— The Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis, has elected its first Canadian president. Rabbi Philip Scheim, who has led Beth David Congregation in Toronto since 1984, was elected by the membership and will be installed Sunday at an event in New York. Scheim succeeds Rabbi William Gershon of Dallas, who took a…
WARSAW, Poland — Staffers at the Auschwitz museum found a gold ring hidden in a false bottom of one of the cups on display in the main exhibition. During conservation work on one of the enamel mugs, a double, or false, bottom was discovered, the museum said in a statement this week. Inside the false…
Israeli Muslims are more devout than the country’s Jews, Christians and Druze, but less so than other Muslims in the region, according to Pew research released Wednesday. About 68% of Muslims living in the Jewish state say religion is “very important” in their lives, a figure that is lower than in all countries in the…
Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday with far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman in an effort to recruit him into Israel’s government, and political sources said the prime minister agreed to his demand to be appointed defense minister. Netanyahu, who won a fourth term last year, governs by a majority of one in the 120-member Knesset, making his…
MONTREAL —After being barred from entering Canada, controversial French comic Dieudonne M’bala M’bala still managed to present a show in Montreal — via video link. Some 600 tickets reportedly were bought up by loyal fans of the man convicted multiple times in France and Belgium for hate speech, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and defending terrorism. They…
(JTA) — In a first for Jordan-Israel relations, a small group of Jordanian citizens recently gained employment in Israel’s hospitality sector as part of a pilot project negotiated by the two countries. The Washington Post Monday that the program, which “very quietly” launched six months ago, currently permits 700 Jordanians to cross the border to work in…
For a city that has made headlines recently for its anti-Semitism problem, Oxford has a pretty laid back Jewish scene. On a recent Friday night, dozens of recognizably Jewish families and students wearing kippahs were enjoying the afternoon sun as they strolled to one of Oxford’s two synagogues. They converged at a modern building that…
NEW YORK (JTA) — Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn benefit disproportionately from Section 8 housing vouchers, even as other impoverished residents have difficulty obtaining the federal housing subsidy, according to a new report. A joint investigation by WNYC and the New York Daily News found that in several heavily Hasidic sections of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, more…
Melania Trump said a journalist barraged with anti-Semitic death threats had “provoked” Trump supporters by writing a controversial profile of her. “I don’t control my fans, but I don’t agree with what they’re doing. I understand what you mean, but there are people out there who maybe went too far. She provoked them,” Melania told…
A mid-level New York appeals court on Tuesday ruled that lawyers for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump can argue to the state’s highest court that fraud claims against Trump University brought by the state attorney general should be dismissed. In March, Trump suffered a legal setback in the case when the same mid-level appeals court…
— A South Florida man pleaded not guilty to the charge that he plotted to bomb a Miami-area synagogue. The plea was entered Monday in federal court by the court-appointed attorney for James Medina, The Associated Press reported. Medina, 40, a convert to Islam from Hollywood, was arrested by the FBI on April 29 while…
100% of profits support our journalism
