The Israel Antiquities Authority began its bi-annual process of inspecting the Western Wall’s stones to make sure the holy site is safe for the throngs of visitors expected to come during the upcoming Passover holiday. “The wall’s 2,000-year-old stones are subject to natural weathering and we are making sure to strengthen them,” said Yossi Vaknin,…
(JTA) — The National Council of Young Israel has replaced its entire executive board, a stark move away from its vocally pro-Donald Trump leadership, whose statements had led to controversy in the Orthodox synagogue association. The council represents more than 100 Orthodox synagogues across the country. It is more than a century old, and in…
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — In Dutch supermarkets, no cookie aisle is fully stocked without a national treat called jodenkoeken, shortbread discs whose Dutch name means “Jew cookies.” Exactly how jodenkoeken (also spelled jodekoeken) got their name is unclear, but they have been a feature of Dutch teatime since at least the 19th century. Whatever the etymology,…
Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be attorney general, became emotional during his confirmation hearing Monday while discussing how his grandparents fled European antisemitism. Garland, a federal judge who has previously spoken about his Jewish identity, delivered the brief but moving remarks in response to a question from Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, about how…
The daughter of the late Israeli author Amos Oz alleges that he was violent toward her and that “the harassment and abuse continued until the day he died.” Galia Oz makes the claims in her new autobiography “Something Disguised As Love,” which was published in Hebrew on Sunday. The book seemingly explains the estranged relationship…
On Saturday, the Department of Justice announced that it had deported Friedrich Karl Berger, a German-born man who was a guard at Neuengamme, a concentration camp. More than 42,000 prisoners died within the Neuengamme camp system which included some 85 satellite camps in the region of Hamburg, Germany. According to the DOJ, Berger guarded prisoners…
(JTA) — Like many powerful politicians in Africa, Moise Katumbi goes by multiple titles. He is widely seen as the leader of the opposition of his native Democratic Republic of Congo, and he’s the president of its TP Mazembe soccer team, which is one of Africa’s finest. Now Katumbi is also closer than he’s ever…
(JTA) — Shlomo Hillel’s life spanned the length and breadth of Israel’s immigrant story and he played a critical role in many of its chapters. Hillel, who died Feb. 8 at 97, helped smuggle Iraqi Jewish immigrants into pre-state British Mandate Palestine and then brought more in in the state’s first years. His family fled…
(JTA) — The American Jewish Committee is circulating a petition asking “Saturday Night Live” to apologize for a joke that suggested Israel is vaccinating only its Jewish population. “Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population, and I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half,” Michael Che, the co-host of SNL’s news parody,…
A public monument featuring Revolutionary War financier Haym Saloman, a Polish-Jewish American businessman, may be removed from where it stands in Chicago’s Heald Square. The monument, along with 40 others, is under review by the Chicago Monument Project as part of the city’s effort to “address the hard truths of Chicago’s racial history.” The project…
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, FBI agents in Los Angeles arrested UCLA student Christian Secor, the Capital rioter who was pictured sitting in then-Vice President’s Mike Pence’s chair during the January 6 attack. Pictured below is self-described Groyper, Christian Secor, who also goes by “Scuffed Elliot Rodger.” Here you can see him on…
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