NEW YORK (JTA) — When President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, many foreign policy experts called it a blunder. It could spark a conflagration of violence in the city, they said. It would alienate Palestinians who revere the city, and would ice any remaining hopes of a peace process. It could be the…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Jerusalem municipality is preparing for Christmas, including the annual Christmas tree distribution. The city will distribute 150 free Christmas trees to Jerusalem residents next week. Meanwhile, the municipality is hanging Christmas lights and flags in predominately Christian neighborhoods. In addition, the city is preparing for Christmas pilgrimages and processionals. Christmas trees…
(JTA) — Looking to celebrate Hanukkah but want to make this year a bit unique? Take a hint from these unusual menorahs — including ones made out of pita bread and exploded rockets — and your eight nights of Hanukkah will be sure to be different from all the other ones. A human torch Students…
A new survey of Jewish students at some of America’s most elite universities has found that they rarely experience anti-Semitism but that most have been exposed to anti-Israel hostility. The study, conducted by Brandeis University’s Steinhardt Social Research Institute, surveyed Jewish and non-Jewish students at Brandeis, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University…
White House staffer and former reality TV star Omarosa Manigault-Newman announced her resignation on Wednesday in a departure that turned dramatic when she was forced to deny that she was fired and escorted off the premises by the Secret Service. Manigault-Newman, who worked on African-American outreach for President Trump, her former “Apprentice” boss, had been…
BERLIN (JTA) — Anti-Semitism among Muslim refugees is rampant and requires urgent attention, a new study suggests. But the study commissioned by the American Jewish Committee’s Ramer Institute for German-Jewish Relations in Berlin also suggests that refugees from persecuted minority communities are more likely to take a stand against anti-Semitism and for Israel. Titled “Attitudes…
The Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre is teaming up with “branding gurus” at the company Base Design to launch a new advertising campaign — rendering Jewish mysticism for mass consumption. Geoff Cook, a partner at Base Design told Quartz that they were looking to “demystify” Kabbalah. To this end, the branding company created a slew of…
An 85-year-old Holocaust survivor skydived with her grandson on his 18th birthday near Hollywood, a local news station reported. “Thank God. Nice family, nice children, nice grandchildren. I’m not complaining. God was very good to me,” Henriette Siebenberg said. Though Siebenberg’s father was killed in Auschwitz, her mother hid her and her two brothers in…
(JTA) — The family of Iraq’s contestant in the Miss Universe Pageant have left the country due to threats to their lives over her modeling in a bikini and posting on social media photos taken with Miss Israel. Miss Iraq, Sarah Idan, lives in the United States and the rest of her family has now…
Vera Katz, the dynamic, three-term mayor of Portland, Oregon who helped give the city its reputation as a haven for hipsters, died this week at 84, the Oregonian reported. The cause was leukemia, her third cancer diagnosis since 2000. Katz was remembered in Portland as a warm yet outspoken political force who often advocated for…
Officials in the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel, in New York, gave final approval this month to a major development that will increase the village’s population by 40 percent over five years, the Times Herald-Record reported. Kiryas Veyoel Gardens, a 1,600 condo development, is expected to bring 9,000 residents to a currently undeveloped 70-acre plot…
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