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Now that Conservative Judaism is O.K. with livestreaming, how is it different from Reform?
Conservative and Reform Judaism — the United States’ two biggest egalitarian denominations — have been converging for decades. Now coronavirus has wiped out yet another difference between them. Even before the pandemic, Reform communities had embraced streaming services. Conservative synagogues, however, mostly avoided it in order to keep technology from creeping into Shabbat observance. Now…
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‘Wah-Nee Island’: Private, ‘Jew-ish’ camps plan to open. Here’s how.
Many of the most prominent Jewish summer camps in America have announced that they will not be operating this summer, or have privately admitted that opening will be close to impossible. But there is another segment of the Jewish camping world that’s still holding out hope: for-profit camps that attract a heavily Jewish clientele but…
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LA entrepreneurs create “wedding registry” for LA hospitals in need
The calls from the frontlines were disturbing. Emily Kane Miller, CEO of Ethos Giving had heard from her medical professional sister-in-law that supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) were running low in her hospital. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Faraut, CEO of LA LOOP, had heard the same from a doctor in her family. Seeing the need for…
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Reform leader: merging national organization with others ‘a very real possibility’
The national leader of American Judaism’s biggest denomination said he is considering the possibility of merging parts of its operations with those of other liberal Jewish movements. It’s “a very real possibility” despite some religious differences between the denominations, said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the leader of the Union for Reform Judaism, which has over 850…
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Conservative Movement green lights livestreaming on Shabbat, holidays
The Conservative/Masorti movement of Judaism has okayed the use of livestreaming on Shabbat and holidays. “[T]he Conservative/Masorti movement of Judaism adopted a teshuvah (or responsum) this week that could allow for the livestreaming of services on Shabbat and festivals, particularly during the Jewish High Holidays this fall,” the movement announced in a press release Thursday…
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At Jewish Home, a coronavirus success story
With 1.4 million infections and 85,000 deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus across the United States, it’s sometimes hard to find a success story. But here’s one: The non-profit Los Angeles Jewish Home, the largest single source provider of senior healthcare in Los Angeles, with housing for about 1,250 people and services for another 3,500,…
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On Pico-Robertson, kosher restaurants adjust, and struggle
In Alain Cohen’s new normal, loyal customers still walk into Got Kosher? to pick up their Shabbat take-out meals, buy his famous pretzel challahs and engage in masked conversation. But Cohen must also satisfy a whole new category of customers that will only do non-contact curbside pick-up or delivery. Sometimes, he said, “They ask us…
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Ira Stern, Was Fixture Of Lower East Side Jewish Community
NEW YORK (JTA) — Ira Stern was the first person in synagogue every morning and often the last to leave. After opening the arched wooden doors of the historic Bialystoker Synagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Stern would find his spot in the pews and meditate before the start of morning prayers. A welcoming figure…
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Why Danny Pearl’s parents are fighting to keep his killers in jail
Asra Nomani remembers the day in January 2002 when she stood in the driveway of her home in Karachi, Pakistan, waving goodbye to her friend and colleague Daniel Pearl as he headed out for an interview. “It was a beautiful, sunny day,” Nomani, a journalist and co-director of The Pearl Project recalled in a recent…
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Martin Wenick, 80, Leader Of Soviet Jewry Fight
A leader of the fight to free Soviet Jews who has later instrumental in helping them resettle in the United States, died on May 7 due to complications of COVID-19. He was 80. Wenick spent 27 years as State Department diplomat before taking over in 1989 as the head of the National Conference for Soviet…
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Rafael Kugielsky, 90, Helped Advance Orthodoxy In Argentina
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Rafael Kugielsky, a Buenos Aires dentist who was instrumental in advancing the interests of Orthodox Jews in Argentina, died of COVID-19 on April 25. He was 90. Kugielsky established the Argentina branch of the haredi Orthodox organization Agudath Israel in 1966. He was also the first Orthodox representative to serve in…
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