It’s a new, if still debatable, mystery of modern science: Why would kosher chickens harbor much higher levels of potentially dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria than nonkosher chickens? The authors of a recent study that found this are just as stumped as anyone. “Nobody expected it would be any higher than conventional chicken,” said lead author Jack…
(JTA) — Marla Topp of Temple Judea Mizpah in Skokie, Ill., doesn’t need survey data to tell her that Reform Judaism is in decline and Orthodox Judaism is growing. She has to look no further than her own synagogue. A couple of months ago, the temple began renting out unused classroom space to an Orthodox…
It was a landmark moment in the long-running Yeshiva University sexual abuse case. For the first time, former Y.U. high school students who say they were abused confronted lawyers for Y.U. in court as their attorney argued against a motion to dismiss their case. Flanked by family members, about a dozen of the former students…
Pinny Dembitzer bounced his SUV past the “For Sale” signs lining Sea Gate’s Atlantic Avenue, slamming his way through potholes in this gated community on the western tip of Coney Island. Dembitzer apologized for the rough ride. His car, like most cars in the neighborhood, replaced one that was destroyed in October 2012, when Hurricane…
A rabbi and a priest walk into an independence day celebration…. That, literally, is how one the most high-profile interfaith friendships in the world today started. More specifically, the bond that Rabbi Abraham Skorka of Argentina cemented with the man who would become Pope Francis began as so many male friendships do: over sports. It…
Sandy Anniversary West End Temple from Viola Gad on Vimeo. A large, empty space looms behind the makeshift wooden stage at the West End Temple in the Rockaways section of Queens, N.Y. A year after Sandy struck, there is still no heat. Electrical cables protrude from the raw unfinished walls and a plastic sheet covers…
Rabbi Asher Lopatin is feeling a little “roughed up.” It’s October 17, less than a fortnight since Lopatin’s official installation as president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a liberal Orthodox rabbinical school in the Bronx, and his attempts to reach out to New York’s Orthodox community are not going well. Sitting in a cramped office at…
On a warm Saturday in early October, Emily Axelrod subtly smiled as she surveyed the calm ocean off Brighton Beach, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in south Brooklyn. “Now it’s gorgeous,” the 66-year-old Ukrainian immigrant said as she strolled down Riegelmann Boardwalk. But life was dramatically different a year ago, when Hurricane Sandy hit. The Oct….
After actress Angelina Jolie announced her decision to have a double mastectomy back in May, it didn’t take long for synagogues and Shabbat tables in the Jewish community to buzz with a new conversation. Her choice to have her breasts surgically removed touched a raw nerve within the community: while one in every 800 individuals…
1913 •100 years ago Verdict Awaited in Pimping Trial After days of deliberation, the jury in the trial of Avrom Belkin was still unable to come to a decision. On trial for forcing a young woman into prostitution, Minsk-born Belkin claimed he was innocent. Annie Jacobs, the girl in question, testified against him and described…
For the past three years, Brandon Stanton, 29, has spent several hours every day roaming through New York City and taking pictures — of strangers. Stanton posts them on his Facebook page, which currently boasts well over a million followers. He often adds witty captions which stem from conversations with the people he photographs. The…
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