The August 26 article “Controversial Circumcision Rite Becomes Issue in Mayoral Race” erroneously reported that a lawyer working for New York City said that a mohel suspected of infecting babies with herpes simplex had not provided a blood sample. In fact, the government lawyer said only that “the proceeding brought by the city to compel…
Nearly 200 illegal immigrants have died in the deserts south of Tucson, Ariz., as they attempted to sneak across the border. In an effort to keep that figure from rising, volunteers from the Jewish community in Tucson have gone out into the desert to refill water barrels for immigrants crossing over the border from Mexico….
Adam Bronstone barely slept at night. After evacuating New Orleans and heading west to Houston on Saturday to avoid Hurricane Katrina, he had a lot on his mind. “You’re worried about where it’s going to hit,” said Bronstone, director of communications for the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. “You’re worried about the place you…
New U.S. Air Force guidelines for religious tolerance drew praise from some Jewish organizations but are being criticized by a Republican lawmaker. The guidelines, issued Monday, say commanders should try to comply with religious accommodations for all airmen and women, and that senior airmen and women need to be sensitive to the fact that personal…
The nonbelievers are fighting back. The Secular Coalition for America — which sees itself as the voice of America’s agnostics, humanists and nontheists — has just hired its first full-time Washington lobbyist: former Nevada state senator Lori Lipman Brown, a longtime civil rights activist. Her job will be to seek out alliances with Jewish groups…
Rabbi Balfour Brickner, a leader of the Reform movement, died Monday at age 78. Brickner was the former spiritual leader of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City and a long-serving member of the professional staff of the Union for Reform Judaism. He fought for equality and social justice across the globe, from…
TEL AVIV – For the first time in Israeli history, the ruling party has started the process of deposing a reigning prime minister — and its quite possible that the internal Likud fight could mean defeat for both sides. Barely two-and-a-half years after enjoying its most resounding victory in the polls, the Likud is about…
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is worried that the Palestinian Authority’s reluctance to confront terrorism and lawlessness in Gaza Strip thwart international efforts to transform the area’s failing economy. There is widespread international agreement that vigorous economic development is necessary for Gaza to function effectively after Israel completes its pullout from the area. The international…
Like most master’s degree students at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, I expected my 32-page thesis to gather dust peacefully on the library’s shelves. Instead, it unleashed a political storm of scurrilous charges of antisemitism against one of the most prominent players in New York City politics — and my main source. Herewith, the…
P.A. Assets Frozen A Rhode Island court froze the Palestinian Authority’s American assets because of an unpaid court order regarding a terror attack. The Palestinian governing body was ordered last year to pay $116 million in damages related to the 1996 shooting of American citizen Yaron Ungar and his Israeli wife, but it has not…
Judith Gold Stitzel of Morgantown, W.Va., has an inquiry about the word “phylacteries,” the English term for what Jews call “tefillin” (pronounced “Tfee-LEEN” in Hebrew and “TFI-lin” in Yiddish and English). She writes: “Out of curiosity, I decided to learn more about the word. The Columbia Encyclopedia tells me that it is from a Greek…
בײַ ייִדן איז פֿאַראַן אַן אַלטע טראַדיציע צו שרײַבן רײַסישע סגולות מיט ייִדישע אותיות.
