A new nondenominational Jewish burial society has replaced an Orthodox one at a Boston-area Jewish funeral home. Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston, which launched this fall and is part of a growing movement of Jewish burial societies that include non-Orthodox volunteers, began performing tahara – the ritual preparation of bodies for burial – at…
Three Israeli stage actors asked to be excused from performing in a play staged at a cultural center in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. The cast members, employees of the Cameri and Beit Lessin theaters, will be replaced by understudies for the performances of the acclaimed play “Best Friends” taking place in Ariel in…
When Floris Hirschfeld’s mother died two years ago, he had her portrait tattooed on his back to honour her memory. One day he hopes the image, skin and all, will adorn the wall of an art collector’s home. It might sound like a macabre Roald Dahl story, but could soon be reality with the help…
A U.S. development worker kidnapped in Pakistan by al Qaeda two years ago appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene and help negotiate his release, in a video released on Thursday. In a 13-minute clip issued by al Qaeda’s media wing and posted on several news websites, Warren Weinstein, 72, looked gaunt and tired. “I…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have had secret back-channel talks for several years, an Israeli newspaper is reporting. Yediot Acharonot’s Nahum Barnea first reported Thursday that Netanyahu confidant Yitzhak Molcho, an attorney, travels to London to meet with one of Abbas’ trusted confidants. The quiet diplomacy includes exchanging messages…
Russia said on Thursday that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died of natural causes, not radiation poisoning, but the Palestinian ambassador to Moscow said an investigation would continue, Russian news agencies reported. Samples were taken from Arafat’s body last year by Swiss, French and Russian forensics experts after an al Jazeera documentary said his clothes…
Israel plans to announce a push for more construction in Jewish settlements when it frees two dozen Palestinian prisoners next week, an Israeli official said on Wednesday, in a move that could jeopardise U.S.-brokered peace talks. Palestinians have said any further settlement expansion could scuttle the negotiations, which resumed in July after intensive shuttle diplomacy…
Former captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit wrote in an open letter that all Israelis should demand that the United States free jailed spy-for-Israel Jonathan Pollard. Israeli officials have said that the revelation over the weekend that the United States spied on at least two sitting Israeli prime ministers opens the door for Israel to demand…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his holiday blessings to the Christian citizens of Israel on Tuesday, in which he stressed the importance of the community’s contribution to the Israel Defense Forces – accidentally stopping just short of uttering the word “Jewish” state. The video, released in Hebrew on the prime minister’s official channel, was widely…
Two more American institutions of higher learning officially withdrew their memberships from the American Studies Association after its membership voted in favor of an academic boycott of Israel. Kenyon College and Indiana University on Monday joined Brandeis University and Penn State Harrisburg in canceling their memberships in the association. Dozens of other universities also have…
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and his wife said on Tuesday they were ending their marriage, local media reported, more than five years after she stood by his side as the embattled Democrat resigned over a prostitution scandal. “We regret that our marital relationship has come to an end, and we have agreed not…
אינעם שמועס באַטייליקן זיך יניבֿ גאָלדבערג, מיכל יאַשינסקי און חיים וואָלף.
