1) 32,075 Jews live in North Carolina. 2) Joachim Ganz, a Czech metallurgist, arrived in North Carolina in 1585, making him not only the first Jewish settler in the state but in any British colony. 3) Prussian-born merchant Samuel Wittkowski ran a store in Charlotte and was honored for his loyalty to North Carolina governor…
The Palestinian government on Saturday condemned as “terrorism” the killings of three young Palestinian-Americans in North Carolina and called on U.S. authorities to include its investigators in the probe. Police have charged a neighbor with Tuesday’s shooting in the town of Chapel Hill of Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister…
A neighbor was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of three Muslims near the University of North Carolina. The victims in the Tuesday night shooting included a newlywed couple — UNC dental student Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21. Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, a 19-year-old undergraduate at North Carolina…
The Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis joined a lawsuit against North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriages. The lawsuit, which was filed April 28 by the United Church of Christ and several same-sex couples, alleges that North Carolina’s Amendment One and other state laws make it illegal for clergy to officiate at a same-sex…
A Jewish high school cafeteria in North Carolina became the first pre-collegiate institution to obtain an Orthodox social justice organization’s seal certifying its adherence to fair-labor practices. The American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro, which touts itself as the only international Jewish college prep boarding school, recently received Uri L’Tzedek’s Tav HaYosher, an “ethical” seal for…
A collective shudder ran through rows of worshipers at Congregation Beth Israel in Asheville, N.C., during the recent Kol Nidre service. Congregants watched in horror as two Torahs toppled out of the ark and hit the bimah with a loud clattering of silver ornaments. Another Torah was caught as it fell. Within moments, those seated…
A rabbi in North Carolina is letting people know — in a big way — about the biblical injunction to welcome the stranger. Rabbi Eric Solomon of Beth Meyer Synagogue in Raleigh is a member of a Uniting N.C., an interfaith coalition that has put up billboards in support of immigrants. “Once they’re here, the…
Durham, N.C. is not an easy place to be a non-conformist. It is the home of Duke University, notorious for its male lacrosse team’s behaving badly and its “Cameron Crazies,” obsessed basketball fans. Even in January 2011, when the Durham public schools need to make up a snow day, school is scheduled for Saturday, Jewish…
