The health guidelines issued by one of the country’s biggest Orthodox Jewish organizations proclaim that the first stage of opening synagogues safely will prevent women from attending. Agudath Israel of America, which represents Haredi Jews (sometimes called ultra-Orthodox Jews), released their plan on Friday advising member synagogues on how to safely reopen their synagogues once…
(JTA) — Jerry Stiller, the longtime Jewish comic who became best known for playing the belligerent character Frank Costanza on “Seinfeld,” has died. Stiller died of natural causes, his son, the comic actor Ben Stiller, announced in a tweet Monday. He was 92. Jerry Stiller was a classically trained actor who met and married Anne…
(JTA) — Two people were arrested for allegedly ripping face masks off of identifiably Jewish people in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. The suspects have not yet been identified or been charged, NBC New York reported Monday morning. Video posted on Twitter by Belaaz shows police and crowds gathering late Sunday…
After three weeks in a coma and more than a month of recovering, Lawrence Garbuz — the New Rochelle, N.Y., lawyer who was New York’s ‘patient zero’ for coronavirus — is talking about his ordeal and recuperating at home with his wife and children. “I feel glad I’m alive to be honest with you,” Garbuz…
A member of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff has tested positive for coronavirus, President Trump said on Friday. He referred to the infected person as a “press person” named Katie; Pence’s press secretary is Katie Miller. Two people with knowledge of Miller’s diagnosis also confirmed to Politico that it is coronavirus. Miller, who is Jewish,…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Those tuning in this week for just the second day of live Supreme Court broadcasts were treated to a surprise: In a case about NGOs, HIV-AIDS funding and prostitution, the discussion unexpectedly turned toward U.S. support for Israel’s right to exist. The case features a group of NGOs that are resisting the…
A New York Times article published Thursday about the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli military contractors’ efforts to devise a cure for the novel coronavirus attracted criticism on social media for pointing out that many of their prior developments had deadly capabilities. “The Israeli Defense Ministry’s research-and-development arm is best known for pioneering cutting-edge ways…
(JTA) — After several weeks at a London mortuary, the unclaimed body of 95-year-old Herbert Max Fraenkel was slated to be buried in a shared grave at a pauper’s funeral. Fraenkel, who was born in 1924 in Berlin, died alone at his home in January. City workers were unable to locate or identify any of…
(JTA) — At least 1,300 members of France’s Jewish community have died of COVID-19, the country’s Jewish burial service said. The French chevra kadisha, the Jewish term for those who provide Jewish burial services, reported the figure this week after declining to disclose any numbers since the outbreak of the pandemic in France in March,…
(JTA) — Renee Godinez had completed nearly all the steps to becoming Jewish before the coronavirus pandemic descended earlier this spring. She had studied extensively with Rabbi Rick Winer of Temple Beth Israel in Fresno, California, and adopted Jewish practices in her life. All that was missing was a ceremony to mark the end of…
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Police in the Dutch capital arrested a man whom they say had smashed the windows of a kosher restaurant and tried to burn the Israeli flag inside. Officers used pepper spray on the man in the incident, which happened on Friday morning at around 9 a.m. outside HaCarmel restaurant, the Het Parool…
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