A Boston-area court has dismissed a larceny charge against the former rabbi of a synagogue in Boston who was being blackmailed for having sex with an underage boy. The Norfolk County Superior Court on Friday also agreed to continue for a year without a finding an embezzlement charge against Rabbi Barry Starr, which would lead…
In Israel, where it is fair to say Muslims and Jews do not always agree, there is shared confusion and surprise at events across the Mediterranean: the push by French mayors to ban full-body swimsuits, or “burkinis,” on beaches. France’s highest administrative court ruled against the ban on Friday, but mayors in several beachfront towns…
WASHINGTON — A prominent Jewish union leader and one of Bernie Sanders’ oldest friends and advisers are on the board of a movement launched by Sanders to drive the Democratic Party toward more progressive values. Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont and the first Jewish candidate to win major party nominating contests, launched “Our Revolution”…
JERUSALEM — Activists and politicians called for the firing of Israel Police Chief Roni Alsheich after he called it “natural” for police to be more suspicious of Ethiopian Israelis than of other Israelis. “Studies the world over, without exception, have shown that immigrants are invariably more involved in crime than others, and this should not…
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump once again disavowed David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader who is urging Louisiana voters to send him to the Senate and Trump to the White House. “Mr. Trump has continued to denounce David Duke and any group or individual associated with a message of hate,” his campaign told Politico…
(JTA) — Rebecca Raab was shopping recently in a South Florida Costco, wearing the trademark Orthodox outfit of a long skirt and baseball cap, when an employee waved to her and said “Shalom! We’re voting for Trump because we can’t have Hillary in the White House. She’s not good for us!” Raab isn’t sure whether…
— The California State Assembly voted 60-0 on Tuesday to send an anti-BDS bill to the governor for approval, a week after the Senate passed it. The bill, which the Senate passed in a 34-1 vote on Aug. 24, differed from its original version introduced in April by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, a Santa Monica Democrat, The Jewish Journal…
WASHINGTON — A prominent Jewish Republican donor is no longer backing Donald Trump, saying his support made him unpopular in Seattle’s Jewish community. “Do you know what it’s like being a Jewish Republican in Seattle?” Martin Selig, a developer and a member of the Republican Jewish Coalition board, told the Seattle Times this week. “The…
— Two Torahs valued at $30,000 that had been stolen with some $50,000 of silver religious pieces were returned to a New Jersey synagogue. Thomas Dobles, 39, a former caretaker at Congregation B’nai Jacob in Jersey City, was arrested Aug. 25 as part of the investigation into the theft, WABC-TV reported. The pieces of silver…
Debbie Wasserman Schultz overcame the controversy over her role as chair of the Democratic Party to turn aside a rare primary challenge in her South Florida congressional district. Wasserman Schultz won her first challenged primary race in decades with 57% of the votes, beating well-funded Sanders-backed contender Tim Canova who received 42% of the votes…
JERUSALEM — A Druze town in northern Israel for the second straight year had the highest rate of students passing the high school matriculation exam. Some 99 percent of students in Beit Jann, located in the Galilee, received their diplomas, or Bagrut certification, in 2015, according to Education Ministry figures released Monday. The rate was…
