(JTA) — Puerto Rico’s three synagogues closed for Rosh Hashanah as Hurricane Maria pummeled the island. The synagogues, all in San Juan, canceled Wednesday evening services for the Jewish New Year and urged members to stay home, according to The Times of Israel. Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday morning after causing widespread destruction…
Benjamin Netanyahu has attended two showings this week of a theater performance that requires audience members to wear creepy masks, Page Six reported. The Israeli prime minister, in town for the UN General Assembly, seems to have a predilection for immersive theater productions put on by the McKittrick Hotel, which include the show “Sleep No…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Students from an Israeli high school who visited the site of the former Auschwitz concentration camp said they will apologize after a member of their delegation spray-painted graffiti on a wall at the site. The graffiti discovered in recent days on the wall of a cell block included the date of the…
Police say that a man charged with what may be racially motivated killings of two black men also had a copy of a speech by Adolph Hitler in his home, the AP reported. Kenneth James Gleason, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was charged with first degree murder Tuesday for killing a homeless man and a dishwasher…
Billionaire developer Stephen Ross, chairman of Related Cos, on Wednesday increased to $378 million his lifetime giving to the University of Michigan with a $50 million donation that retains the alumnus as the school’s largest single donor. The majority of the new gift will support career development for students, action-based learning for student-run investment funds…
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday attested to the U.S. president’s seriousness about reaching a Middle East peace deal soon. Abbas thanked Trump for hosting him at the meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders in New York. “If this is any proof…
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had made a decision on whether or not to pull the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, but he declined to say what it was. Trump, when asked by reporters, said: “I have decided.” If Trump does not certify in…
A Jewish landlord awaiting sentencing for mortgage and tax fraud was given a reprieve until after the High Holidays, the Daily News reported. Steve Croman, who pled guilty to the felony charges in June, also faces civil charges brought by the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman alleging that he harassed and…
PARIS (JTA) — Prosecutors investigating the April slaying of a Jewish woman by her neighbor said for the first time that her killing was an anti-Semitic hate crime. The characterization by prosecutors Wednesday in the death of Sarah Halimi followed months of lobbying and protest by French Jews, who were outraged by the absence of…
Congregation Beth Yeshurun in Meyerland, Texas took a severe hit from hurricane Harvey. The entire building was flooded and repair work on damages will take months and in no way will be done in time for the High Holidays. In the meanwhile, members of the 2000-family synagogue are finding refuge at Lakewood Church, Houston’s megachurch…
Controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has been lying low since being pardoned by President Donald Trump last month, but recently Arpaio broke his silence — and granted an interview with a Holocaust-denying website. In a September 15 interview with the American Free Press — titled “Arapio Bypasses the Fake Media” — Arpaio discussed his…
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