The abrupt layoff of all editorial staffers at Philadelphia’s Jewish Exponent, the second-oldest Jewish newspaper in America, has highlighted the dire situation of local Jewish publications struggling to stay afloat. Fifteen journalists and production staffers were laid off on June 3 as part of a new experiment in the world of Jewish media: outsourcing editorial…
A rabbi who surfs the Internet for transsexual escorts stands trial for borrowing and stealing almost $500,000 from his congregation to pay off an extortionist. Another rabbi is sentenced to more than six years in jail for videotaping naked women in his synagogue’s ritual bath. A third rabbi is being told to leave his pulpit…
A 2010 State Department document provides the U.S. government’s only official definition of anti-Semitism. It is a detailed document that adds elements of anti-Israeli bias to the traditional definition of Jew hatred. This definition — developed to help the State Department monitor anti-Semitic trends in foreign countries — is now at the center of a…
GAZA CITY — The beach in Gaza City is a flat expanse, where the gray sand melds almost seamlessly into the water. I was sitting at Al-Deira Hotel’s beachside terrace in late May, watching the Mediterranean waves roll in, when there was a sharp bang. I had never heard such a noise in my life, and…
Al Qosh — Back when they still lived in Iraq, Kurdish Jews had a famous saying about the ancient synagogue believed to house the tomb of a biblical prophet in this beleaguered town on the high northern plateau of Nineveh province. On Shavuot they said, “He who has not made the pilgrimage to Nahum’s tomb has…
Rabbi Marc Schneier, the spiritual leader of a tony congregation in the Hamptons, has been expelled from the Rabbinical Council of America, the Forward has learned. The five times married Schneier was quietly expelled from the Orthodox rabbinical group earlier this year in relation to allegations, in 2010, that he had an extramarital affair with…
UPDATE: With the local crowd behind him at the Barclays Center, Fleischer scored a quick knockout Saturday night against Kareem Milner in his second professional fight.. Fleischer’s fast hands and aggressive style pushed Millner to the ropes right away. After barely a minute, with Milner seemingly about to keel over, the referee stepped. Fleischer’s record…
(JTA) — Jay and Mikelle sat next to each other on the bus as it ascended the road to Jerusalem. Later the same day they accompanied each other on an emotional trip to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum. The next day they planned to trek up to the desert fortress at Masada and swim together…
The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College has released what may be the quirkiest annual report in the mundane history of Jewish annual reports. Instead of the standard-issue PDF, chock full of corny staged photos and tritely colored financial bar graphs, the RRC built its 2015 report into an interactive website that captures the democratic essence of the…
Through the power of their funding, Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson and several associates are seeking to transform the fight on campus against groups advocating boycott and sanctions against Israel — and, in the process, shift the center of gravity of those engaged in this battle significantly to the right. The effort, which is being…
A controversial bill to appoint a monitor with veto power over the decisions of an Orthodox-dominated public school board in New York’s Rockland County won approval June 3 from the state Assembly’s education committee. The bill, which comes after years of advocacy by residents critical of the East Ramapo Central School District’s board, has drawn…
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