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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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Camp Ramah in Wisconsin: need to raise $2M to ‘stay solvent’
One of the most prominent Jewish summer camps in North America is warning area rabbis that the camp faces an “existential threat” and might not stay solvent if they don’t receive a massive influx of donations. Without donations of hard cash, said Jacob Cytryn, executive director of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, the camp would have…
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NY Attorney General opens probe into NYPD COVID enforcement
New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday that she is looking into reports of unequal enforcement by the New York Police Department of social-distancing requirements due to coronavirus. In a May 8 letter to the police commissioner, James requested department policies and directives for enforcing the social-distancing rules, as well as the…
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Local Jewish community speaks out against Sarajevo Catholic Church’s nod to Nazi allies
Catholic leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina are planning to say what many observers see as a mass for the perpetrators of World War II atrocities against Jews, a decision that has outraged the Sarajevo Jewish community. The Bishops Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, which oversees the Catholic faithful in the…
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High Holidays 2020: Rabbis start to think outside the synagogue
About 2,000 years ago, Judaism swapped animal sacrifice for prayer. This fall, it will face another challenge that, while not quite on the order of the destruction of the Second Temple, is still historic: How to conduct the faith’s holiest — and best-attended — services while maintaining enough physical distance between congregants to prevent the…
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Crunching the numbers: What the ADL’s annual anti-Semitism audit means for you
The Anti-Defamation League released its annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents on Tuesday. The watchdog group documented 2,107 anti-Semitic incidents to have taken place in 2019 – a 12% increase from the previous year and the highest number on record since the organization began tracking such incidents in 1979. Here are some of the key takeaways:…
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A Jewish holiday triggers more social distancing violations in Brooklyn
Police broke up a gathering of about 100 Orthodox Jews in Borough Park celebrating a minor Jewish festival Monday night, according to an eyewitness and the New York Police Department. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of alienating his neighbors, said he heard loud music outside and walked down the…
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Do Jewish genetic diseases increase the risk of COVID-19?
When 26 year-old Yehuda Blonder contracted COVID-19 at a Purim party, he knew it would be bad, he just didn’t know how bad. Blonder has familial dysautonomia (FD), a rare genetic disease with an increased incidence among Jews of Ashkenazi descent. It affects involuntary motion, leading to problems with breath control, blood pressure and the…
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Abraham Palatnik, 92, Inventor Of Kinechromatic Art
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Abraham Palatnik, a famed Brazilian Jewish artist who explored the role of movement in art, died May 9 of COVID-19 in Rio. He was 92. Palatnik was one the pioneers of kinetic art, a branch of fine arts that explores the visual effects of physical movements and optical illusions. His…
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Deborah Nagler, 66, Pioneered Use Of Technology In Jewish Education
NEW YORK (JTA) — Deborah Kantor Nagler’s life as a Jewish educator began when she was just a teenager. At 19, she took a group of 14- and 15-year old students from her synagogue in St. Louis, to Israel for the summer. She would go on to earn two master’s degrees in education — one…
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