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Lenora Garfinkel, 89, Noted Orthodox Architect Who Lost A Son And Grandson To COVID-19
(JTA) — In the world of Orthodox Judaism, men may run the synagogues — but Lenora Garfinkel built them. Garfinkel was one of the first women to study architecture at the prestigious Cooper Union College in New York and went on to build Jewish community buildings across the New York metropolitan area over the course…
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A top pro-Israel congressman lost his primary. Was it a fluke or a harbinger?
Rep. Eliot Engel, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and one of the top congressional allies of the Israeli government, is expected to lose his primary. With more than 33,000 in-person votes cast in New York’s 16th District, containing parts of the Bronx and Westchester County, progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman was beating Engel…
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There’s a memorial in Charlotte to Confederate Judah Benjamin, and the city’s Jews want it gone
A national push to dismantle memorials that glorify racism might help the Jewish community of Charlotte, N.C. achieve a long-sought goal: the permanent removal of a monument to Judah Benjamin, the most prominent Jewish figure in the Confederate government. Erected in 1948 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the memorial to Benjamin is a…
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Prof. Zeev Sternhell, historian, Zionist and Israel critic, dies at 85
Professor Zeev Sternhell z”l, one of Israel’s leading intellectuals and political observers, passed away in Jerusalem on Sunday at the age of 85. Sternhell was an internationally acclaimed political scientist renowned for his work on the ideological and historical origins of fascism. His early work focused on strains of fascist thought in France that few…
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Efrahim Kopel Meniuk, 82, Led Rio Chapter Of Brazil-Israel Commerce Group
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Efrahim Kopel Meniuk, the president of the Brazil-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Rio de Janeiro chapter, died of COVID-19 on June 22. He was 82. Born in Brazil to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Meniuk led the institution since early 2019. Founded in 1959, the chamber promotes commercial ties between Latin…
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Rievan Slavkin, 85, Beloved Rabbi And Champion Shofar Blower
BOSTON (JTA) – Long before he joined the rabbinate, Rievan Slavkin had an ear for music. Born into a musical family and gifted with perfect pitch, Slavkin led the choir at the Pittsburgh synagogue where he grew up and later became the organist for services during his rabbinic studies at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati….
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‘Racism is very prevalent in the Jewish community.’ A Black, Jewish, gay leader speaks out.
Gamal Palmer was 9 years old when he marched into the local synagogue and demanded an appointment with the rabbi. “His secretary looked at me, this little brown child, like, ‘What?’” As the son of a white Jewish mother and a Black father, Palmer was used to these kinds of looks, the ones that consciously…
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8 American monuments celebrating anti-Semites
Updated June 23 In the weeks since protests against racism began after the killing of George Floyd, activists around the world have been toppling statues, either by pressuring public officials or by tearing the monuments down themselves. Activists have naturally focused on memorials to Confederate leaders or others who enacted racist policies, and associate monuments…
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Jim Scheinman named Zoom. Now he wants to diversify tech
Early on in Jim Scheinman’s investment career, a cousin suggested he take a look at a video-conferencing startup called Saasbee. Scheinman liked the company for its social benefit but thought the name was awful. He suggested an alternative, inspired by one of his children’s favorite books: “Zoom City,” which he said conveyed the concepts of…
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Avraham ‘Bobby’ Katz, 73, Helped Establish Hasidic Community In New Jersey
(JTA) — When Rabbi Meyer Yosef Rottenberg, the leader of the Kosover Hasidic sect, sought to help young families priced out of Brooklyn in Linden, New Jersey, several years ago, he turned to Rabbi Avraham “Bobby” Katz for help. Katz had cycled through a number of jobs in his life already, from postman to stockbroker…
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Chaim Gantz, 50, Hasidic Social Worker Who Worked With Youth
(JTA) — Chaim Gantz didn’t conform to expectations. Born to Israeli immigrants in the ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park in 1970, he attended the more moderate Yeshiva Torah Vodaas and went clean shaven even though he was a dedicated member of the Vizhnitz Hasidic sect. After a gap year in yeshiva in Israel, he…
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