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Anne Heyman’s Son Gets Poignant Welcome at Rwanda School
A groundbreaking Rwandan school for genocide orphans has welcomed the son of founder Anne Heyman with open arms — just three weeks after the Jewish philanthropist was killed in a tragic horse-riding accident in Florida. Jonathan Merrin, 19, arrived at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village this week as part of a month-long service trip with other…
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The Global LGBT Pushback
The theory that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction sadly applies to the sphere of human rights. As the march for marriage equality in the United States quickens — 17 states and the District of Columbia now allow same-sex couples to wed and 10 others states offer civil unions and partnerships…
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Israel Envoy Defends Belarus Dictatorship
Israel’s foreign ministry disavowed statements by its ambassador in Minsk, who compared Palestinian terrorists to political prisoners in Belarus. The statement by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was published in Polish last week and concerned remarks that Ambassador Yosef Shagal made during an interview aired on Feb. 6 by the Russian RTVi television station, in…
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Romania Jewish Theater Struggles To Rebuild After Snowy Roof Collapse
(JTA) When secret police opened fire on protesters near her home, Maia Morgenstern headed for the Jewish State Theater. It was 1989 and Morgenstern, then 27, and a few of her friends took refuge in the theater as protesters outside clashed with forces loyal to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Hundreds died in two weeks of…
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Jewish Immigration Advocates Push Eric Cantor To Support Broad Reforms
The organized Jewish community is known for its impressive bipartisan clout when advocating issues relating to Israel. But when it comes to domestic affairs, the community suffers from a lopsided lack of leverage on the Republican side. Some Jewish activists believe that they may have found a pathway to the GOP side of the aisle….
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Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto Suspected of Bribing Police and Intimidating Witnesses
(Haaretz) — Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto is suspected of systematically collecting information about senior police officers, demanding that some of them be replaced, threatening an officer, offering bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and intimidating witnesses, according to a document prosecutors sent to Pinto and his wife, Rivka, a few weeks ago. Prosecutors are now…
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Boycott Israel Backer Judith Butler Pulls Out of Jewish Museum Appearance
The Jewish Museum in New York has scrapped a talk that included a planned appearance by Israel critic Judith Butler after Butler pulled out of the event amid pressure from supporters of the Jewish state. “I cancelled the event,” Butler told the Forward in an email. Butler was set to speak at an event about…
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WhatsApp Founder Jan Koum’s Jewish Rags-to-Riches Tale
WhatsApp grew up in Silicon Valley, but its founder’s Jewish background in Eastern Europe gave it its DNA. The messaging company bought by Facebook for $19 billion in a deal announced on Wednesday has become a global force, with 450 million customers who find it an easy way to send messages across borders and between…
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Tattoos Reign in Israel — Jewish Law or No
(Haaretz) — Hamutal Song would turn heads no matter where she lived. But walking the streets of Israel with two blue birds etched onto her chest and the words “you rock my world” in caps above them, she’s rarely ignored. As she puts it, decorated head to toe in colorful tattoos, “not a lot of…
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How Y.U. Won $680M Abuse Case on Same Issue Another School Lost
In a decision likely to affect the access child sex abuse victims in New York will have to civil remedies years after their alleged abuse, a federal appeals court will examine dueling decisions by judges in two recent high-profile child sex abuse lawsuits. Lawyer Kevin Mulhearn represented plaintiffs in both cases, which were filed long…
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Abe Foxman Looks Back at Changing — and Declining — Face of Anti-Semitism
(JTA) — When Abraham Foxman steps down next summer from his longtime post as national director of the Anti-Defamation League, he’ll be leaving his successor with a much brighter picture on anti-Semitism in America than when Foxman joined the organization in 1965. In an age when anti-Semitic incidents appear to be on the upswing in…
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