For Nicki Salfer, the most nerve-wracking part of the 22-hour drive to escape Hurricane Irma was hoping she wouldn’t run out of gas. Piloting a convoy of three vans filled with students from the Miami school her husband runs, Salfer had to stop four times as they raced to beat gridlocked traffic — and the…
(JTA) GIVAT YOAV, Golan Heights (JTA) – Shimon Keinan has a business to run. He doesn’t have time to teach you how to blow the shofar. But if you come all the way to his Kol Shofar factory here, Keinan is going to make sure you walk away with the horn that’s right for you….
The Orthodox Union will not make a decision until at least mid-October on what to do about member congregations that continue to flout its new rules banning female clergy, the group’s executive vice president told the Forward. The Forward reported Thursday that advocates were worried that the group would take up the issue at its…
Half a year after the Orthodox Union banned women from serving as clergy at members’ synagogues, at least four of its congregations are continuing to flout the rule. Now, advocates worry that the O.U.’s board could vote to expel those synagogues at its meeting next Wednesday, the first gathering of the board since it passed…
(JTA) — Jewish relief efforts both large and small continue in flood-ravaged Houston. A dozen students from Yeshiva University in New York spent the Labor Day holiday weekend in the Texas city helping families clear out their flood-damaged homes and salvage any belongings. The students, who stayed with families whose homes were not damaged by…
With South Florida in Hurricane Irma’s crosshairs, many in Miami’s Jewish community are staying put for what is shaping up to be a very stormy — and possibly dangerous — Shabbat. Even as Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned than Irma, a Category 5 storm, may be “bigger, faster and stronger” than Hurricane Andrew, the 1992…
Two prominent public relations operatives are calling for the firing of the newly installed head of Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History over his links to left-wing advocacy groups that are critical of Israel and the occupation. The operatives, Ronn Torossian and Hank Sheinkopf, published a column Tuesday condemning David Myers, the academic tapped in recent…
(JTA) — At 15, Elias Rosenfeld became a “Dreamer.” At the time, the Venezuela native was attending Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School in Miami, where he had lived since he was 6 years old, when his Jewish family moved to South Florida from Caracas. His mother was a media executive and they traveled…
When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, it tore part of the roof off Bet Shira Congregation in Miami, leaving the synagogue flooded for days. It took two weeks before electricity was restored, and two months until activity in the Conservative congregation could be resumed. Andrew was a Category 5 hurricane, just like Hurricane Irma,…
Last year, a website known for being pro-Israel referred to the political commentator Bill Kristol as a “renegade Jew.” The website, Breitbart News, was co-founded by a Jewish lawyer, has an office in Jerusalem and calls itself “unapologetically” pro-Israel. Across Western Europe, this phenomenon of being both pro-Israel and anti-Semitic has also appeared among political…
Supporting Donald Trump in the Jewish community can come at a steep price, admits Elise Freedman. During the presidential campaign ahead of last November’s election, the marketing professional from Charleston, South Carolina, campaigned enthusiastically for Trump, hanging signs on doorknobs in her city and posting pro-Trump memes on her Facebook page. After Trump stunned the…
