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Community Passover is the Jewish people’s real independence day
Standing on a mountaintop three days north of Eilat, I turned around for the first time. I looked back along the route I’d hiked, with its brown and gold hills and valleys, the shimmer of the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea in the distance. I was amazed at how far I’d come —…
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Israel News Israeli Haredim, blamed for COVID outbreaks, could see their communities forever changed
After a spike of coronavirus infections in Haredi Orthodox Jewish areas, Israel is now experiencing a flareup of a more familiar ailment in the socially fractured country: religious tension. “It’s like a barrel of oil,” said Kimmy Caplan, a professor of Jewish history at Bar-Ilan University, of the strain between Orthodox and secular Israelis in…
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Fast Forward Netanyahu accused of breaking his own quarantine rules by having son at Passover Seder
Israel’s prime minister and president were criticized on social media Thursday for having Passover Seders with children who live outside their home – despite strict quarantine measures that banned such gatherings. The Israeli government ordered Jewish citizens to stay in their homes with no exceptions from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning, in order to stop…
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Fast Forward Israel’s health minister tests positive for coronavirus
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Health Minister Yaakov Litzman has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. The announcement that Litzman and his wife tested positive for the deadly virus came late Wednesday night. Litzman, 71, has mild symptoms, according to reports. He is continuing to work from home, his office told Israeli media. The entire Health Ministry…
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Fast Forward Western Wall stones sanitized after notes removed
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Western Wall stones were cleaned and sanitized ahead of Passover. Every year, the prayer notes tucked between the stones in the wall are removed at Passover and before the High Holidays, and buried with other sacred papers according to Jewish law in the cemetery on the Mount of Olives. This year,…
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Israel News Lovers of street protest, Israelis take their anger to computer screens, cars, balconies
Israelis sheltering at home this week against the coronavirus were jostled by several minutes of loud clanging coming from balconies in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. Demonstrators were crashing pots and pans. In typical times, pro-democracy activists would have stormed Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square. But with Israel’s strict restrictions on gathering in the time of…
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Fast Forward Is a unity government nearing in Israel?
JERUSALEM (JTA) — As his Blue and White party was on the verge of breaking up, its leader, Benny Gantz, was elected speaker of the Israeli Knesset on Thursday evening. The split in his party is over a debate about joining a unity government led at first by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. What does it…
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Fast Forward Israel Is Going Through A Constitutional Crisis
(JTA) — Besides the coronavirus epidemic, Israel has another crisis on its hands. It’s inside the government and only tangentially related to COVID-19. Here’s the short version: After Israel’s latest election earlier this month — its third in a year — Benny Gantz and his center-left coalition seem closer than ever to garnering enough support…
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News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
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Fast Forward A federal agency survey reportedly asks Barnard employees if they’re Jewish
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Opinion A Palestinian leader just gave Trump an unprecedented opening to pursue peace
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Fast Forward NIH bans grants for schools that boycott Israeli companies
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Fast Forward An elite Jewish society at Yale fractures over its director’s embrace of Itamar Ben-Gvir
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