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DER YIDDISH-VINKL July 9, 2004
Of all the religious rituals in the world, one would think that the mikvah is distinctly Jewish. But that is no longer so. An interdenominational mikvah has opened up in Newton, Mass. It is not for women alone. Now men and children may participate. People are invited to celebrate all sorts of occasions in the…
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Fate of Rare Document Trove Remains Unclear as Iraq Regime Takes Charge
With political authority in Iraq now formally turned over to a fledgling local government, the fate of a cache of rare and historic Jewish documents rescued by American soldiers from destruction in Baghdad remains up in the air. “The final disposition is to be determined,” said Doris Hamburg, director of preservation programs at the U.S….
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CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL
President Bush’s re-election campaign is refusing to withdraw an ad containing Nazi imagery from its Web site, despite severe criticism from Jewish organizations and from the Republican chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. The ad uses pictures and audio of a shouting Adolf Hitler, juxtaposing them with images of heated rhetoric from former Vice…
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Top American Charity Embroiled in Debate Over Gaza
America’s central network of Jewish charities has become embroiled in the ideological debate over Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan after the Israeli prime minister asked United Jewish Communities’ biggest beneficiary, the Jewish Agency for Israel, to help relocate settlers evacuated from Gaza. With key backing from American delegates, the Jewish Agency’s board of governors voted last…
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Muslim Students Get Apology In a Tiff Over ‘Shahada’ Scarf
WASHINGTON — The Anti-Defamation League last week issued an unusual retraction and apology for suggesting that Islam’s declaration of faith, the Shahada, is an “expression of hate” that is “closely identified” with terrorism. The ADL did not apologize, however, for suggesting that Muslim students at the University of California, Irvine, who wore stoles carrying their…
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O.U. To Require Water Filters In N.Y. Eateries
The Orthodox Union is preparing to require New York City restaurants under its supervision to filter their tap water, and to recommend that observant Jews in the city do the same. The decision results from the recent discovery of minuscule (and nonkosher) crustaceans called copepods in New York’s tap water. Significant controversy regarding the copepods…
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Newsdesk July 2, 2004
Survivors’ Funds Released Before the end of August, $174 million will be released to Holocaust survivors by a German foundation set up to compensate slave laborers from the Holocaust era. A similar amount also will be released to non-Jewish survivors. The money comes from interest earned on the $5.5 billion original compensation settlement with German…
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Israeli Cabinet Members Hurl Insults Over Demographic Study
A newly released report on the state of world Jewry has revealed dramatic demographic trends — and prompted a vicious shouting match in the Israeli Cabinet, with government ministers calling each other antisemitic and racist. The abstract is a summary of a larger, 600-page study due out in the fall. It was issued last week…
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Giving ‘Seinfeld’ Fans a Taste of Reality, Kramer-style
Kenny Kramer wasn’t allowed to be himself. In the late 1980s, the stand-up comedian was living next door to Larry David, co-creator of television’s “Seinfeld,” which was then in the development stage. David saw infinite comic possibilities in his neighbor, who spent his time golfing, scheming, chomping cigars, falling head-first into money and having sex…
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Empire State’s Kosher Law Advances, But Draws Tepid Support
The New York State Legislature has passed legislation to protect kosher consumers from food products falsely advertised as kosher. The new law is intended to replace New York’s previous kosher law, which was struck down in the courts last year after being declared unconstitutional. New York is home to the country’s largest Jewish population, as…
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Polluting Piety With Politics
An article on the front-page of the June 3 New York Times was scary. It notes that the Bush campaign is reaching out to thousands of churches around the country to involve them in distributing campaign fliers and registering voters on behalf of the president’s November run. The move makes history. It seems that at…
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