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Orthodox Jews Divide Over Questions Of Whether Yoga, Crystals, Reiki Are Kosher
An Orthodox community is in the midst of a philosophical crisis that’s pitting hard-line rationalists against New Age-leaning mystics — and the publication of a new book by a well-known rabbi has exposed and intensified the struggle. In his recently published “Alternative Medicine in Halakhah,” Lakewood, New Jersey rabbi Rephoel Szmerla gives Jewish legal justifications…
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In Donor Letter, JNF Whitewashes Repayment Of $700K Loans As ‘Voluntary’
The Jewish National Fund’s explanation of why its CEO is returning a $525,000 loan he took from the organization omits the key fact that the New York State Attorney General demanded he repay the money. Instead, in an August 2 email to a concerned donor, JNF claimed that its CEO and the CFO, who also…
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This Jewish Camp Is Teaching Teens With Special Needs How To Be Independent
Like many 20-year-olds, Jacob Rapport has a summer job. This year, he’s working at Trig’s Market in Eagle River, Wisconsin. He started off as a cleaner, but after a few weeks, he asked for and received a promotion to bagger. “I think bagging has more responsibilities,” he said. “There can be pros and negatives, but…
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Quietly Going Its Own Way, JNF Cuts Off Its Israeli Parent
Before the founding of the State of Israel, American Jews dropped their nickels and dimes into the blue charity boxes of Jewish National Fund to help Zionist settlers make a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Their coins bought the land and founded the settlements on which the modern state of Israel was built. A century later,…
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Why Is A Republican Lobbyist Hiring Actors To Re-enact Seth Rich’s Murder?
In an empty Washington bar on a steamy summer afternoon, a young actor tasked with playing the role of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich is leaning on the counter, downing one shot after the other. “Are you okay, son?,” the actor playing the bartender asks, refusing to pour him another round. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he…
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Meet Steve Adler, Austin’s Mellow Mayor — Who’s Getting Feisty Under Trump
Life is good for Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin. The Texas capital is famous for its music scene, SXSW festival, and “Keep Austin Weird” sensibility — Adler revels in all of that. But his job isn’t easy. Increasingly, being the mayor of Austin has come to mean high-noon-style showdowns with the state and federal…
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Wasserman Schultz Under Attack From Right After IT Aide’s Arrest
An arrest that would have likely only made for a brief mention in local crime news is now gaining national attention and stirring right-wing conspiracy theories. Imran Awan, who worked in the office of Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as a part-time information technology aide, has been charged with bank fraud after being arrested by…
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Why Is Sebastian Gorka Getting Free Pass On Checkered Past?
Controversial White House aide Sebastian Gorka appears poised for a more visible role promoting President Trump’s agenda — despite unanswered questions about his ties to far-right anti-Semitic and racist groups in Hungary. Once relegated to right-wing media outlets, Gorka has recently made prominent appearances on such prime-time mainstream cable news shows as “360 With Anderson Cooper,”…
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Breaking: JNF CEO To Pay Back $500K Loan Following Forward Report
The CEO of one of the American Jewish community’s most iconic charities is returning a $525,000 loan he received from the organization, following an exposé in the Forward. A spokesman for the Jewish National Fund told New York Jewish Life, a small Jewish newspaper, that the group’s CEO would pay back the loan by the…
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Can 23andMe Tell Us If Jews Are A Race — And Is That A Good Thing?
Phil Mazo, a comedian based in Jersey City, NJ, was reading through the to-do list on his phone when he decided it might be time to check off one item that had been on the list for some time: Buy a take-home genome testing kit from the company 23andMe. After finding a deal on a…
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The Brave Jewish Woman Who Helped 37 Souls Survive The Holocaust — In A Cave
When Nazi forces advanced towards the Ukrainian village of Korolówka in 1943, Etcia Goldberg was 36 years old, a widowed mother of three children. As the armies drew closer, Etcia took matters into her own hands, joining a group of 37 Jews to a small cave known as Priest’s Grotto. There, they hid underground, living…
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