sending a Jew wearing a kippah into the streets of a European city to see how non-Jews react. A so-called “anti-Semitism test,” it’s been done, ad nauseam. So I was a bit surprised last week when I saw yet another article on the topic on the website of the German…
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Breaking News Switzerland Launching Holocaust Remembrance App
BERLIN (JTA) — A new app to teach youth about the Holocaust will be a centerpiece of Switzerland’s chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Switzerland took over the rotating chairmanship of the 31-member inter-governmental group on March 7 from Romania. The app, called Fliehen vor dem Holocaust, or Escaping the Holocaust, allows users to learn about the fate…
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Breaking News Swiss Parliament Votes To Halt Funds To Anti-Semitic Groups
BERLIN (JTA) — Switzerland’s lower house of parliament voted to halt public funding for organizations that promote racism, anti-Semitism and hate. Submitted by Christian Imark of the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party, the bill passed Wednesday by a vote of 111 to 78, with all center-right mainstream parties in support. Voting against the measure were the Social Democratic, Green and…
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Fast Forward Anti-Semitic Incidents Rise 16% In Berlin
BERLIN (JTA) – With anti-Semitic incidents reportedly on the rise in Berlin, Jewish leaders in the German capital are renewing their call for an official federal commissioner to deal with the problem. The Berlin-based Research and Information Office on Anti-Semitism, founded in 2015, reported Monday that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany’s capital has risen by 16 percent in 2016 over the previous…
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Fast Forward Brothers Who Survived Auschwitz Barred From Joining Suit Against Nazi Medic
BERLIN (JTA) — A judge in Germany has barred two Jewish brothers from Boulder, Colorado, from being co-plaintiffs in an accessory to murder trial against 96-year-old former Auschwitz SS medic Hubert Zafke. Chief Judge Klaus Kabisch in the Neubrandenburg state court explained on Tuesday that brothers Walter and William Plywaski – themselves Auschwitz survivors – could not join the trial because…
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Breaking News Germany Right Wing Party Set To Oust Lawmaker Who Denigrated Berlin Holocaust Memorial
BERLIN (JTA) — Germany’s rising right-wing populist party voted to begin proceedings to oust a prominent member for calling Berlin’s Holocaust memorial a “monument of shame.” Bjoern Hoecke, leader of the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, in the former East German state of Thuringia aroused ire nationwide with remarks in January denigrating the memorial and suggesting that…
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