An Israeli deputy prime minister canceled a planned trip to Britain out of fear that he would be arrested. Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon was scheduled to attend a fund-raising dinner by the British Jewish National Fund on behalf of Benji’s Home, for Israeli soldiers with no family in the country. But the Israeli Foreign…
THE GUGGENHEIM AT 50 Abiding by the invitation’s directive, black tie and Kandinsky colors, for the September 16 celebration of the Guggenheim Museum’s 50th anniversary and the opening of the Kandinsky exhibit, Knight Landesman, executive editor of Artforum magazine, arrived in an eye-popping mango-colored suit. Among the 250 guests viewing the 100 Kandinsky works were…
Economists are bracing for an early warning about what toll the world economic crisis may be taking on Israel’s population. Popular wisdom is that Israel is weathering the current world financial storm, with the economy faring well given the circumstances. Last August, the Bank of Israel revised its forecasts of growth in 2009 to one…
Omar Rahman was on his way from America to a friend’s wedding in Jerusalem. The 25-year-old journalist, born and raised in Washington to parents of Palestinian descent, had visited the West Bank and Israel many times before, and although he was used to the four-hour wait at the border crossing, he had never encountered any…
Even with the recent hue and cry during the health care debate over so-called “death panels,” Jewish experts on end-of-life issues say they have a tough time drawing attention to the real questions about medical interventions, care and spending in the final years and months of life. “The majority of our people do not know…
To outsiders, the long black coats worn by Haredi men might all look the same. Upon closer inspection, though, there’s nothing uniform about them. Enterprising tailor Mendy Sacho, 25, has built a successful couture business in Toronto over the past three years, catering to a mostly Orthodox clientele who like a bit of flair with…
A congresswoman has joined with a host of national Jewish organizations to pressure a controversial Iowa kosher meat company to open up dialogue with the community in which it is located. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, wrote one of a number of recent letters to the new owners of Agri-Star, who bought a kosher slaughterhouse…
When he was alive, the Lubavitcher rebbe distributed dollar bills to encourage people to give tzedekah. Dollar bills were also distributed on the first day of the annual kaparot event in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights this year but not by the Lubavitchers. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals this year stepped up activism against the…
As freshmen in Polo shirts and jeans shuffled out of Anthony David’s “Language and Thinking” seminar, the American historian and writer approached a Palestinian girl with long brown hair and black-and-white sneakers. “I really liked your perspective,” David said to Renda Alyatim about the short story she composed and read aloud to the class. “I’ve…
In the Virtual Shtetl, there is no Tevye the Milkman. Gimpel the Fool doesn’t live there, either. And you won’t find Marc Chagall’s floating goats and violins. There is no nostalgia to speak of — just facts. Google maps, detailed photos of dilapidated tombstones poking through the earth of forgotten cemeteries, scanned birth certificates, sepia-toned…
A new survey shows that a majority of American Jews would support a U.S. military strike on Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons — a significant increase from a year ago. Fifty-six percent of American Jews would support the “United States taking military action against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons,”…
דער שוועדישער פֿאַרלעגער ניקאָלײַ אָלניאַנסקי האָט דערציילט ווי ער האָט אָנגעהויבן אַרויסגעבן קינדערביכלעך אויף ייִדיש.
