A Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony was held in the Steri Palace Prison in Palermo in Italy, which served as a prison during the Spanish Inquisition. The candle lighting Wednesday was sponsored by the Shavei Israel organization and led by Rabbi Pinchas Punturello, the organization’s emissary to the Bnei Anousim, or Crypto-Jews, in southern Italy and Sicily….
An incoming New York City councilwoman said the wave of so-called knockout attacks is caused by tension between blacks and Jews. Councilwoman-elect Laurie Cumbo, who was elected to represent the Crown Heights neighborhood and will take office next month, made the statement in a Facebook post on Tuesday calling for a zero-tolerance policy toward the…
Rabbi Sergio Bergman was sworn in to Argentina’s National Parliament on a Tanach. Bergman, the first rabbi to take office as a national legislator, wore a colorful yarmulke and swore the oath of office Wednesday before “God, the motherland and the sacred scriptures of the Bible, the Tanach” in an original and unprecedented formula that…
Graffiti calling Women of the Wall “scum” was painted outside the Jerusalem apartment of one of the group’s board members. The graffiti discovered Thursday morning in the public stairwell of the apartment of Peggy Cidor, in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiyot, also read “Peggy, watch out ” and “Women of the Wall are villains.” Cidor…
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that core sanctions against Iran would remain in place despite its interim nuclear deal with world powers. The Nov. 24 accord in Geneva was denounced as a “historic mistake” by Netanyahu, increasing strains in an alliance already marked by his past…
The Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre is being sued for over $1 million by former followers in two lawsuits alleging fraud and misuse of funds. Both suits were filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Nov. 27 and claim that the Centre pressured the plaintiffs “to give money until it hurts,” in order to receive…
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said progress is being made in the current Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kerry also pledged that the Obama administration would consult with Israel on a final status deal with Iran over curbing its nuclear program, during a news conference following the…
Akos Kertesz, an award-winning Hungarian Jewish writer, was granted political asylum in Canada. Kertesz, 80, who fled last year to Canada from Hungary, was given refugee status even though Ottawa in a move that stirred controversy a year ago placed Hungary on a list of “safe countries.” The author said he was the victim of…
Four young Jewish entrepreneurs received grants to encourage social entrepreneurship among young Jews. The grants handed out this week from Natan/NEXT, a joint project of the Natan Fund and NEXT, a division of the Birthright Israel Foundation, total $25,000. The recipients are Jesse Friedman, a New York City-based theater artist, for his Jewish Plays Project,…
A San Diego federal court awarded $70 million in compensation from Iran to five U.S. citizens injured in a 1997 terror attack in Jerusalem. Culminating a 10-year legal battle, Judge Barry Moskowitz ruled on Tuesday that Cubic Defense Systems transfer the money to the plaintiffs. A U.S. district court in Washington, D.C., had awarded the…
A best-selling German satirical novel about the return of Adolf Hitler to modern-day Germany is being adapted into a film. “Er Ist Wieder Da,” German for “He’s Back,” sold 1.3 million copies in Germany after its 2012 release. In the book, Hitler awakens in modern-day Berlin and garners enough attention to become host of his…
אינעם שמועס באַטייליקן זיך יניבֿ גאָלדבערג, מיכל יאַשינסקי און חיים וואָלף.
