1. Approximately 59,000 Jews live in Missouri. 2. Mark Twain’s relationship with Jews in Missouri was complicated. The Levys were the only Jewish family in his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. As a kid, Twain joined other kids in his community in hazing the Levy kids. Only later in life did he become something of a…
Some nicknames are not meant to show up in an obituary. After John McGee, of Wildwood, New Jersey, passed away on October 5, his unfortunate nickname — “Jewboy” — showed up in his obituaries in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. (Wildwood is part of Cape May County on the Southern tip of…
A former house guest was charged in the fatal stabbing of Ronald Fischman, an ordained cantor, in Fischman’s Philadelphia home. Jonathan Williams, 33, was arrested Thursday — two days after the stabbing — and charged with murder, burglary and other offenses, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Williams had been a house guest at Fischman’s northwest Philadelphia…
A janitorial worker for Philadelphia’s mass transit system is suing the agency for firing him after he refused to work on Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat. Romel McAlpin, who belongs to the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, which preserves some Jewish holidays, said he informed the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, of his…
An independent Jewish organization at the University of Pennsylvania has stopped offering students a stipend to participate in its Maimonides program, after parents objected to the practice. Since 2004, Meor has offered a $400 stipend for students to participate in its Maimonides Leaders Fellowship program. This year, Meor will no longer offer the stipend after…
A kosher butcher shop in Philadelphia was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti. Crude swastikas were painted on the butcher shop, Simon’s Glatt Kosher meats, between the evening of Sept. 10 and the next morning, the Jewish Exponent reported. The butcher store has been at its location for 20 years. A nearby synagogue was similarly vandalized in…
A $6 million pledge from Raymond Perelman is breathing new life into plans for a new Center for Jewish Life at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Drexel initiated the project in 2011 under the direction of its president, John Fry, but until this week’s announcement only a small portion of the funds had been raised, the…
Among the 12 organizations that signed on to the statement were StandWithUs, the Zionist Organization of America and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting
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