More than 100 guests with stratospheric pedigrees crowded the spectacular New York Times penthouse where its chairman, Arthur Ochs “Punch” Sulzberger, hosted the September 24 reception for the Columbia/Barnard Hillel Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life (whose executive committee he chairs). Robert Kraft, chairman of the Kraft Group, owner of the New England Patriots who…
WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman is pushing to abolish all congressional ethnic caucuses, arguing that these hubs of minority political power perpetuate racial divisions in America. The proposal, made by Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, drew criticism and ridicule on Capitol Hill. Tancredo launched his effort two days before the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic…
Back when the times they were a changin’, Reform Judaism stood at society’s political and social vanguard. Yet the movement’s religious framework remained 19th-century classical Reform — an attempt to achieve a more rational, modern Judaism by emphasizing decorum over fervor and eschewing many traditional rituals and customs. The approach bored young congregants immersed in…
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — At the recent High Holy Day services at Temple Sinai, the usual mixture of Hebrew and English echoed throughout the Conservative synagogue’s sanctuary. But, for a portion of the service, a new language was added to the mix: Spanish. Temple Sinai is one of a growing number of South Florida synagogues responding…
Ten months after announcing his candidacy for president, Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman is relaunching his sputtering campaign with a new slogan and a big idea. He is embarking on a six-state tour with the theme of “Leading with Integrity” and promoting an overhaul of the tax code to shift the burden back to the rich…
Following are the main points of the so-called Geneva Understanding initialed this week in Jordan following informal talks between a group of Israeli political activists led by Yossi Beilin and a Palestinian group led by former Palestinian Authority information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. The understandings, part of a 60-page draft that its authors describe as…
A man charged last week on immigration infractions and suspected by prosecutors of financial links to terrorism is seen by government investigators as a possible key to unraveling an alleged terrorism-financing network spanning from Virginia to the secretive kingdom of Liechtenstein. Soliman Biheiri, a native of Egypt, was convicted in a federal court in Virginia…
Approximately 80% of the estimated $100,000 audit cost was to be reimbursed by Ford, in concert with several European charitable groups, she said. SIDA’s spokeswoman explained that her agency was not actually a LAW donor, but merely facilitated the audit as a convenience to Ford and other funders. Ernst & Young headquarters in London refused…
JERUSALEM — The deadly attack on an American diplomatic convoy in Gaza this week is not likely to have any major impact on American involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has been at a low ebb anyway since the resignation of former Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas in early September. The attack, which left three…
WASHINGTON — A coalition of pro-choice religious groups is accusing the White House of inadvertently helping to prop up Beijing’s coercive population-control policies. The coalition, composed of representatives from Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups, is urging Congress to restore funding to the United Nations Population Fund that was cut last year by the White House….
The headline reads, “Bush-Appointed Panel Finds U.S. Image Abroad Is in Peril.” The Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim World, a panel appointed by the president, was assigned to find out what people in the Muslim and Arab world think about Uncle Sam. They did their research and concluded that “hostility…
