A bipartisan group of 20 Congressmen sent a letter to the German government expressing “deep concern” over a recent German court decision to effectively ban circumcision on young boys. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), authored the letter, which was addressed to Peter Ammon, the German ambassador to the United…
Gold-winning American Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman has accepted an invitation from Israel Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein for her and her family to make their first visit to Israel. Raisman, who performs floor routines to the melody of “Hava Nagilah,” won an individual gold medal in her floor exercise last week and a bronze on…
The Brazilian city of Sao Paulo – which has more than 11 million people – declared Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Ramadan as official holidays. Jewish and Muslim municipal workers may take two days off during the Jewish High Holidays and Ramadan, respectively. The city has approximately 147,000 employees. The inclusion of these dates in…
New Zealand Jewish sailor Jo Aleh and her partner Polly Powrie won the gold medal in the women’s 470 regatta. Aleh, 26, whose parents are dual Israeli-New Zealand citizens, skippered the pair into the lead from the start of the gold medal race Friday at the London Olympic games. The Kiwis were tied with British…
Leading Reform and Conservative rabbis joined six other religious leaders in a call on people of all faiths to speak out against extremists following recent attacks on ethnic and religious minorities. Rabbi Burton Visotzky, director of the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary, called on all Jews “to address…
A pro-Palestinian website has published the names and photos of 100 Israel Air Force pilots said to be in active duty. The list appears on the website of the Free Palestine Movement. It also provides dates of birth and identity numbers of the pilots. The website of the movement states the data were given to…
The Israel Pediatric Association has declared war on metzitza b’peh, a portion of the ritual that doctors deem medically harmful but ultra-Orthodox rabbis deem obligatory. Metzitza, the final stage of the circumcision, involves extracting blood from the incision. Today, it is usually done with a sterile tube. But some Haredi (ultra-Orthodox ) communities still use…
The U.S. assessment remains that Iran is not on the verge of achieving a nuclear weapon, a U.S. official said, apparently pushing back against claims to the contrary by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. “We believe that there is time and space to continue to pursue a diplomatic path, backed by growing international pressure on…
A far-right Hungarian politician will reportedly visit Auschwitz after recent revelations that he has Jewish ancestors. Rabbi Shlomo Koves told JTA that he had met with Csanad Szegedi, in Budapest on August 3, and the Jobbik party member had said he would take the trip. Szegedi apologized for any comments he had made against the…
El Al airlines said it will honor all tickets purchased during a glitch that had thousands of round-trip tickets selling for as low as $330. The airline also announced Thursday that those who purchased tickets three days earlier at the hugely discounted fare would be given the opportunity to convert their tickets to a direct…
A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty on Thursday to murdering an 8-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy last year, dismembering his body and stashing the parts in his freezer and a suitcase tossed into a dumpster. Levi Aron, 36, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping in the death of Leiby Kletzky, who had lost his way…
