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For the first time, there are literally no synagogues legally open in America
Updated April 28 When the coronavirus starts to recede, Jewish life across the United States will look a lot like it already does in Fargo. Only 150 Jews live in the biggest city in North Dakota, but it’s one of the few places in the country where the governor hasn’t ordered people to stay home,…
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Ted Ruskin, 76, Avid Student Of Denver Jewish History
(JTA) — DENVER (Intermountain Jewish News via JTA) — Theodore “Ted” Paul Ruskin, whose activism mirrored the evolving face of Jewish Denver, died of COVID-19 on April 7, 2020, at the Medical Center of Aurora. He was 76. Rabbi Avraham Mintz officiated at an April 12 graveside service at Mt. Nebo Cemetery. Feldman Mortuary made…
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For domestic violence advocates, calls are down, but need is going up
In the weeks after Passover, the phones are usually ringing at Jewish organizations supporting domestic violence victims. For observant Jews, the eight-day festival entails a significant financial burden, an increase in household and childcare responsibilities, and long periods of time spent in the home — all factors that can exacerbate or catalyze domestic abuse. This…
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Alex Klein, 71, Kosher Caterer Whose Prayers Stormed The Heavens
(JTA) — Yom Kippur had just ended and as the members of his synagogue prepared to go home to eat after a long day of fasting, Alex Klein walked up to the Holy Ark and, placed his hand on it, and began speaking directly to God. He stood that way for the better part of…
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Orthodox Jews are donating plasma by the thousands to fight COVID-19
Read this article in Yiddish Well before the rest of the world was talking about blood plasma and its use in fighting coronavirus, Dr. Shmuel Shoham knew all about it — and where he could probably get a lot of it. By early March, Shoham, an expert on infectious diseases in transplant patients at Johns…
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Benjamin Levin, 93, Last Surviving Member Of The Legendary Avengers Partisan Group
(JTA) — Benjamin Levin spent much of his early life fighting. At just 14, he joined a militant group fighting the Nazis in his native Lithuania. After the war, he worked to smuggle Jewish refugees to pre-state Israel. And in 1948, he arrived on the shores of the newly established Jewish state aboard the Altalena,…
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Michael Sorkin, 71, Urban Planner Who Proposed Design For A Palestinian Capital In Jerusalem
(JTA) — Michael Sorkin never thought small. In 2001, the Washington, D.C.-born architect offered a comprehensive blueprint for turning East Jerusalem into the capital of a Palestinian state. He followed up that proposal a year later with a book, “The Next Jerusalem: Sharing the Divided City,” an examination on how urban planning could facilitate peace…
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Pro-Trump Jewish Group Rages After HIAS Chair Tapped for Top U.S. Jewish Role
In another era, the nomination of Dianne Lob as incoming chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations would have likely gone smoothly and unopposed, viewed as a standard changing of the guard in the world of Jewish organizations. But as the pitched battle over the Trump administration’s immigration policies rages, Lob…
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Covid-19 endangers Madrid’s Jewish life
At 8 p.m. on April 9, Igor García, a young Venezuelan violinist, stepped on to his balcony in Madrid and played “Hatikvah,” the Israeli national anthem. The beautiful rendition received an ovation from his neighbors, and a video of the performance went viral. Garcia, who is not Jewish, said he always felt a strong connection…
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Fred Pressner, 73, Led Venezuelan Jews During The Chavez Era
(JTA) — Fred Pressner, a former president of the Venezuelan Jewish community, died April 18 of COVID-19. He was 73. Born in Romania to survivors of the Holocaust, Pressner emigrated to Venezuela in 1960. He would go on to assume the presidency of the Confederation of Israelite Associations of Venezuela, the country’s umbrella of Jewish…
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Mark Steiner, 77, Celebrated Philosopher Of Mathematics
JERUSALEM (JTA) — While Mark Steiner may have been one of the most important philosophers of mathematics of the past half century, it was his warmth, humor and love of Judaism that most endeared him to his colleagues. The Hebrew University professor died of COVID-19 on April 6. He was 77. Born in the Bronx…
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