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Fast Forward Polish Torah Scroll Hidden in Monastery Since Holocaust, Returned
A Torah scroll that since 1942 has been hidden in a Tuchow monastery was returned to the synagogue in Dabrowa Tarnowska in southern Poland. The Torah was returned earlier this month but reported for the first time on Saturday. It had been brought to the monastery in Tuchow, approximately 60 miles from Krakow, by an…
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News Finding Dasha
Esther C. Werdiger met a long lost relative named Dasha who lived nearby in New York. They met, chatted for hours, and said they’d get together again soon. But they never did. Click on the thumbnail to the right for a larger version. Esther C. Werdiger is a writer and artist from Melbourne. Her essays,…
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Fast Forward Polish Jewish Cemetery Used for Topless Photo Shoot
Polish photographer Lukasz Szczygielski has apologized for conducting a photo shoot with a half-naked model at the Jewish cemetery in the southern Polish town of Checiny. Szczygielski explained that he wanted to draw attention to the neglected cemetery. “I wanted to draw attention to the neglect of the place. The cemetery is forgotten, he told…
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Culture The Resurrection of Chmielnik
About 15 years ago, when he was in his mid-20s, Piotr Krawczyk had a revelation that changed his life; in many respects it also ended up changing the life of Chmielnik, the sleepy little town in South Central Poland where he lives. “I found a book on the history of Chmielnik, and I read it,”…
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The Schmooze Shlomo Carlebach Really Was a ‘Soul Doctor’
“Soul Doctor” can best be described as “Hair” meets post Holocaust trauma with Eric Anderson’s visceral channeling of Reb Shlomo Carlebach and Amber Imam’s portrayal of Nina Simone illuminating the production. The 700 opening-nighters at the August 15 performance of “Soul Doctor” at Circle in the Square included philanthropist and Birthright founder Michael Steinhardt (who…
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Fast Forward Rabbi vs. Rabbi Feud Sinks Poland’s Fight To Maintain Kosher Slaughter
(JTA) — A few weeks before Poland’s parliament voted last month on whether to overturn a ban on ritual slaughter, Rabbi Menachem Margolin was scheduled to meet the Polish president in an effort to find a solution to the problem. The ban had been imposed in January, when a Polish constitutional court outlawed Jewish and…
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Fast Forward Kosher Slaughter Ban Kills $1.3B Poland Industry
The slaughterhouse in this small town in western Poland has a special dormitory to house the more than 30 Jewish men designated by Israel’s chief rabbi to oversee the production of kosher beef there. Since the slaughterhouse received permission to export to Israel five years ago, thousands of bulls were herded inside the building and…
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News Polish Kosher Slaughter Ban Has Jews Feeling Uneasy
(JTA) — In their Krakow home, Anna Makowka Kwapisiewicz and her husband, Piotr, skim through an online article about Poland’s recent ban on kosher slaughter. What they find even more disturbing than the actual news are the comments posted by other readers. Hundreds of comments calling on Jews to leave Poland have appeared beneath news…
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
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Fast Forward As Supreme Court considers religious charter schools, Justice Kagan speculates about publicly funded yeshivas
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Fast Forward A Jewish city attorney is going after pro-Palestinian protesters. Her Oct. 7 tweets are making it complicated.
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Fast Forward Kehlani responds to Cornell concert cancellation: ‘I am not antisemitic’
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Fast Forward David Horowitz, ’60s radical turned right-wing firebrand and critic of Islam, dies at 86
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