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Is Handel’s ‘Messiah’ an Anti-Semitic Screed?
I recall walking through the lobby of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel around 1978, when TVs were blasting the Israeli broadcast premiere of Handel’s “Messiah.” Sung in Hebrew and played by the Israel Philharmonic, this “Messiah” supposedly deleted every mention of Jesus. With or without Jesus, music-loving Jews tend to enjoy “Messiah,” which makes Michael Marissen’s…
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Ron Pundak, Man Behind Oslo, Dies at 59
Ron Pundak, an Israeli historian who helped engineer the Oslo Accords, has died. Pundak, who died Friday of cancer at the age of 59, was an expert on Jordanian and Palestinian history who, through his contacts, began talks with Palestinian leaders in 1992 with the permission of Yossi Beilin, who was deputy foreign minister at…
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Circumcision Studies Give Backing To Supporters of Rite
(JTA) — In the circumcision wars, circumcision has been winning some big battles. A new survey of medical data going back more than two decades has found that the health benefits of circumcision far outweigh the risks. The publication of the article on April 4 by the medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings is the latest…
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Onetime Sephardic Towns See Euro Signs in Revival of Lost Jewish Heritage
(JTA) — In the center of the medieval Portuguese town of Medelim, two newlyweds in Sephardic wedding clothes are serenaded by a musical ensemble performing Ladino music. Nearby, several members of the knights Templar march in white capes and chain mail while a harlequin on stilts prances around carrying a pole topped with a Star…
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TSA Plans Extra Care for Passover — Warns Matzo Is Fragile
The Transportation Security Administration said its employees are aware of Jewish needs during Passover and will accommodate requests for delicate handling of religious items. “Our workforce is aware of the unique items carried by individuals and religious practices individuals may engage in while traveling,” said a statement posted April 2. “This may include reading of…
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Polish Museum Director Stresses 1,000-Year Jewish History
Dariusz Stola, the newly appointed director of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, never seems to tire of discussing the groundbreaking institution’s most important mission. The bespectacled history professor, who is not Jewish, says the museum aims to show off the richness of Polish Jewry’s 1,000-year history, not its devastation in the Holocaust….
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Swastika Vandals Deface Odessa Holocaust Monument
Nazi symbols were drawn on a Holocaust monument in Odessa, Ukraine. The symbols — swastikas and the SS Wolfsangel sign — were painted Tuesday on the memorial site, police sources from the southern Ukrainian city told the Unian news agency. There are no suspects. Swastikas were also painted on a wall surrounding a Jewish cemetery…
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Teetering on the Edge of the Mikveh
The Seesaw is a new kind of advice column in which a a broad range of columnists will address the real life issues faced by interfaith couples and families. Join the discussion by commenting on this post, sharing it on Facebook or following the Forward on Twitter. And keep the questions coming. You can email…
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Observant Women Make Tzitzit — and Stir Controversy
Since biblical times, male authorities have been debating the issue of whether women should sport tzitzit. Now, thanks to a freshman from Princeton University, a group of young women are — quite literally — taking this fiddly law into their own hands. Maya Rosen, 19, has been wearing tzitzit for three years, making her own…
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‘Fourth Matzo’ for Passover Symbolizes Freedom Struggle of African Immigrants
From whence my nostalgia for the fourth matzo? A relic of the 1980s, the fourth matzo was added to the already crowded Seder plate as an expression of solidarity with oppressed Jews in the Soviet Union. In most homes, when the ’80s ended and Glasnost took off, the fourth matzo went the way of Betamax,…
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Telling Story of Holocaust’s Horrors Through Ultra-Orthodox Eyes
Is it permissible to show images of Jewish women with their heads shaved but without a head covering as they walk towards Nazi gas chambers? This is the type of question faced by organizers of the first Holocaust museum to be aimed specifically at Orthodox Jews. Elly Kleinman, the Orthodox businessman behind the project, sought…
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