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With Greece in Crisis, Jews Struggle To Stay Afloat
ATHENS, Greece (JTA) — For 55 needy Jewish families, a cash welfare payment is the only thing that gets them through the month. But when they came to the Athens Jewish Community last week for their July assistance, they were given only a portion of the payment in cash — the rest was in supermarket…
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After Charleston, Houses of Worship Debate Saving Souls vs. Saving Lives
On a recent Sunday morning, a white Jewish guy wearing a backpack entered the First African Methodist Episcopal Church: Bethel in Harlem, without a problem. A black usher wearing white gloves greeted him warmly at the door and gave him a service pamphlet. The young man found a seat on a plush green bench and,…
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Why Is This Fourth of July Different From All The Others?
(JTA) — On this holiday weekend, due to a confluence of special days — Independence Day, the 17th of Tammuz and Shabbat — American Jews will have the opportunity to both celebrate our religious freedom and retrace what we did when it was threatened. The 17th of Tammuz, a little-known fast day, commemorates the breach…
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Did Jewish Groups Push Too Hard on N.Y. Education Tax Credit?
In Albany, New York, last spring, in a rare show of unity, the heads of New York’s leading Orthodox umbrella groups came together with the head of New York City’s Jewish federation to push for the same piece of legislation: a massive tax credit for those people making donations to private school scholarship funds. They…
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A Nice Jewish Guy Built A Booming Fireworks Business. Then the Tsarnaev Brothers Walked In.
The fireworks industry in America is dominated almost entirely by big-name, old-time Italian families whose grandfathers and great-grandfathers mastered the craft in Italy and brought that knowledge to the United States. There are the Zambellis of New Castle, Pennsylvania; the Rozzis of Cincinnati, and the Cartolanos of Chicago. The Grucci family, based in New York…
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Claims Conference Ombudsman Says He Was Dumped Over Critical Report
Shmuel Hollander never asked for the assignment. But when the organization that allocates Holocaust restitution payments told him to investigate reports that its senior officials had failed to pursue a tip-off about fraudsters stealing millions meant for needy survivors, Hollander stepped up to the task. Now, Hollander, a former top Israeli government civil servant, is…
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Why Do Jewish Camps Erase the Green Line on Israel Maps?
At a teen dialogue program for Palestinians, Israelis and Americans in Evanston, Illinois, some years ago, a small, commonplace, clip-out map of Israel undermined a concerted grassroots peace-building effort. The map portrayed a barebones Israel, with borders stretching laterally from the Mediterranean to Jordan. Distributed to the kids within a larger information packet, it looked…
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U.N. Report Shoots Down Israel’s Exoneration of Troops in Gaza Beach Killings
One of the little-noticed findings of the United Nations commission on possible Gaza war crimes is the panel’s strong criticism of Israel’s move to close the books on its military’s killing of four Palestinian boys on a Gaza City beach. The Independent Commission of Inquiry’s comments on the episode — one of the most widely…
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Why We Can Walk Without Fear in Prague
He’s the most visible Jew in Prague. And yet, Rabbi Manis Barash, a bearded, black-hatted Hasid who’s been the Chabad rabbi here for 20 years, has never experienced an anti-Semitic incident. By contrast, his Chabad colleague, Rabbi Shneur Kesselman, the most visible Jew in Malmo, Sweden, has been called the most persecuted Jew in Europe….
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Jewish Groups (Mostly) Celebrate SCOTUS Gay Marriage Decision
(JTA) — How often do you get the opportunity to pack “109 years,” #LoveWins and the rainbow colors into 140 characters? That’s how the American Jewish Committee celebrated the Supreme Court ruling Friday extending marriage rights to gays throughout the United States. “For 109 years AJC has stood for liberty and human rights,” its tweet said….
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$20M Charity Embezzlement Case Shows Power of Rabbinic Courts
In late December 2013, a prominent Brooklyn rabbi made an eye-popping ruling in his rabbinic court: The former chief financial officer of an Orthodox charity called Aish Hatorah New York owed the charity $20 million that he had allegedly stolen. That startling sum amounted to roughly three times the charity’s annual budget, or more than…
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