Austria cannot draw a line under its Nazi past despite the desire of many Austrians to so do, its president said on the 75th anniversary of the country’s annexation by Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler and his troops marched unopposed on March 12, 1938 into an Austria weakened by political and economic turmoil and were cheered…
Three female Knesset members participated in a prayer service held by the Women of the Wall in the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning. According to the legislators, their participation in the prayer service prevented the arrest of other women who came to worship. This marks the first time in many months in…
The rabbi of a synagogue in Newtown, Conn. joined Christian and Muslim clergy from the place of last year’s massacre of schoolchildren in an open letter to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), urging him to back far-reaching gun controls. “We pray that you will vote for meaningful gun violence prevention laws that include a ban on…
Supporters of the Women Of The Wall will gather in New York on Tuesday, March 12, supporting women’s right to pray freely at the Western Wall, or Kotel, in Jerusalem. The New York event, expected to be the largest, is organized by New York’s Wake Up for Religious Tolerance!, and will take place at 9…
An Israeli rabbi who fled to the United States amid sexual abuse allegations reportedly will return to Israel. Army Radio reported Monday that the 70-year-old rabbi, who was not named but was identified as being from a “very well known hasidic movement,” agreed to return to Israel in the coming days and face his accusers….
San Francisco city buses began carrying political ads on Monday denounced by several municipal leaders as anti-Islamic, racist messages that unfairly depict Arabs and Muslims as groups defined by extremism and violence. But rather than seek to bar San Francisco’s transit agency from accepting the paid ads and risk a court fight over free speech…
President Barack Obama on Monday met Arab American leaders who urged him to deliver a message of hope to the Palestinian people on his Middle East trip this month, even though he has made clear he will not use the visit to launch a new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative. Obama hosted about 10 leaders at the…
The newly elected leader of the Reconstructionist movement’s rabbinic association will be the first openly gay man to lead a national rabbinic association in the U.S. Rabbi Jason Klein, a Hillel rabbi at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was elected to lead the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association at the group’s annual meeting taking place this week…
A judge on Monday invalidated New York City’s plan to ban large sugary drinks from restaurants, movie theaters and other establishments, one day before the new law was to take effect. State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling in Manhattan ruled the new regulation was “arbitrary and capricious” and declared it invalid, after the American Beverage…
Students at an Israeli high school were in an uproar on Monday after a teacher mistakenly sent them an internal email that spelled out what faculty members really thought about them. “Not too bright”, “Liar”, “Tactless”, “Big Baby”, “Anti-social”, “Has a thing for boys” and “Sick-o” were some of the descriptions on an Excel spreadsheet…
He’s had to bite a few bullets to get there, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lead Israel’s next government. Barring a last-minute surprise, Israel’s new governing coalition will be sworn in this week: a center-right grouping of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud-Beiteinu faction, the centrist Yesh Atid party, the religious nationalist Jewish Home party, the…
