Joseph Rosenfeld, a 15-year-old Jewish math enthusiast from Virginia, has the media abuzz about the golden ratio, after questioning the accuracy of a display at the Museum of Science in Boston. Rosenfeld, a sophomore at Handley High School in Winchester, Virginia, is suddenly in the media spotlight, with coverage from the Boston Globe, Britain’s Daily…
The mother of a Brooklyn bar mitzvah boy struck and killed by a van in 2013 says she is satisfied with a traffic judge’s decision to suspend the driver’s license for six months over his role in the crash. “We are grateful that the DMV is finally holding reckless drivers accountable,” said Amy Cohen, whose…
Israeli officials deplored UNESCO’s condemnation of Israeli archaeological activity in Jerusalem’s Old City. At a meeting this week in Bonn, Germany, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee voted 13-2, with five abstentions, to keep the Old City on its list of endangered World Heritage sites. It condemned the “persistence of the Israeli illegal excavations” in the…
A former contestant in Israel’s version of “American Idol” was jailed for 14 months on Thursday for selling demo tracks he stole from Madonna’s latest album by hacking into the email and cloud accounts of people close to the singer. Under a plea bargain at Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, Adi Lederman confessed to computer trespassing…
Two Israeli citizens are being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, a situation that could lead to demands for a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Islamist militant group. Hamas, which took control of the Palestinian coastal enclave in 2007 and fought three wars with Israel since…
The United States and other major powers are not in a rush to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, suggesting an accord was unlikely hours ahead of a deadline set by the U.S. Congress for a quick review. “We’re here because we believe we are making…
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner recommended in a visit last week to an elementary school in the shanty town of Lugano that the students read “The Merchant of Venice,” with its anti-Semitic portrayal of a vengeful Jewish moneylender, to understand Argentina’s economic troubles. Following the visit, the president continued to tweet the recommendation, appearing to try…
Cash-strapped B’nai Brith Canada is selling two of its landmark buildings in Toronto, including its national headquarters. The headquarters carries two mortgages totaling nearly $4 million, the Canadian Jewish News reported, and in 2012 the market value assessment was set at slightly more than $3 million. The difference leaves “open the question of how much…
Iran and six world powers were close to an historic nuclear agreement on Thursday that could resolve a more than 12-year dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, but they remained deadlocked on the issue of Iranian arms and missile trade. An Iranian report said talks may be extended to July 13, but that report could not…
Israel’s religious services minister said that his remarks about Reform Jews were taken out of context, but he did not apologize for their nature. “Of course, all Jews, even though they sin, are Jews,” David Azoulay of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party said Wednesday in a speech on the floor of the Knesset. “At the…
The Jewish National Fund, releasing its finances for the first time, revealed that it owned $2 billion of land as of last year. The JNF report comes amid recent criticism of the group’s quasigovernmental status that allows it to avoid state comptroller audits and official oversight, Haaretz reported. Yair Lapid, a Knesset member and former…
