In an emerging national conversation about the future of Jewish-Muslim relations, several experts this week debated the appropriate conditions under which Jewish community officials should break bread with Islamic groups. The issue is a growing concern for Jewish leaders across the country as Islamic groups are increasing their visibility in national and local politics in…
About 50 pro-Palestinian students gathered at Duke University’s main quad last Sunday, chanting, “Divest from apartheid Israel.” About 20 pro-Israel students who, channeling John Lennon, chanted “All we are saying, condemn terror now,” met them. So ended the fourth annual national conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement, which gathered about 500 pro-Palestinian participants to various…
Leading Ladies: First lady Laura Bush and would-be first lady Teresa Heinz Kerry both spoke to United Jewish Communities’ Lion of Judah conference this week, a gathering that brought 1,300 of the nation’s top female Jewish philanthropists to the capital. Both women were asked to speak about philanthropy, and did. Bush, however, gave a full-blown…
As the presidential campaign entered its final stretch, the candidates and their surrogates were concentrating harder than ever on bringing their messages to the Jewish community in swing states, especially in Florida. President Bush attended a dinner Monday at the Boca Raton home of Ned Siegel, a wealthy Republican donor who is heavily involved in…
Eleven years ago we stood together on the White House lawn to witness a historic moment. I, like many of you, will never forget the exhilaration of that day. I remember how both our communities reacted when Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat grasped each other’s extended hand. We turned to each other both in celebration…
Thomas Glick writes: In various biographies of [lyricist] E.Y. (‘Yip’) Harburg, it is stated that ‘Yip’ is short for Yiddish yipsel, ‘squirrel.’ I’ve never been able to find this definition in any dictionary. More likely an anagram for a socialist organization? Mr. Glick is right on target. A squirrel in Yiddish is a veverke, and…
NEWARK, N.J. — In an era of talk radio defined by the loudest, most outrageous voices, businessman-philanthropist Howard Jonas is betting on the notion that there is a space on the airwaves for a more thoughtful approach to conservative ideas. Jonas, chairman and founder of IDT Corporation, unveiled his vision for a more polite brand…
On the occasion of her 60th yahrzeit, the Yiddish Forverts featured Miriam Ulinover on its page dedicated to Pearls of Yiddish Poetry. Orphaned as a child, she was raised by her grandmother, to whom she dedicated a book of poetry titled “Der Bubbe’s Oytser” (“Grandma’s Treasure”). Ulinover described her poetry in the following lines: “Epes…
In Las Vegas, the FBI is investigating reports that a Republican-backed voter outreach firm destroyed forms it had collected from voters who had registered as Democrats. In York, Pa., vandals repeatedly have sprayed anti-Bush and pro-Kerry slogans on the “Republican Victory” headquarters. In Duval County, Fla., civil rights organizations complained that early-voting sites were placed…
It has been Jerusalem’s dirty little secret for decades: Orthodox yeshiva students and other Jewish residents vandalizing churches and spitting on Christian clergyman as they walk along the narrow, ancient stone streets of the Old City. Now, however, following a highly publicized fracas last week between a yeshiva student and the archbishop of Jerusalem’s Armenian…
WASHINGTON — The country’s largest synagogue movement is discouraging congregations from seeking federal funds to pay for security improvements, warning that such a step would violate the separation of church and state. At issue is the Homeland Security Appropriations Act, a bill signed into law by President Bush earlier this month, which offers $25 million…
