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Germans Honor Libeskind
MEMORY AND HOPE AT YAD VASHEM DINNER “Remember! Remember! Remember! Do not repeat past mistakes! Believe those who threaten us…. What we teach our children [about the Holocaust] defines their lives,” stressed the World Jewish Congress’s Matthew Bronfman, recipient of the Yad Vashem Young Leadership Award. Bronfman received the award at the November 18 American…
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Female Torah Scribe Lives Off the Land, Religiously
Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – This idyllic town near the Adirondack Mountains is better known for horse racing than for holiness; visitors flock here to bathe in mineral springs rather than in mikvehs. But for Rabbi Linda Motzkin, Saratoga Springs has proved to be ideal for something more unexpected: the sacred work of writing a Torah….
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Israel Signals Willingness To Reopen Talks With Syria
Washington – Following a softening of the Bush administration’s opposition to Israeli-Syrian contacts, the Israeli government is actively exploring the possibility of reopening negotiations with Syria, according to Israeli sources and a senior Republican lawmaker who visited Damascus last week. The Republican lawmaker, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, spoke after meeting last Sunday, December 30,…
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After 500 Years in Hiding, Jews Bring Prosperity to Iberian Town
Belmonte, Portugal – While most of the towns in central Portugal are suffering through difficult economic times, this small village northeast of Lisbon is enjoying a revival: The past decade has seen the construction of a luxury hotel and a museum, and tourism is booming. The cause? Jews. Conversos, to be exact. Belmonte, a town…
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With Their Men in Iraq, Wives Fight an Emotional Battle on the Home Front
When we moved last year from the Washington, D.C., area to Anacortes, Wash. — a Thornton Wilder-era town in the far northwest corner of the state — I spent the first few months cataloging all that was missing from our new home. My parents were gone from our day-to-day lives; back east, in our cozy…
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Synagogues Become Rock Venues
Los Angeles – Most major cities offer plenty of venues for rock music, but the newest ones are those you’d least expect: synagogues. In an era in which synagogue membership rolls have seen a sharp decline, congregations across the country are increasingly turning to live music, from electric guitars and conga beats to world music…
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Russian Visa Rules Raise Ire
The institution of new visa rules is stoking anxiety and frustration among Jewish groups in Russia. The regulations severely limit the parameters of multiple-entry business visas — which cover the subsections of religious, humanitarian and cultural visas — by reducing them to 180 days total. In addition, the holder of the 180-day business visa may…
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Assassination in Pakistan Poses Risks Across Mideast
For many Israelis, the assassin who killed Benazir Bhutto removed another barrier shielding the Jewish state from the Islamic bomb. Israel’s media and leadership portrayed the sniper-suicide bombing attack that ended the onetime Pakistani prime minister’s life last week as a blow to hopes for a bridge to the Islamic world. They also suggested that…
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This Year in ‘Jerusalem’: Fyvush Finkel Takes the Stage
By the age of 80, most people have retired. But 85-year-old Fyvush Finkel has no such plans. “I’m going to keep going until I expire,” the gregarious performer said with a laugh. “There was once an actress called Sarah Bernhardt, and she made 50 years of farewell appearances. I’ll make at least 20, and I’m…
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A Bronfman for Huckabee?
The New York Post reports: Mike Huckabee is being backed by a bizarre upstate group that has been denounced as a cult, The Post has learned. Records show Huckabee raked in $20,000 from Sara Bronfman, the Seagram liquor heiress and high-profile devotee of the NXIVM group. Bronfman made the donation to Hope for America, a…
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A Yiddish Word For All Occasions
INTREPID SALUTES GOVERNOR SPITZER “We think the United States invented the idea [of a volunteer army,]” Greek American James Stavridis, a four-star admiral, told the guests at the November 14 Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s Salute to Freedom Dinner “aboard” the Hilton New York hotel. “It goes back to Athens, the first democracy in…
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