DJERBA, Tunisia (JTA) — Anticipating the sun’s rapid ascent in the African skies, six barefoot men align themselves early in the morning in a drafty corridor of the still-cool interior of Africa’s oldest synagogue. Casually humming a biblical hymn in Hebrew, they and an Israeli journalist hold off on holiday prayers in the hope of…
(JTA) — Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson resigned from the board of the Ploughshares Fund days after she retweeted an article accusing American Jews of pushing the U.S. into a war with Iran. Wilson, who paternal grandfather was Jewish, made the announcement on Sunday in a series of tweets. “Actions have consequences, and while…
A new TV ad seeking information about the murder of Democratic staffer Seth Rich includes Russian subtitles — a clear hint that its funders believe the slaying could be linked to conspiracy theories about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. The 30-second ad, produced by Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman, is set to air in the…
(JTA) — A court in Sweden has rerouted a neo-Nazi march on Yom Kippur farther away from a synagogue. The Gothenburg administrative court ruling concerning the Sept. 30 march by the far-right Nordic Resistance Movement overrode the suggested route by police. The court also shortened the route. The group had initially wanted to march on…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — In advance of a visit by President Donald Trump’s special envoy Jason Greenblatt, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a U.S. request to postpone a meeting of a settlement planning committee. Greenblatt is scheduled to arrive Tuesday in Israel to continue discussions toward restarting peace talks with the Palestinians, the Israeli…
(JTA) — What does Kathie Lee Gifford do when she isn’t on air next to Hoda Kotb? Apparently, she visits Israel quite often. In fact, the “Today” co-host is publishing a book co-written with a messianic Jewish rabbi on her visits to the Holy Land. Gifford, who has said that she’d like to become a…
Sigfredo Garcia, accused of killing law professor Dan Markel in a murder-for-hire, told a cellmate earlier this year that he did “not believe he himself could be saved,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported last week. Garcia is set to face trial in January for the 2014 shooting of Markel, which stumped investigators for years. Garcia’s alleged…
German Jews and their allies are demonstrating against an urban renewal project that has replaced the ruins of a Freiburg synagogue with a wading pool. “It was heartbreaking and a shock for us all – especially some older Jews who had survived the Holocaust and now had to watch the remains of the old synagogue…
A synagogue in the San Francisco Bay Area is soliciting funds to restore and return a Torah scroll saved from the Nazis during their pillaging of Czechoslovakia’s Jewish communities. The Peninsula Sinai Congregation, which holds a Torah from the town of Olomouc, explained in a GoFundMe appeal: “During the Nazi era, thousands of Torah scrolls…
(JTA) – As Yom Kippur approaches, Jewish baseball fans hark back to the fall of 1965, when Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax said he would not take the mound in Game 1 of the World Series against the Minnesota Twins. Mind you, this was no ordinary pitcher. Koufax dominated on the hill that season for Los Angeles…
(JTA) — Allowing hateful terms as targeted advertising options was “a fail on our part,” Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg said in a post in which she also defended the general practice. Sandberg also announced in the message posted on Facebook last week that the company is strengthening its policies and tools on targeted ads. ProPublica,…
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