A popular Jewish pop music group has written a short cheery PSA about a weighty problem in the Orthodox Jewish community: women whose husbands have left them but refuse to give them a proper divorce. In Jewish law, the husband is given absolute authority in the matter of annulling a divorce. If he refuses to…
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order on religious liberties designed to ease a ban on political activity by churches and other tax-exempt institutions. The order also mandates regulatory relief to religious employers that object to contraception, such as Little Sisters of the Poor. It does not include provisions to allow government agencies…
New York real estate developers have found a new source of cash to finance their apartment complexes on the Tel Aviv stock market. Only four months into the year, Israeli investors have bought $1 billion in debt bonds from big names in Manhattan’s development game – including Jeff Sutton of Wharton Properties and Joel Warner…
Susan Wojcicki, the YouTube CEO and a grand dame of Silicon Valley, on Wednesday said that paid family leave for mothers should be the Trump White House’s top priority. “Paid leave is a not just a mother and child issue, it’s a societal issue we have,” she told the crowd at a CNNMoney-sponsored New York…
The Israel Defense Forces canceled a series of feminism workshops for its top female officers, after deciding the activity would antagonize religious elements that want to limit women’s military role. Titled “Preparation for the Development of Gender Consciousness and Leadership,” the program would have taught women officers the basics of feminist thought and encouraged them…
The future of dozens of programs aimed at countering white nationalist extremism is unclear following a decision by the Trump administration to put their funding on hold. According to a CBS News report more than 30 organizations that had received $10 million under Obama to combat violent extremism were told that the grants are now…
I greatly admire Jane Eisner’s humanism and concern for the Other. However, while I wish that Israel living next to a peaceful, friendly nation, I don’t see it there. Can you imagine what would have happened if Israel had lost the 1967 war or any of the conflicts thereafter? Celebrating natives would have pushed the…
Missouri governor Eric Greitens, who ran on a platform of ethic reform, is now getting a taste of his own medicine. The Kansas City Star reports that lawmakers in Jefferson City are forcing a debate over a bill that would provide greater transparency in political donations from not-for-profit organizations including one that is backing Greitens….
JERUSALEM (JTA) — French citizens living in the West Bank received official letters from the French Foreign Ministry addressed to the Palestinian territories. The settlement residents were among thousands of French people in Israel who received the letters urging them to vote in Sunday’s election in France. Israel’s Channel 2 reported that some letter recipients…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is “always ready for genuine peace,” his first response to the meeting in Washington between U.S. President Donald Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Trump and Abbas met at the White House on Wednesday and gave statements to the press. Netanyahu, however, took issue…
Jon Ossoff, the Jewish upstart who could flip a Republican-leaning Georgia House seat, apparently is capturing a significant amount of support from right-of-center voters. According to a statistical analysis from consulting firm Optimus, the Democrat won at least 8% to 10% of the Republican vote in April’s first round election, when he came first in…
