Archive for Jewish News

| August 12, 2013
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Ban on Shabbat candles leads Hasidic Jews to leave Welsh resort

 

Despite efforts to mediate between the university and visiting Orthodox Jews, the ban on Shabbat candles drove the hasidim from the seaside resort to take their holidays elsewhere this year.

 

 

Hasidim looking to vacation on the Welsh seaside are scrambling to find alternate arrangements after Aberystwyth University banned the use of candles in its residences.

File:Shabbat Candles.jpg

Shabbat Candles – Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Hundreds of Orthodox Jews have vacationed in the resort for over two decades, according to The Telegraph. Hasidim have traditionally taken up summer residence in Petre Jane Morgan, a university housing complex across a footbridge from the main campus.

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| August 12, 2013
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Ministers agree on the 26 Palestinian prisoners to be released

 

 

Final official list to be published Sunday night, to include 14 Hamas prisoners exiled to Gaza.

‘Move meant to strengthen Mahmoud Abbas,’ political source says.

By Attila Somfalvi

 

 

The ministerial committee appointed to determine which Palestinian prisoners will be the first to be released approved a list of 26 prisoners to be released on Tuesday.

Palestinian prisoners released in Shalit deal (archives) – Photo: Reuters

The list, to be published tonight on 1 am, includes 14 prisoners to be released into the Gaza Strip, several of which are Hamas members.

The committee members are Tzipi Livni, Yaakov Peri, Moshe Ya’alon and Yitzhak Aharonovich. Continue Reading »

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| August 11, 2013
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IDF kill Palestinian on Gaza border after crossing into Israel

Gazan allegedly carrying an item that troops could not see clearly and ignored warnings, was shot dead.

By REUTERS

 

 

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian who crossed in from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, fearing he was a security threat though he proved to be unarmed, military sources said.

IDF soldiers patrol near Gaza

IDF soldiers patrol near Gaza – Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen

The man, who was not immediately identified, had first drawn soldiers’ suspicions by digging into the ground on the Gazan side of the fortified border fence, where Palestinian gunmen have in the past mounted ambushes, an army spokeswoman said.

He then clambered over the fence, carrying an item that the troops could not see clearly, she said.

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| August 8, 2013
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The Forgotten Refugees of 1948: Jews Exiled From Muslim Lands

 

 

The int’l community as well as mainstream media gushes over refugees, except when those refugees happen to be Jewish.

By Noah Beck

 

 

June 20 was World Refugee Day, dedicated to nearly 60 million people worldwide who were forcibly displaced by conflict or persecution. One group of refugees rarely acknowledged is the Jews who were indigenous to Muslim lands but compelled to flee around the time when the State of Israel was established.

Jewish Refugees – Israel Today

 

A Google search for “1948 refugees” produces about 6 million results. All but a few (at least through page six) are about the Palestinian Arab refugees, as if they were the only refugees of 1948. Continue Reading »

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| August 4, 2013
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Two Arabs held in mezuza theft at Cave of Patriarchs

 

After multiple thefts & desecrations, a security video at the site caught two Palestinians who were subsequently detained for theft of a mezuza in Hebron.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, BEN HARTMAN
 

 

Two Palestinians were detained for the theft of a mezuza from the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Friday.
Mezuzah - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Mezuzah – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Border Police are still looking for more suspects.

The two men were picked up because they were near the cave at the time of the theft. According to the Border Police, they were also seen on a security video of the site.

Friday’s incident follows one that occurred two weeks ago in which three mezuzot were stolen.

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| August 1, 2013
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Synagogues on wheels goes deep into Russia

Known in Russia as ‘mitzvah tanks’, traveling synagogues make house calls to homes of Jews who are unable leave home for medical reasons.

By

 

Jewish activists have taken three synagogues on wheels on a journey into Siberia and central Russia.

A Mitzvah Tank at the entrance of the Moscow Jewish community center, June 2013.

A Mitzvah Tank at the entrance of the Moscow Jewish community center, Chabad Lubavitch, June 2013. – Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

The activists, among them sons of emissaries to Russia for the Chabad movement, are driving three camper vehicles into the Russian outback along three different routes that will take them through dozens of cities over the next three weeks, according to the official website of the Chabad movement. Continue Reading »

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| July 30, 2013
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Peres attends opening of Latvia museum dedicated to rescuers of WWII Jews

President Shimon Peres & Latvian President Andris Berzins attend opening ceremony at the Riga museum.

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President Shimon Peres took part in a ceremony marking the opening of a museum in Latvia dedicated to a couple who saved some 50 Jews from extermination.

The museum in downtown Riga, Latvia’s capital, is located next to the property once owned by Zanis Lipke, a port worker who together with his wife hid Jews in an underground pit measuring some 9 square meters.

Peres at Riga Holocaust museum.

Peres, center, and Berzins, left at the Zanis Lipke Memorial in Riga, June 30, 2013. – Photo: AP

 

The three-story museum resembles an overturned ship and is designed to give visitors a claustrophobic sense of life in a tiny bunker. Continue Reading »

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| July 28, 2013
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Dutch teens visit Nazi transit camp in effort to rid anti-Semitism from schools

After 63  years, organizers add the Holocaust’s Kamp Westerbork to the annual high-school cycling trip’s itinerary for first time in effort to instil empathy & understanding about the Holocaust.

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Some 150 teenagers from The Netherlands visited Westerbork, a transit camp for Holocaust victims, in an activity designed to combat recent expressions of anti-Semitism in the city’s schools.

Participants of the Fietsvierdaagse (Four day bicycle tour) ride their bicycles in Drenthe

Participants of the Fietsvierdaagse (Four day bicycle tour) ride their bicycles in near Kamp Westerbork on July 23, 2013. – Photo: AFP

The youths from the eastern Netherlands city of Arnhem arrived at Kamp Westerbork on bicycles on July 25 carrying white roses provided to them by the organizers of the activity, which was planned in cooperation with the Jewish community of Arnhem. Continue Reading »

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| July 24, 2013
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Polish Religious Minister asks Jews to sue over ritual slaughter in Constitutional Court

Boni met with two Jewish representatives Monday in Warsaw and asked them to challenge a de facto ban on ritual slaughter that has been in effect since January. The Polish parliament earlier this month defeated a bill that would have allowed ritual slaughter.

By JTA

 

A Polish government minister asked Jewish and Muslim representatives to petition the country’s Constitutional Court to sort out conflicting laws that have led to a ban on ritual slaughter.

Michał Boni, Polish Minister responsible for Religious Affairs

Michał Boni, Polish Minister responsible for Religious Affairs

According to a statement Monday by the office of Michal Boni, the Polish minister responsible for religious affairs, the minister asked the representatives to petition the court with regard to the 1997 Act on the Relation of the State to the Jewish Communities in Poland, which states that ritual slaughter may be performed in accordance with the needs of the local Jewish community.

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| July 19, 2013
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500-year-old Jewish Skeleton Found in First Known Synagogue of the New World

Skeleton found during earthwork in Recife, Brazil where Portuguese Jews in 1636 built the 1st known synagogue in the New World.

By JTA

 

Brazilian archaeologists unearthed what they said are the 500-year-old remains of a Jewish man in Recife.

Recife, Brazil [file]

Recife, Brazil [file] – Photo: Wikimedia Common

A report Thursday in the online edition of the Rio de Janeiro-based O Globo described the discovery earlier this month as a perfectly-preserved skeleton of a male adult. The skeleton was found during earthwork in Recife in northern Brazil, where Portuguese Jews in 1636 built the first known synagogue in the New World.

Marcos Albuquerque of the Federal University of Pernambuco, who oversaw the dig around the skeleton, told O Globo he had no doubt the man was Jewish and that he was buried sometime in the 16th century.

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| July 17, 2013
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Evicted Jewish New Yorker sues landlord over Holocaust Mezuzah

Religious Jew returns home from a vacation to find his ‘priceless, irreplaceable’ Mezuzah missing, and eviction notice instead.

By JTA

An Orthodox Jewish man from suburban New York City sued his landlord for demanding that he remove the mezuzah from his apartment’s doorpost.

Mezuzah - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Mezuzah – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Arye Sachs of North Babylon on Long Island filed a lawsuit this week in Brooklyn federal court, the New York Post reported.

In the lawsuit, Sachs said his landlord ordered him to remove the mezuzah several times and then evicted him, saying “This is a Christian residence.” The mezuzah was missing after he returned home from a trip last month, according to the Post.

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| July 15, 2013
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Syrian Imam: Everything’s All the Jews’ Fault

Broadcasted on Syrian TV, a Syrian preacher recently accused the world’s Jews of being responsible for the troubles & ongoing civil strife in Syria and throughout the Middle East.

By Elad Benari

 

A Syrian preacher recently accused Jews of being responsible for all the Muslims’ woes, including the ongoing civil strife throughout the Middle East.

Imam at Umayyad Mosque in Damascus - MEMRI screenshot

Imam at Umayyad Mosque in Damascus – MEMRI screenshot

The remarks were made in a sermon at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, which aired on Syrian TV on June 28.

They were translated and posted by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“Let us take a look at the history of mankind, which has recorded the true nature of the Jews, the slayers of prophets and violators of agreements. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , , ,
| July 13, 2013
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Portugal: The only country besides Israel with a Jewish ‘Law of Return’

What began as a Facebook movement in favor of Portugal’s atoning for the Inquisition, was unanimously accepted in the Portuguese parliament and blossomed into a law which may help Portugal cope with its hurting recession.

(JTA) — Until 2009, right-wing Portuguese politician Jose Ribeiro e Castro didn’t have much interest in the expulsion of his country’s Jewish community in the 16th century. That changed once Ribeiro e Castro opened a Facebook account.
Jose Ribeiro e Castro speaking at the Portuguese parliament, 2012. (Portugal's National Assembly)

Jose Ribeiro e Castro, shown speaking at the Portuguese parliament in 2012, said that for him, naturalizing the descendants of expelled Jews was “purely a historical and emotional goal.”

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| July 12, 2013
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Twitter Provided all ID Info on Anti-Jewish Postings to French Authorities

Twitter said Friday it had handed over all relevant data to French authorities to aid in identifying the authors of anti-Semitic tweets.

By Arutz 7 Staff

 

Twitter said Friday it had handed over data to French authorities to help identify the authors of anti-Semitic tweets, following a complaint from a Jewish students’ group.

Twitter site – AFP file

A French court in January ordered the company to provide the data after legal action by France’s Union of Jewish Students (UEJF).

Twitter said in a statement that it had given information to judicial authorities “enabling the identification of some authors” of anti-Semitic tweets. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| July 12, 2013
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Polish Parliament votes to uphold ban on Kosher slaughter

Decision harms both Jews, Muslims. “The completely untrue idea that such slaughter is cruel, or even intentionally cruel, has triumphed,” said Polish Jewish community leaders.

By SAM SOKOL
 

 

The Polish parliament voted on Friday to uphold a ban on Kosher slaughter in the country. A government sponsored bill aimed at legalizing the practice of shechita, Hebrew for ritual slaughter, was shot down in the Sejm in a vote of 222 to 178.

shechita ritual

shechita ritual – Photo: Nati Shohat/Vosizneias.com

The ban went into effect in January. Combined with a decline in meat exports due to Poland’s implication in the European-wide horse meat scandal, the end of local ritual slaughter has caused harm to the eastern European country’s cattle ranchers and exporters.

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