(JTA) – A prominent rabbi from Russia condemned in harsh terms a ruling by a court in the Black Sea coastal city of Sochi that blacklisted and labeled extremist a book penned by a 19th-century rabbi. Rabbi Boruch Gorin, a senior aide to Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and a key figure within Russia’s Chabad-affiliated…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a speech on the Senate floor that anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism. Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate and currently the highest-ranking Jew in government, added his remarks on anti-Zionism to a speech he was giving on health care, saying at the end of…
(JTA) – The only kosher slaughterhouse in the Netherlands is facing closure because of a government-introduced ban on exporting its produce, the abattoir’s lawyer said. Herman Loonstein made the assertion in a letter he sent last week on behalf of the Slagerij Marcus abattoir to leaders of the Dutch Jewish community. A clause in the…
JERUSALEM (JTA) – When Nedal Sader first heard the crackle of automatic weapon fire Friday morning, he couldn’t believe it was coming from the Temple Mount. As a Muslim, he regarded the complex just outside his apartment as a sacred and peaceful place. He prayed there nearly every week. But as a seasoned first responder,…
(JTA) — A Hasidic woman comforting a distressed child was captured in heartwarming photos that quickly gained traction on social media. The photos show Chabad emissary Rochel Groner holding and comforting the young boy on a flight from Brussels to New York. About an hour into the flight on Friday, the young boy started crying…
NEW YORK (JTA) — The journalist who first reported the ejection of three Jewish women from Chicago’s Dyke March tweeted that she was removed from her reporting job because of that article. In a tweet Monday, Gretchen Rachel Hammond wrote to Dyke March’s Twitter account that “You attacked, humiliated and robbed me of a job.” Hammond…
When President Obama threatened to veto extra monies for Israel’s missile defense system, the AIPAC lobby spoke up and denounced the move as a threat to the Jewish state’s security. Now, with the Trump White House opposing the same funding, the powerful organization has been silent. Last year, the Obama administration threatened to veto a…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The government of Israel told the nation’s Supreme Court that it plans to expand and upgrade a space for non-Orthodox prayer at the southern section of the Western Wall near Robinson’s Arch. The government made the declaration in documents submitted to the court in response to a petition filed by the non-Orthodox…
Gretchen R. Hammond, the Jewish journalist who broke the story of women with rainbow flags bearing Stars of David being asked to leave the Chicago Dyke March, took to Twitter on Monday to suggest that march organizers were responsible for her getting bounced from her reporting job. After the story ran, Hammond was transferred to…
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he opposes the cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia in southwest Syria, near the border with northern Israel’s Golan Heights. On Sunday, Netanyahu told reporters in France following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron that the cease-fire that went into effect last week will…
BUDAPEST (JTA) — A top Jewish official in Hungary is seeking a strong condemnation of anti-Semitism in the country from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the Israeli leader arrived Monday for a four-day visit there. “It is the most important for the Hungarian Jewish community that the Israeli prime minister condemns strongly any kind of…
