Most schools forbid the use of cellphones by students during class, but in the Hasidic Jewish village of Kiryas Joel, New York, it’s the parents who are being required to power down. At the end of July, a notice was sent to families in the haredi Orthodox community about 50-miles northwest of New York City…
President Barack Obama said Israel’s government was the only one openly against the Iran deal, but added that he understood its concerns. “This is the strongest nonproliferation agreement ever negotiated, and because this is such a strong deal, every nation in the world that has commented publicly, with the exception of the Israeli government, has…
President Barack Obama is continuing to advocate for the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran. Here is a full transcript of his remarks on Wednesday at American University in Washington, D.C. OBAMA: Thank you. (APPLAUSE) Thank you so much. Thank you. Everybody, please have a seat. Thank you very much. I apologize for the…
A campaign to immortalize on a stamp Sir Nicholas Winton, known as the “British Schindler,” has garnered nearly 84,000 signatures in an online petition. The campaign was launched a week ago by the British jewishnews.co.uk website, and is backed by the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Association of Jewish Refugees and Sir Mick Davis, who chaired…
The American Jewish Committee has come out against the Iran nuclear deal. Among mainstream national organizations, AJC joins the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Orthodox Union in opposing the deal. A broad range of mainstream groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, have yet to…
The former leader of a settlers’ council was appointed Israel’s ambassador to Brazil. Dani Dayan, 59, was tapped for the post by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also the acting foreign minister. Netanyahu made the announcement of the appointment on Wednesday in a statement issued from his office and also on his Twitter account….
Congregation Mishkan Tefila, whose 24-acre property in suburban Boston is one of the largest synagogue sites in Massachusetts, is selling its land and building to Boston College. The Conservative synagogue in Newton had fallen into dire straits in recent years as its membership dwindled to about 300 members, and the congregation was forced to merge…
The Jewish Home party has filed a police complaint over threatening comments posted to chairman Naftali Bennett’s Facebook page. The posts call for violence against Bennett, Israel’s education minister, and other politicians with the right-wing, pro-settler party, accusing them of being murderers. The comments amount to incitement, the complaint said, according to reports Wednesday. They…
Rabbi Robert Deutsch, the chief rabbi of Budapest, following a long illness. He was 59. Deutsch died Wednesday, the Mazsihisz Federation of Jewish Communities said in a statement that spoke of the community’s “shock and deep sorrow” over his death. He served as the rabbi of the Bethlen Square Synagogue from 1988 until his passing,…
Wendy Sherman, the U.S. State Department’s principal negotiator on the Iran nuclear deal, said on Wednesday the U.S. government was ready to discuss additional security assistance to Israel in the wake of the agreement. Sherman testified to a U.S. Senate hearing on the deal that the President Barack Obama’s administration was prepared to discuss “further…
An ancient mikvah covered in paintings and inscriptions was discovered in Jerusalem at the construction site of a nursery school. The school was being built in the upscale Arnona neighborhood of southern Jerusalem when the ritual bath dating to the Second Temple period was discovered two months ago during a routine archaeological inspection, the Israel…
