Russia’s education ministry has agreed to provide Jewish students an alternative date for a matriculation exam which took place on the Shavuot holiday. The concession was announced last week in a letter addressed to Berel Lazar, a chief rabbi of Russia. “Students and graduates unable to take the Unified State Exam for religious reasons may…
Two Jewish teenagers told police they narrowly escaped an attack near Paris by a hatchet-wielding man and three others. The attack occurred late at night on June 4 in Romainville, a northeastern suburb of the French capital, according to a report by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA. The teens, aged 14…
The 2013 Pew Research Center report underscored the fragility of the Jewish future in North America and has led to anguished discussions and debates about how to reduce the number of Jews relinquishing Judaism and Jewish identification in favor of other options. But as dramatic as the 2013 Pew report was, it may be that…
Samson and Delilah, a cautionary tale against mixed marriage, by Rubens / Haaretz (Haaretz) — On Shavuot, Jews around the world read the Book of Ruth, which tells the story of how the heroine – a Moabite woman – married her way into Judaism. Later rabbis adopted the story as a model of how a Jew…
Photo courtesy of Beit Tefilah Israeli This Shavuot, the Tel Aviv Municipality broke new ground in the effort to develop a native-grown pluralistic form of Judaism that meets the spiritual and cultural needs of Israel’s non-Orthodox Jewish majority. In conjunction with the liberal, independent, egalitarian minyan Beit Tefilah Israeli, the local government of Israel’s cultural…
Alexander Rapaport (JTA) — Just in time for Shavuot, with its reading of the Book of Ruth about Judaism’s first convert, a Tennessee family of 12’s conversion to Judaism has prompted an outpouring of support from Brooklyn’s haredi Orthodox community. On Sunday, Sholom and Nechama (originally Chad and Libby) McJunkin brought their 10 children to…
Hey, did you know that Shavuot is upon us? If you said, “no” or “oh, right, I remember that vaguely from grade school,” you’re not alone. Many non-observant Jews (not to mention non-Jews) are unfamiliar with this festival, even though it’s one of the most important ones in the Bible, celebrating… something (see No. 4)….
Russian immigrants to Israel / Courtesy of Alona Sibuk Her story is well known. She came from a foreign land where she lived like a princess. Despite a very questionable connection to Judaism, she chose to follow her mother-in-law to Israel. There, she lived in abject poverty, getting by only by taking charity. Even when…
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