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That Sukkot Ritual Of Waving Branches Around Has Pagan Roots
While long overshadowed in the pantheon of Jewish holidays, Sukkot is the big one in the Bible – garnering the most mentions in the sacred text and coinciding with major ritual sacrifices and the reading of the Torah. But does this holiest of Jewish festivals have pagan origins? According to historical research, two of the…
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Shadowy Blacklist Of Student Activists Wins Endorsement Of Mainstream Pro-Israel Group
For more than two years, a shadowy website called Canary Mission has posted political dossiers on students active in pro-Palestinian groups, saying it hopes to keep them from finding work after college. Now, a mainstream Jewish pro-Israel organized has endorsed Canary Mission — despite criticism that site uses “McCarthyite” tactics. In an annual report, the Israel…
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At Las Vegas Synagogue, A Promise That Love Will Prevail
Before saying the prayer for healing of the sick, Rabbi Malcolm Cohen asked his congregants at Temple Sinai in Las Vegas if anyone knows someone who was injured in Sunday night’s shooting. Five raised their hands and listed the names of their friends and relatives still hospitalized. Then, when it came time for the kaddish…
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Rabbis Console Victims With Song And Prayers — And Seek Answers After Las Vegas Massacre
Rabbi Levi Harlig journeyed to a Las Vegas hospital Monday on a mission of mercy for one of the hundreds of victims of Sunday night’s massacre on the city’s famed Strip. Harlig sat and sang Jewish songs with the husband and mother-in-law of Natalie Grumet, a Jewish California resident who was injured in the shooting…
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Michael Rosbash Is A Nobel Prizewinner From Straight Outta The Borscht Belt
With characteristic envelope-pushing humor, Michael Rosbash, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, couldn’t help dropping a joke into a press conference Monday morning about the life of a scientist. In the library of Brandeis University, where he has taught for over forty years, Rosbash told a packed crowd of colleagues, university…
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Hebrew Israelite Leader Warns Kendrick Lamar Against Public Embrace
In a rare interview, the charismatic leader of a prominent Hebrew Israelite group welcomed the support of spiritually-seeking celebrities like Kendrick Lamar. But he candidly warned the superstar against publicly linking himself too closely to the Israelite community — because of possible blowback from fans and the mainstream media. “It would be better for Kendrick…
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Sea Change In Washington Cracks Opens Door To FEMA Funding For Synagogues
Armed with a presidential tweet, a bill moving forward in Congress and a pending lawsuit, Jewish and Christian advocates believe they are on the verge of overturning a long-standing policy that has prohibited federal emergency funds from reaching houses of worship hit by natural disasters. The public face of this campaign is Christian. A short…
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These Orthodox Jews Are Openly Marching Against Trump — Despite Taboo
Donald Trump enjoyed majority support from Orthodox Jews during the election. But a growing number of observant Jews are stepping forward to decry the president — and they are going public with their opposition at this weekend’s nationwide protests against racism. A Facebook group called Torah Trumps Hate, formed days after the election, has mushroomed to…
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Kushner Portrayed By Breitbart As Hapless Svengali ‘Misleading’ Trump Into Political Blunders
President Trump may still be wondering how he backed the wrong horse in the Alabama GOP senate primary. But Breitbart News and Steve Bannon already knows who to blame. It’s all Jared Kushner’s fault. According to the right-wing platform, ran by ex-White House political supremo Bannon, Kushner misled the president and pushed him to actively…
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Are The Orthodox Facing A Schism Over Female Rabbis?
Seven months after one of Orthodox Judaism’s oldest and biggest institutions barred women clergy from its synagogues, the decision is threatening to create yet another split in a community already riven by the issue of female rabbis. Founded more than 100 years ago, the Orthodox Union is a coalition of synagogues and other organizations, most…
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Trump Facing Increased Pressure From Congress To Keep Iran Nuclear Deal
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ben Cardin, one of a handful of Senate Democrats who opposed the Iran nuclear deal, urged the Trump administration not to pull out of it — the latest indication of congressional resistance to killing the agreement. “If we violate a U.N. resolution, in the eyes of the international community, do we have…
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: היסטאָריקערין וויווי לאַקס באַשרײַבט געשיכטע פֿון לאָנדאָנער ייִדישער פּרעסעVIDEO: Historian Vivi Laks tells history of the London Yiddish Press
שבֿע צוקער פֿירט דעם שמועס מיט וויווי לאַקס און ביידע לייענען פֿאָר עטלעכע פֿעליעטאָנען פֿון יענע צײַטן.
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