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…
(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…
A federal judge created a “Catch-22” for victims of sexual abuse at Yeshiva University’s high school by refusing to consider the impact of the school’s alleged cover-up, former students charged in an appeal of the dismissal of a $680 million lawsuit. Kevin Mulhearn, a lawyer for 34 men who say they were abused at Yeshiva…
(Haaretz) — “You don’t belong here,” said the man trying to shut the heavy wooden door in my face. “Get out.” I was standing in a little-known, indoor women’s section at the Western Wall, one that can be approached only through the outdoor men’s section. The space is clearly designated – in stone and glass…
From SodaStream to Sochi, the prospect of boycotting everything from fizzy water to the Olympic Games is gaining new currency. It makes sense: In a consumer age, we seek consumerist responses to vexing questions. How to effect political change in another land? How to promote human rights from afar? What’s the moral thing to do?…
It takes less than 10 minutes, a passport and the help of a friendly librarian to hold in your hands one of thousands of religious texts at the heart of an international legal battle between Russia and America. That’s what I found when I traveled in January to Moscow, where I came face to face…
(JTA) The 40 leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations must have thought they had been mistaken for heads of states or soccer stars when they jetted into Madrid the other day. The visitors were treated like high-level diplomats, complete with round-the-clock police protection and motorcade escorts wherever they travelled. For…
The first utility-scale solar power field in East Africa will be built on land belonging to a Jewish-sponsored youth village in Rwanda. The nearly $24 million project was announced Monday by Yosef Abramowitz, the president of Gigawatt Global Cooperatief, which arranged for its financing. Construction has already started on the solar field on land belonging…
Con artists have taken note: New York’s ultra-Orthodox Jews make fairly easy targets. Just slap on a kippah, a dark suit and have a sob story at the ready. Approach the target, preferably on Friday afternoon, close to Shabbat. Tell your story about the car that was towed to the pound. The wallet with the…
There are two Jewish congregations in Charleston, W.Va., a city of 50,000 that 1,100 Jews call home. Both B’nai Jacob and Temple Israel are located in downtown Charleston on the Kanawha River, not far from its junction with the Elk River. They stand barely a 10-minute drive away from the chemical plant that caused a…
(JTA) — Stroll past the kosher section of most large supermarkets in America and you could be forgiven for thinking that Jewish diets consist mainly of jarred gefilte fish, unsalted matzahs and Tam-Tam crackers. Not so at the Winn-Dixie supermarket in this affluent South Florida suburb. There’s a kosher bakery with fresh pizza and dairy…
