(JTA) — Michele Sciama, a former secretary-general of the Jewish Community of Milan, has died of the coronavirus. Sciama, known to his friends and family as Micky, was 79 when he died Monday morning. He is survived by his wife, Viviane, and two daughters, Dalia and Stefania, the Italian-Jewish Moked news site wrote in an…
Following the lead of cities in Italy, France, and Spain, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday that in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, New York will limit restaurants to takeout and delivery starting on March 17. “Social distancing,” the practice of limiting contact with others in order to…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Senior rabbinic leaders of the haredi Orthodox community in Israel announced that schools and yeshivas will remain open, but they have limited class sizes to ten students to adhere to Ministry of Health directives. The announcement was made in a letter published Monday morning that was signed by Rabbis Chaim Kanievsky and…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The rabbi of the Western Wall and other holy sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, called on worshippers not to kiss the stones to avoid spreading the coronavirus. The request came after consultations between Rabinowitz and the Health Ministry about required hygiene practices, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said in a statement on Monday….
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will give Benny Gantz the task of forming a new government, his office said Sunday. Rivlin met Sunday with the heads of all the parties that won seats in Israel’s parliament in its last election earlier this month. At the end of the consultations, which were broadcast nationally,…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The entire student body of URJ Heller High in Israel, a high school affiliated with the Reform movement, will return to the United States on a chartered flight, along with dozens of students from other Israeli programs for American teens. Rabbi Loren Sykes, URJ Heller High principal, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency…
The rabbi of one of the biggest Orthodox synagogues in the Miami area has tested positive for coronavirus, the Miami Herald reported Sunday. Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar of the Shul of Bal Harbour told Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman that he had “mild symptoms” and was self-isolating, Groisman said in a statement. As a public…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial in three corruption cases has been postponed by over two months, a district court announced on Sunday. The trial was set to begin on Tuesday. It has now been pushed back to May 24. In the very early hours of Sunday, Israeli Justice Minister Amir Ohana announced that emergency…
Students at SAR High School and SAR Academy, private Jewish day schools in New York, are under home quarantine and learning remotely after at least 29 people associated with the school were diagnosed with coronavirus. In order to help the students cope with being unable to leave their homes, the schools brought in a virtual…
(JTA) – The 16 Dead Seas Scroll fragments housed at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., are forgeries, museum officials said Friday. “We’re victims — we’re victims of misrepresentation, we’re victims of fraud,” CEO Harry Hargrove said at an academic conference hosted by the museum, National Geographic reported. A team of researchers led…
(JTA) — Earlier this week, the Jewish Agency for Israel said it was committed to keeping its emissaries in the United States, even as other groups brought theirs home amid the rising coronavirus crisis. But on Friday morning, with schools and synagogues across the country shuttering in an effort to curb the disease’s spread, the…
