JERUSALEM (JTA) — When Natan Sharansky learned in December that he would become the eighth Genesis Prize honoree, he decided he would use his $1 million prize money to promote issues to which he has devoted his life: human rights and Zionism. That was before the coronavirus crisis. Now, Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident who…
(JTA) — Holocaust imagery and rhetoric continue to be evident at protests against stay-at-home orders in state capitols. Signs reading “Heil, Pritzker” and “Arbeit Mach Frei JB,” the latter a reference to the German words meaning “work will make you free” posted over the gate of Auschwitz, were seen Friday afternoon at a protest against…
Federal prosecutors are examining emails between Dr. Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko — a Hasidic doctor touting the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 — and a right-wing political commentator, the Washington Post reported. Zelenko is currently collaborating with Jerome Corsi, a commentator best known for propagating the falsehood that President Barack Obama was born…
(JTA) — The state of Utah has suspended the use of a service to help first responders and law enforcement after learning that the founder of the company providing the technology has a white supremacist past and was involved in a 1990 synagogue shooting. Damien Patton was 17 and part of a Ku Klux Klan…
(JTA) — The financially strapped National Museum of American Jewish History has furloughed about two-thirds of its staff without pay. The Philadelphia museum, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, closed on March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The staff had already taken pay cuts in an effort for the museum to remain open,…
A chaotic scene formed in Borough Park Thursday afternoon as police officers tried to disperse a crowd of onlookers who gathered to watch a funeral procession for a Hasidic man. The incident, which occurred at the corner of 13th Avenue and 43rd Street, came as police officers in both Borough Park and Williamsburg issued dozens…
(JTA) — All Reform Jewish summer camps will remain closed for the 2020 summer due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned. Related story: He made the call to cancel summer camp for 10,000 kids. Here’s what he has to say. The landmark decision, made Thursday afternoon, will affect 16 overnight…
Police officers issued a series of summonses and tickets to Hasidic Jews and institutions in Williamsburg and Borough Park Thursday, making good on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise that, in the wake of a large funeral which he personally had a hand in breaking up, police would stop issuing warnings for violating…
Update 6:00 p.m. A Chabad synagogue in Atlanta announced Wednesday that it would open its doors for daily prayer, but reversed course the following day, a few hours after the Forward published a story about the opening. Chabad Israeli Center Atlanta – Congregation Beit Reuven, an Orthodox synagogue that caters to the city’s Israeli expat…
A letter signed by prominent Jewish politicians and organizations condemned a controversial tweet from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, which scolded “the Jewish community” in the wake of a Hasidic funeral that violated social distancing guidelines on Tuesday. “With thousands of New Yorkers dead, and many more sick, we all understand the danger of…
(JTA) — President Donald Trump reiterated his rejection of anti-Semitic bigotry and hate attacks in a proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month. “Tragically, Jewish men, women, and children continue to face anti-Semitic discrimination, persecution, and violence today, and Jewish institutions and places of worship remain targets of vandalism and destruction,” Trump wrote for the commemoration…
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