(JTA) — Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has asked Pope Francis to retract a recent comment about Jewish law that it said might lead Catholic listeners to “derogatory conclusions” about Jews. Rabbi Ratzon Arusi, chair of the Chief Rabbinate’s Commission for Interreligious Affairs, sent a letter to the Vatican expressing concerns about an Aug. 11 lecture there…
On his first trip to Washington as Israel’s prime minister, Naftali Bennett met with leaders of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a group that has been criticized in recent years for backing the Israeli government’s right-wing policies. The get-together raised some eyebrows. While it’s common for an Israeli leader to meet with pro-Israel and…
(JTA) — The owners of a Ukrainian cafe housed in a former synagogue said they worked two lightning rods into the logo to advertise the reenergizing qualities of the coffee there. Instead they waded into a political minefield because they ended up reproducing the symbol of the SS, Nazi Germany’s murderous elite force. On Tuesday,…
(JTA) — (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — The elevators at Fort Lee, New Jersey, condo building will again stop on every floor during Shabbat after the condo board settled with Orthodox Jewish residents who sued over the service’s cancelation. Dozens of residents charged in a June lawsuit that The Colony was discriminating against…
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – Hackers posting death threats, including “I’ll enter synagogues and kill everyone,” broke into the online mourning ceremony for a former Jewish school principal in Rio de Janeiro. “Death to Jews,” “I’ll explode,” “Sieg Heil” and “dirty Jews” were also part of the attack during the shiva session Sunday on Google…
Judge Lynn Kotler of the New York County Supreme Court denied a request last week for a preliminary injunction in a case brought forth by the Yeshiva University Pride Alliance, ruling out a quick decision meant to compel the university to recognize the unofficial LGBTQ club in time for the fall semester. The case will…
(JTA) — Will there be a Martha’s Vineyard episode, and if there is, who plays Alan Dershowitz? The pandemic-delayed 11th season of Larry David’s signature misanthropic series, “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is set to debut on HBO in October, the show announced today via social media. “You’re allowed to be happy, but not in front of…
(JTA) — A popular, vociferously antisemitic promoter of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory was identified as an evangelical Christian man from Florida. The man, who goes by GhostEzra on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, has more than 300,000 followers and posts “explicit Nazi propaganda, including outright Holocaust denial and a slew of conspiracy theories that…
(JTA) — Barbra Streisand has become the only woman to record a top 20 album on the Billboard charts in every decade from the 1960s to the 2020s. The only other person to achieve that feat is Bob Dylan. Streisand’s latest album, “Release Me 2,” came out Saturday and debuted at number 15 on the…
(JTA) — Israel has ended a restriction on blood donation that effectively prohibited gay men from donating blood. Until now, Israel had prohibited any man who had had same-sex relations over the past 12 months from giving blood. Now, the question’s wording will be changed to asking whether prospective donors have had “high risk sexual…
(JTA) — President Joe Biden has nominated Rahm Emanuel to be the next ambassador to Japan. Emanuel, who was Chicago’s mayor from 2011 to 2019, previously served as a congressman and Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff. He has attracted opposition from progressives due to how he handled the 2014 police killing of Laquan…
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