Jews have a long history of U.S military service. Sephardic plantation-owner Francis Salvador became the first Jew to die in the American Revolutionary War when he fell fighting the Loyalists in South Carolina in 1776. Abraham Lincoln appointed Jacob Frankel as the first Jewish chaplain during the Civil War, to serve the growing number of…
Standing on the bimah and donning a white kippah on his head, Barack Obama passed his first synagogue appearance as president with flying colors. Obama chose a complex and subtle message for his Jewish American Heritage Month address at Adas Israel congregation, Washington’s prime Conservative synagogue, where many of the city’s Jewish government official, high…
They came to the synagogue with empty bellies — and eclectic taste buds. For the hungry and adventurous, the program announced. On the menu: faux-butter poached brains with garbanzo beans; veal intestines, duck liver and kidneys, and goat testicles; slow-cooked ox tail in sherry wine mousseline; Mexican chipotle chocolate-covered locusts. All of this is perfectly…
A quick look at the list of top political donors for 2014 reveals a striking fact: At least a third of the most generous 50 mega-givers were Jewish. In fact, contributions from Jewish billionaires and multi-millionaires dominated the top 10 spots on the list. Striking, yet unsurprising. Political activists have known for years that members…
This article is excerpted and adapted from “Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money” by Nathaniel Popper. Charlie Shrem sits in prison in central Pennsylvania, the cautionary face of the futuristic movement that developed around the virtual currency Bitcoin. This can seem a rather unlikely position…
The Jewish Theological Seminary plans to sell a 1455 edition of the Book of Esther from a rare Gutenberg Bible at auction on June 19, the latest sign that the school is grappling with a long-running financial crisis. The eight Latin pages are expected to fetch between $500,000 and $700,000 at auction, said Richard Austin,…
Canada’s looming election is a contest about many things on the country’s agenda, but for the Canadian Jewish community, one aspect is leaping into sharp relief. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fiercest supporter among world leaders, Stephen Harper, is facing off against Justin Trudeau, a liberal (and large-L Liberal) with a renowned family name and…
The head of the Jewish community’s grassroots umbrella organization on policy issues is stepping down after 10 years. Rabbi Steve Gutow, president and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, announced his resignation effective December 31. JCPA’s top lay leader Susan Turnbull sent an email on Thursday to board members informing them of Gutow’s…
The Amtrak train that hurtled off the tracks in Philadelphia left a trail of broken bodies and dreams. Among the dead are at least two Jews, both with inspiring stories. Justin Zemser, 20, was a midshipman at the Naval Academy heading back to his home in Queens, New York. Rachel Jacobs was a 39-year-old mom…
Rachel Jacobs, a CEO and Jewish community activist, was reportedly killed in the deadly crash of an Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia, family and friends said. Jacobs’s family sent a text message to friends saying that she died in the tragedy, the New York Times reported. “This is an unthinkable tragedy,” the Jacobs family…
The overseas aid and development group American Jewish World Service plans to lay off its community organizing staff two years after announcing a new focus on political advocacy to support its mission. Stuart Schear, the group’s vice president for communications, said that while AJWS was able to raise millions of dollars targeted for overseas aid,…
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