Scandinavia is the darling of liberals the world over. Yet for Jews living in there, life isn’t all free health care and minimalist design. In Iceland, the tiny Jewish population is now facing the most serious legal challenge to male circumcision in Europe. A new bill that criminalizes circumcision of minors and penalizes parents and…
The University of Pennsylvania law school took disciplinary action this week against a professor who made remarks asserting black students are rarely successful, according to the Washington Post. Tenured professor Amy Wax, who is Jewish, faced sharp criticism in recent days after video surfaced of an interview she gave in September 2017 on the YouTube…
Since the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency, the Jewish refugee aid organization HIAS has emerged as a major voice opposing the administration’s crackdown on immigrants. Now, a last-minute funding cut from the umbrella group for Jewish federations nationwide could mean a reduction in those efforts, and in the efforts of eight other leading Jewish…
A new British organization has created an incredible tool that should fascinate anyone remotely interested in European Jewish culture: an interactive map of all of the continent’s 3,318 synagogues. The map catalogues the European synagogue buildings that are still standing — but less than a quarter of those are not actually used as synagogues today….
Many Ashkenazi Jews know only a few basic geographical facts about their ancestors: They came from Poland, but when it was Russia. Their great-grandparents hailed from Bulgaria — or was it Romania? A number of Jews have turned to direct-to-consumer ancestry services like 23andMe and Ancestry.com for better answers, but they have gotten nowhere. This…
With a precise blend of topical matters and entertainment, the Huffington Post has become the most popular news website in the United States. After selling it for hundreds of millions of dollars and stepping down from running it, its founder Arianna Huffington has embarked on a new initiative aimed at reducing our dependence on technology….
Two of America’s largest Jewish organizations are raising concerns about Malcolm Hoenlein’s leadership of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in the wake of a Forward report about his undisclosed role on the board of an Israeli gas firm. Hoenlein is the powerful leader of the Presidents Conference, a coalition of American…
The stunning news of Democrat Conor Lamb’s apparent victory in a closely watched special election for a congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania sent Jewish Democrats into an unlikely spree of excitement. Lamb’s razor-thin 600-vote win came in a district with relatively few Jewish voters and where Jewish concerns played little or no role. Still, the…
NEW YORK (JTA) — Students at Jewish day schools offered prayers, lit candles and demanded change as part of a nationwide student walkout calling for gun reform in the wake of last month’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Students around the country walked out of class for 17 minutes at 10 a.m. Wednesday to pressure Congress…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Trump has picked television commentator and economic analyst Larry Kudlow to replace Gary Cohn as the top White House economic adviser, the Washington Post and CNBC reported on Wednesday. CNBC said the announcement of Trump’s decision could come as soon as Thursday. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters that Trump…
What do you do when you want to bring the housekeeper to your home in Florida for Passover, but she can’t fly because she is undocumented? This is the conundrum that Israel, a private taxi driver, is here to help you solve. But it will cost you a chunk of change — and it comes…
