A historic synagogue in Connecticut was seriously damaged by a fire. The two Torah scrolls housed at the Hebrew Congregation of Woodmont in Milford, Conn., were saved, though they were damaged. Rabbi Schneur Wilhelm, spiritual leader of the congregation, told the Hartford Courant that he believes the Torah scrolls are salvageable. The cause of the…
The security company that has discovered some of the most sophisticated spying software unearthed to date says it found a related program, dubbed “miniFlame,” which can carry out more precise attacks on targets in the Middle East. While the original Flame virus swept in data from perhaps 5,000 computers, largely in Iran and Sudan, the…
U.S. economist Alvin Roth, winner of the 2012 Nobel prize for economics on Monday with colleague Lloyd Shapley, was “surprised” and “delighted” when he got the midnight call at his California home telling him he had won. “I am having my first sip of coffee right now,” said Roth, speaking to Reuters from his home…
Israel’s foreign ministry has accused France’s consul general in Jerusalem of “denying Jewish connection to the Land of Israel.” The statement by Yigal Palmor, a spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came in response to remarks made last month by Consul General Frederic Desagneaux in a speech on archeology. He spoke of “the…
Negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme could move forward very soon, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Monday, as EU foreign ministers met to agree another round of sanctions against Tehran. The ministers are expected to impose new measures against Iran’s banking sector, industry and shipping as part of an attempt to…
Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav has filed a request for a presidential pardon. Katsav filed the request with the Justice Ministry. It will be forwarded to sitting President Shimon Peres. Katsav is currently serving a seven-year jail sentence for his conviction on two counts of rape and other sexual offenses. He entered prison in December….
The Temple of Understanding, a U.S. interfaith dialogue body, has awarded its annual award to two rabbis, an Imam and Chelsea Clinton, among other recipients. Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, 33, received the Juliet Hollister Award for 2012 for founding and leading the Jewish Learning Fellowship at New York University, The New York Jewish Week has credited…
Life-saving kidney exchange programmes are just one of the practical applications of the market-matching theories for which American economists Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley won the 2012 Nobel prize for economics on Monday. Pairing up students with schools and employers with job seekers – for instance doctors and lawyers taking up their first appointments –…
The South African Trade Ministry has published a second notice concerning the labeling of products from Jewish settlements, despite working with the Jewish community on a compromise. Contrary to the more restricted proposal issued in May, the notice published Oct. 12 in the Government Gazette refers to all products originating from the West Bank, the…
Some 300 Sudanese protested on Sunday outside Tel Aviv’s Kirya government headquarters against plans to imprison African asylum-seekers in a Negev detention facility. They called on the state to examine their individual requests for recognition as refugees and grant them their rights and protection. The refugees also complained that the United Nations does not do…
Before Shelley Adler can reclaim her late husband’s congressional seat, she will have to get by a former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman. Adler, a Democrat, is running in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District against incumbent Rep. Jon Runyan, the former pro football player who unseated her husband, John, during the Republicans’ 2010 midterm election surge….
