— An only-in-New-York story about a public swimming pool that offered women-only swim periods for the area’s Orthodox community turned into a full-blown media firestorm when the New York Times weighed in on the subject. The pool, located in the heavily Orthodox Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, had been offering women-only hours since the 1990s to accommodate those whose religious sensitivities forbid women…
The Forward came away with three 2015 awards including a gold, at the Ippies award ceremony on June 2. Kurt Hoffman, the Forward’s art director, won first place for “Best overall design of print publication.” Although the prize was judged on three specific nominated issues, the recognition was just reward for the beautiful compact print…
JTA — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly consented to regional efforts for Israeli-Palestinian peace, which he wants to supplant the French-led international push that just launched. Citing a Channel 2 TV report, The Times of Israel that Netanyahu “said yes” Thursday to a new Egyptian-Saudi Arabia endeavor for regional progress toward peace. Netanyahu spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of…
JTA — Approximately 200,000 people, including many tourists, gathered in central Tel Aviv for the city’s 23rd gay pride event. The event, whose theme this year is women in the gay, lesbian and transgender community, kicked off Friday morning at Gan Meir, a park that houses the Tel Aviv Municipal LGBT Center. A representative of the…
JTA — Leaders of Austria’s Jewish community said they are willing to normalize ties with the far-right Freedom Party, which they have previously shunned because of some party members’ Nazi sympathies. Oscar Deutsch, the president of the Jewish Community in Vienna, and his predecessor, Ariel Muzicant, told the nrg news site they have put together a…
After five hours of discussion, participants in the Paris peace summit, the French initiative to reboot peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, issued a statement that was less harsh toward Israel than what members of the Arab League had advocated for, Haaretz. Foreign ministers from over two dozen countries concluded the one-day summit Friday with…
Donald Trump’s real-estate-lawyer-cum-Israel-advisor doesn’t think Trump should be continually pestered to disavow his anti-Semitic backers. “He has a campaign to run, he has an election to win, and he can’t keep going around saying I denounce anti-Semitism,” said Jason Greenblatt, chief legal officer of the Trump Organization and an advisor the Trump campaign, on the…
Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, a liberal gadfly who once branded Republicans as “Jesus freaks,” has now married the woman who wants to take his seat Congress when he runs for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Marco Rubio. Grayson’s newly minted wife, Dena Minning, has been plotting a run for the Orlando-area seat for…
The man accused of fatally shooting a University of California, Los Angeles, professor in a murder-suicide had written a “kill list” that included a woman who has been found dead in Minnesota, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said on Thursday. Investigators found the list while searching the suspect’s home in Minnesota, Beck told Los…
— The international association of Conservative rabbis passed a resolution declaring its embrace of transgender people, and called on Jewish institutions and government agencies to ensure their full equality. The Rabbinical Assembly resolution passed last week expresses “the full welcome, acceptance, and inclusion of people of all gender identities in Jewish life and general society.” The group…
Los Angeles police on Thursday identified the gunman who killed a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, before taking his own life as Mainak Sarkar, an engineering student at the school. Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Jane Kim confirmed that the gunman had been identified as Sarkar but declined to provide other details….
