The receptionist looked horrified. Well, maybe I exaggerate a bit. But she was definitely taken aback by the visitor, whose longish reddish hair, wrap-around sunglasses, piercings, leather jacket (over a tee) and boots set him apart from most of the people who are usually buzzed into Agudath Israel’s offices. I had been expecting him. He…
The popular former president of an Atlanta synagogue was idenitified yesterday as one of two people who died when his small plane crashed in a northwest Atlanta neighborhood Tuesday. Peter Mallen, 67, the founder of a high-tech textile company, was piloting the plane when it went down and exploded into flames near Interstate 285, the…
Yesterday evening marked the beginning of Tisha B’Av, the annual fast day which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Holy Land. Regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendars, all pleasurable activities are forbidden. As in a period of mourning, there is…
A Los Angeles philanthropist has pledged $30 million to support a vast restoration project for the city’s landmark Wilshire Boulevard Temple. The donation by Erika Glazer, to be paid over a 15-year period, guarantees the financing of a $150 million facelift for the historic Reform synagogue, whose large dome and Byzantine-style sanctuary has earned it…
A temple and sacred vessels from the First Temple period were discovered near Jerusalem. The nearly 3,000-year-old temple was unearthed by the Israel Antiquities Authority during excavations at the Tel Motza archaeological site west of Jerusalem, prior to work being carried out on a planned expansion of Highway 1. “The ritual building at Tel Motza…
The dog days of August brought serious wakeup calls for Israel and the United States in their respective struggles against terrorism. Both nations were shaken by violent attacks coming from a direction they hadn’t been watching: racist, right-wing nativists. The similarities between the crises are instructive, and disturbing. So are the differences. For Americans, the…
UPDATE: JFNA defends reference to Homeland Security grant program The Jewish Federations of North America chose an odd way to offer condolences to the Sikh community over the weekend shooting rampage that killed six people at a temple in Wisconsin. After offering its “deepest sympathy” to the victims, the JFNA claimed the mass shooting spotlights…
Three times each day, strictly observant Jews pray for the rebuilding of the Temple. Their prayers have been answered. King Solomon’s Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE, is finally going to be rebuilt — in Sao Paulo. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Brazilian Pentecostal church that claims…
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