More than 1,000 Jews gathered in Times Square to learn about aliyah, or moving to Israel. Jewish Americans and Israelis living in the United States attended Sunday’s Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah Mega event, held in Times Square. In addition to Sunday’s program, aliyah fairs were scheduled to be held in seven cities across North America, organized…
More than 130,000 Polish voters have signed a petition calling for a public referendum on an amendment that would legalize Jewish ritual slaughter, or shechitah, in Poland. The petition, circulated by the National Council of Agricultural Chambers, or KRIR, was submitted last week to the Chancellery of Polish Parliament, or Sejm. The parliament has two…
Ahead of the French premier of a Hollywood film on art looted by Nazi Germany, France has announced the restitution of three precious paintings. The paintings are to be returned Tuesday, one day before the premiere in France of “The Monuments Men,” a film on Nazi-looted art starring George Clooney. The conjunction of these two…
Secretary of State John Kerry marked the seventh year since the disappearance of an American Jewish man in Iran with a plea for his safe return. Robert Levinson, 66, disappeared seven years ago from Kish Island, Iran. He is one of the longest-held American citizens in history, Kerry said in a statement on Sunday. Kerry…
(Haaretz) — The scene was completely surreal: A crying cantor beseeching the Lord in Yiddish-accented Hebrew to hear his prayers; high-octane loudspeakers amplifying the cry throughout lower Manhattan; tens of thousands of black-coated ultra-Orthodox Jews earnestly repeating the Psalms in the freezing cold; some of New York’s finest, duly exasperated; and the looks of astonishment on…
They were standing in a public square in a major Israeli city, laying tefillin on women amidst shouts of protest and quizzical looks from nearby men in black hats. It’s become an occasional morning routine for Women of the Wall. Except this time, they weren’t at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. They were at the…
The president of Brooklyn College distributed public events guidelines formulated in the wake of the ejection of four pro-Israel students from a boycott Israel event last year. Among the guidelines distributed to staff on Friday by Karen Gould was a requirement that event organizers must be affiliated with Brooklyn College. “The students were removed from…
Pro-Palestinian student groups at the University of Ottawa have launched a campaign to ban Sabra hummus from campus. Sabra is partly owned by the Strauss Group, a foods manufacturer that the students allege financially supports the Golani Brigade of the Israeli Defense Forces, according to The New York Times. The students say the Golani Brigade…
The FBI reportedly has arrested a man believed to be responsible for sticking mailing labels with anti-Semitic slurs on a Jewish deli in Albuquerque. John Ng, 56, was arrested Friday in connection with the two incidents that occurred at the Nosh Deli in late January and early February, according to local media. He is expected…
A Greek doctor who posted a “Jews Not Welcome” sign outside his office has been convicted and given a 16-month suspended jail sentence for inciting racial hatred. The doctor, a 57-year-old neurologist from the northern city of Thessaloniki, identified as Costas Kastaniotis, also was convicted of illegally possessing weapons on Friday in a court in…
A former hotel security guard was sentenced to one year in prison for civil rights violations for defacing a Memphis Jewish school’s Torah scroll and prayer books. Friday’s sentence comes on top of a four-year sentence in state prison levied in December. Justin Baker, 25, of Jackson, Tenn., previously pleaded guilty to the federal civil…
