Haifa, Israel — In this season of Jewish repentance, Israel has been captivated by a debate about religious forgiveness for the people who might be thought to need it most: criminals. Just before the High Holy Days began, the Ashkenazic chief rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, pointed to what he and some others have said…
Washington — A little-known hawkish group is offering assistance to embattled Kadima minister Shaul Mofaz in his fight to reverse results of the party’s primary election that put Tzipi Livni in line to create a new government coalition. Stand Up America, a security-minded organization led by former generals of the United States military, has hired…
Los Angeles — Independent minyans — those scrappy, do-it-yourself Jewish communities that have sprung up from Boston to Seattle and many places in between — largely have been defined by a central characteristic: They exist in the margins of the mainstream Jewish world. But that may be changing. If the past year is any indication,…
There would be enough members for a whole new minyan in Congress if all the Jewish candidates running for federal office were elected next month. Scandal, ethics clouds, changing demographics and a favorable political climate will help some of the 11 Jews vying to be elected to the House and the two Jews running for…
Fairfax, Va. — For Jews who live just outside the nation’s capital in Northern Virginia, the nearest supervised kosher butcher is across the border in Maryland. They must head to communities such as Rockville, Silver Spring and Potomac, or into Washington, for a good kosher restaurant meal. With a population estimated at only 100,000, Virginia’s…
The evening of October 7, a capacity crowd of about 200 people — most of them young, hip and Jewish — gathered at Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space for a debate-watching party that American Jewish World Service hosted. Those who got there early parked themselves in the archipelago of seating areas perched above an indoor pond…
A joint party for watchers of the October 2 vice presidential debate, held at a downtown Washington law firm, brought together a couple hundred Republican Jews to cheer Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and jeer Delaware Senator Joseph Biden. The event, hosted by the Republican Jewish Committee’s National Women’s Committee and by two Republican women’s groups,…
The latest Republican attack line on Barack Obama involves a rabbi who is a relative of the Obama family. The Republican National Committee is circulating a news release October 7, calling the Democratic presidential nominee to task for awarding $75,000 in grants to a social services agency led by Rabbi Capers Funnye, a black rabbi…
A new poll suggests that Barack Obama is still struggling to win over Jewish voters, but experts say the results may already be out of date. The poll, released September 25 by the American Jewish Committee, showed Obama garnering just 57% of the Jewish vote, well below the level of support enjoyed by past Democratic…
After the debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs and Fox’s Sean Hannity played the guilt by association game. Gibbs asked the Fox host whether he was anti-Semitic for having Andy Martin on his show.
I was pushing my son’s stroller along the main avenue of our Brooklyn neighborhood on a bright fall morning, when I was stopped by a bearded man in a top hat, his long black coat flapping. “Excuse me, are you Jewish?” he asked. I stared at him, stunned for two reasons: The simpler of the…
