Until 2009, right-wing Portuguese politician Jose Ribeiro e Castro didn’t have much interest in the expulsion of his country’s Jewish community in the 16th century. That changed once Ribeiro e Castro opened a Facebook account. Online, the 60-year-old lawmaker and journalist connected to several Sephardic Jews, descendants of a once robust Jewish community numbering in…
Boca Raton’s Jewish community is reeling after Richard Andron emerged as the latest alleged abuser in a widening sex abuse scandal tied to Yeshiva University. Until now, only Rabbis George Finkelstein and Macy Gordon, both former staff members of Y.U.’s Manhattan high school for boys, have been named in a series of articles in the…
New York City mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn courted Modern Orthodox leaders, highlighting her support for city aid to private religious schools. Quinn drew applause with comments on key issues like school aid and special education in a speech to a group of communal and religious school leaders in the Manhattan offices of the Orthodox Union…
Hoping to revive a bill that would permit aid to synagogues damaged by Hurricane Sandy, two U.S. senators have introduced a new measure that seeks to alleviate concerns from FEMA and civil liberties groups over separation of church and state issues. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) put forward a new bill that limits…
Six more people have come forward with accusations against Yeshiva University, days after 19 former high school students filed a $380 million suit charging that Y.U. covered up decades of physical and sexual abuse. Mike Reck, an attorney representing the six, said his clients are disappointed they have been unable to reach a settlement with…
A single, anonymous letter was the focus of attention as dozens of board members met in New York from around the world at the annual meeting of the organization responsible for allocating billions of dollars in Holocaust restitution funds. The 2001 letter, which warned of a fraud that went unheeded and that turned out almost…
(JTA) — When a massive oak tree toppled over on a stage where five counselors were having breakfast at Camp Tawonga, killing one and severely injuring two others, news of the tragedy quickly rippled across the Bay Area Jewish community. Founded in the 1920s, the camp located near Yosemite National Park is a pillar of…
The leading Modern Orthodox rabbinical association selected Rabbi Leonard Matanky, a longtime insider, as its new president at a recent convention. Matanky, who leads an Orthodox synagogue and a Jewish day school in Chicago, will replace Rabbi Shmuel Goldin as president of the Rabbinical Council of America. Matanky previously served as vice-president under Goldin. “We…
A Jewish school teacher from Philadelphia is a face of a new landmark lawsuit that could prompt a Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing same-sex marriage rights nationwide. Helena Miller, a lesbian whose wife is not recognized as a parent of their baby daughter, is one of more than 20 plaintiffs in a landmark federal lawsuit filed…
Eric Rosenthal originally planned to become a mental health professional. But in 1992, he took a trip to Mexico City and visited a local psychiatric facility. There, a barbed wire fence bordered an area where he saw hundreds of naked patients — mostly disabled children — sitting, covered in their own urine and feces, occasionally…
Nineteen former students of a Manhattan high school run by Yeshiva University have filed a $380 million lawsuit against Y.U. accusing administrators and teachers of covering up decades of physical and sexual abuse. The lawsuit, filed July 8 in U.S. District Court in White Plains, N.Y., alleges a “massive cover-up of the sexual abuse of…
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