Sitting in his office 20 feet above the Western Wall Plaza, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz is unperturbed by the simmering tensions below. For years, Israeli and American Jewish groups have agitated for greater religious freedom at the Wall, which currently allows for only Orthodox worship. Occasionally the outrage boils over. In October, Israeli police arrested Anat…
Jewish groups said on Wednesday a Polish court ruling on methods used to slaughter livestock could halt the production of kosher meat, threatening their religious freedom in a country where Nazi Germany massacred millions of Jews in World War Two. Poland’s Constitutional court this week reinforced a law that states livestock has to be stunned…
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has instructed its diplomats to refuse to accept any official mail that uses “problematic terminology” such as the “state of Palestine.” The instructions come ahead of Thursday’s scheduled vote in the United Nations General Assembly on the Palestinians’ request to elevate their status to non-member observer state, Ynet reported. Other problematic terms…
More European states joined France on Wednesday in backing a Palestinian bid for limited statehood, but Britain held back, saying it wanted an assurance that the Palestinians would not pursue Israel through the International Criminal Court. Germany said it was opposing the diplomatic upgrade for the Palestinians at the United Nations, joining Israel and the…
The Cuban government announced Alan Gross would not be freed, dashing hopes of a breakthrough for the Jewish American contractor jailed for three years on spying charges. After promising an “announcement” about Gross, Cuba issued a statement Wednesday morning claiming that he was in good health. It made no mention of plans to free him….
A Hungarian Jewish organization said it will file a complaint against a lawmaker who proposed drawing up a list of “dangerous” Jews in government. “There is no alternative to legal recourse now,” the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation said on Tuesday in a statement about the parliamentary address the previous day by Márton Gyöngyösi of the…
Britain said on Wednesday it would support a Palestinian bid for a diplomatic upgrade at the United Nations if it were assured that the Palestinians would return to peace talks and would not pursue Israel through the International Criminal Court. The United Nations is due to hold a vote on Thursday on an upgrade of…
Circumcision is one of Judaism’s most important laws and for generations of faithful it has symbolised a Biblical covenant with God. But in Israel, more and more Jewish parents are saying no to the blade. “It’s such a taboo in Israel and in Judaism,” said Gali, nursing her six-week-old son, about the decision not to…
European diplomats have recommended imposing visa bans on violent Israeli settlers, as Denmark helped organize a workshop on labeling settlement goods in the European Union. The Political and Security Committee – a group of E.U. ambassadors dealing with conflict zones – recommended the visa ban at a meeting in Brussels on Nov. 16, according to…
A Dutch Holocaust museum plans to hand out pieces of barbed wire from a Nazi concentration camp to visitors, to be kept as souvenirs. RTV Utrecht, a local television channel, reported that the management of the Camp Amersfoort National Monument decided to give away the wire after it had been criticized for putting the wire…
A Cairo court on Wednesday sentenced to death seven Egyptian Christians tried in absentia for participating in an anti-Islam video that was released on the Internet in September and prompted violent protests in Muslim countries. “The seven accused persons were convicted of insulting the Islamic religion through participating in producing and offering a movie that…
סאָװעטיש־ייִדיש איז געװען אַ ראַדיקאַלער עקספּערימענט, װאָס פֿאַרנעמט אַ װיכטיקן פּלאַץ אױף דער װעלטמאַפּע פֿון ייִדישער קולטור
