The grandchildren of a German Jewish lawmaker killed in the Holocaust are demanding the Israel Museum hand over a historic Haggadah that they say is rightfully theirs. According to The Associated Press, grandchildren of Ludwig Marum say that the museum’s “Birds’ Head Haggadah,” believed to be the world’s oldest illustrated Haggadah, was stolen from the…
Citing religious prohibitions, a rabbi in eastern Russia vetoed a local Jew’s plan to erect a statue of Moses in Birobidzhan — an area which Soviet governments designated as a Jewish autonomous region. Eli Riss, a Chabad envoy who serves as Birobidzhan’s chief rabbi, torpedoed the plan earlier this month, he told JTA Thursday. Valery…
Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said declaring Israeli ownership of the Golan Heights was not “timely” while Syria was mired in civil war. He counseled Israel to focus more on peace with the Palestinians. “Syria is in a state of war, the whole area is in flux,” Cardin,…
After weeks of debate about Israel and anti-Semitism, a student body at Stanford University passed a resolution condemning bias against Jews. The Undergraduate Senate of the Associated Students of Stanford University passed the “Resolution to Recognize and to Reaffirm the Fight against Anti-Semitism” on Tuesday in a unanimous vote, the Stanford daily . Alongside classical…
The president of the Conservative Jewish movement’s rabbinical arm left his post as the rabbi of a Dallas synagogue, citing apparent marital infidelity and questions about his sexuality. “I am very saddened to admit, both to you and to myself, that even as I strove to be present in the lives of so many people,…
Israel’s Rabbinical High Court said it did not know the whereabouts of a man who has refused to divorce his wife and called on the public for help in locating him. The court on Thursday released a statement asking anyone who has seen Oded Guez, a physicist at Bar-Ilan University, in the last 48 hours…
(JTA) — An activist who supports the BDS movement against Israel was elected president of Britain’s national student union, leading Jewish students to express concern. Malia Bouattia, who is Muslim, on Tuesday became the first black woman to be elected president of the union. In 2014, Bouattia wrote an essay in support or the Boycott,…
France will hold an international conference in Paris on May 30 in a bid relaunch talks between Palestinians and Israelis by the end of the year, its foreign minister said in remarks published on Thursday. With U.S. efforts to broker a two-state accord in tatters since April 2014 and Washington focused on a November presidential…
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres sent Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II a happy birthday video message telling her that “life begins at 90.” The Queen’s 90th birthday takes place on Thursday, although the official celebrations in the United Kingdom will be held in June. In September, Elizabeth II became the country’s longest reigning monarch, after ascending…
A man who for several years served as a rabbi for a Polish Jewish community has pulled a disappearing act after it was revealed that he is actually a Catholic former chef. The man, who went by the names Jacoob Ben Nistell and Yaakav, claimed to be from Haifa and worked as the rabbi for…
Pope Francis wished the Jewish community of Rome a happy Passover on Thursday and asked the chief rabbi to pray for him. In a message addressed to Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, Pope Francis sent his “most heartful wishes for the feast of Passover,” referring to the Jews as God’s “beloved people.” The Catholic…
