Archive for Jewish News

| December 28, 2012
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Top 10 anti-Semites/Israel-haters ranked by The Simon Wiesenthal Center

Muslim Brotherhood’s rise in Egypt raises 2 religious figures into No. 1 spot on Simon Wiesenthal Center’s top 2012 list.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

 

NEW YORK – International human rights organization The Simon Wiesenthal Center announced on Thursday its list of the top 10 anti-Semites and haters of Israel.

Defaced placard of Jobbik Party leader Gyongyosi

Defaced placard of Jobbik Party leader Gyongyosi – Photo: REUTERS

Those dominating the annual list were mostly from Europe and the Middle East. The list reflected right-wing, left-wing and Islamist loathing of Jews and Israel.

The rise of a Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt catapulted two religious figures into the No.

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| December 27, 2012
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Rabbis offer plan for non-Orthodox Jewish prayer at Western Wall

National-religious rabbis offer suggestions for women’s or non-Orthodox praying at the Western Wall

Prime Minister’s Office: There are no changes in the prayer arrangements.

 

 

Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, dean of the Hesder Yeshiva in Petah Tikva, said one solution could be to designate different hours for Orthodox and non-Orthodox prayer.

Tisha Be'av at the Western Wall

Two leading national-religious rabbis have expressed support for accommodating non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall. – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

“Jerusalem is at the heart of the Jewish people, and if we want all of the Jewish people to feel connected there then we need to find a place for all parts of the Jewish people at the Western Wall,” Cherlow told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

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| December 26, 2012
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Court May Be Asked to Stop ‘Destruction of History’ by the Waqf

Israel’s High Court may be the only way for archaeologists to order the gov’t to stop the Waqf from destroying more ‘history’ at the holy site.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

The High Court may be the last resort for archaeologists to order Netanyahu to stop allowing the Waqf to destroy history at the holy site.

Temple Mount digging

Temple Mount digging – Israel news photo: Prof. Eli Hollander and architect Gidon Harlap

Following the latest disclosures of massive removal and dumping of dirt containing artifacts from the area of the Holy Temples, attorney Aviad Vesuli told Arutz Sheva he would appeal to the High Court. Continue Reading »

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| December 26, 2012
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Israel’s PM asks Jewish Agency to find resolution on women praying at Western Wall

Israeli police detained 4 women from a liberal Jewish group who approached the holy site in Jerusalem last week, wearing prayer shawls.

“Israel still fails to live up to the ideals upon which it was founded, as a haven for Jews everywhere.”

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Jewish Agency to find a solution for non-Orthodox Jewish female groups wishing to pray at one of Judaism’s holiest sites.

Women praying during a Selichot service at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Women praying during a Selichot service at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. – Photo: Michal Fattal

 

An official said Tuesday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, to look into the matter. Continue Reading »

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| December 23, 2012
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Australian Tycoon Saves Sydney’s Chabad Headquarters

 “This transaction will undoubtedly increase community confidence in the long-term stability of Yeshiva, bringing much-awaited certainty to parents, teachers & the extended Chabad community.” commented Rabbi Feldman.

By JTA

 

SYDNEY – An Australian property tycoon has staved off a financial crisis that threatened the closure of the headquarters of Sydney’s Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

Rabbi Pinchus Feldman, Harry Triguboff and Rabbi Dovid Slavin with Yeshiva students – Photo: Ingrid Shakenovsky

Harry Triguboff, a longstanding benefactor of the ultra-Orthodox organization, purchased two Chabad buildings in Bondi Dec. 20 for a reported $6 million, enabling the beleaguered organization to pay off debts that threatened to cripple its ability to operate across Sydney.
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| December 22, 2012
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Yiddish becoming popular among Israeli Arabs

1/4 of Yiddish students at Bar-Ilan University are Arab. Yusuf Alakili of Kfar Kassem admits,  ‘I have always felt a connection to this language,’

By Dudi Goldman

 

“I find a certain mystery in Yiddish, a refined and enigmatic musical note. I cannot explain it, but I have always felt a connection to this language.”

‘Why is this magnificent language neglected?’ Yiddish literature – Photo: Ahimeir Porat

Contrary to what one might expect, the speaker is not a Polish poet or a German philosopher. He is Yusuf Alakili, 50, of the Arab Israeli town of Kfar Kassem, who is working on his master’s degree at Bar-Ilan University’s Literature of the Jewish People Department, while studying Yiddish for his own pleasure. Continue Reading »

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| December 22, 2012
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50 of Bnei Menashe community of India move to Israel

 

Israel’s Chief rabbi recognized Bnei Menashe as a ‘Lost Tribe’ in 2005, but only 1,700 moved to Israel before the gov’t stopped granting visas

Gov’t recently reversed policy, reopening doors for immigration for the 7,200 remaining in India

The Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

 

A group of 50 Jews said to descend from one of the 10 Lost Tribes prepared Thursday to immigrate to Israel from their village in northeastern India.

Ingathering of the exiles: Bnei Menashe pray prior to their departure for Israel. – Photo: AP

The members of the Bnei Menashe community prayed in their local synagogue and then hugged their crying relatives before heading off to the airport in the Manipur state capital of Imphal, 55 kilometers (34 miles) away.

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| December 22, 2012
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Hundreds of fragments from pre-WWII Greek Jewish graves finally found

The remains of destroyed Jewish graves were uncovered in Thessaloniki by police after a 70-year search.

 

The 668 fragments were found buried in a plot of land in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, following a 70-year search for the remains of graves smashed when the city’s main Jewish cemetery was destroyed.

Headstones destroyed during the Nazi occupation of Greece during World War II.

Headstones destroyed during the Nazi occupation of Greece during World War II. – Photo by AP

The head of the city’s Jewish community, David Saltiel, said most of the gravestones found dated from the mid-1800s up until World War II.

“This is our history,” Saltiel, head of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, told The Associated Press. Continue Reading »

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| December 22, 2012
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Israel’s PM: I will ignore int’l condemnation of building homes in Jerusalem

PM Netanyahu says Israel will continue to build in east Jerusalem despite condemnation from UN and the international community.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, HERB KEINON

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday said he would ignore the international community’s condemnation of prospective building plans for Jerusalem across the Green Line, in an interview aired in part on Channel 2.

The interview is scheduled to air in full on Saturday.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - Photo: Pool/Haim Zach

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – Photo: Pool/Haim Zach

“The Western Wall is not occupied territory, and I don’t care what the United Nations says,” Netanyahu declared in reference to the plans.

“We are living in the Jewish State,” Netanyahu said, and “The capital of the Jewish state, for 3,000 years, has been Jerusalem.

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| December 21, 2012
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World’s 2nd-oldest Bible fragment posted online

 

Purchased by Dr Walter Llewellyn Nash from an Egyptian antiquities dealer in 1902, he presented the fragment that is said to have come from Fayyum, Egypy, to the Cambridge Library in 1903.

 

By JTA

The University of Cambridge posted online thousands of pages from fragile religious manuscripts.

nash

Nash Papyrus – Photo from the Cambridge Digital Library

One of the documents scanned and uploaded to the Cambridge Digital Library is the Nash Papyrus, a 2,000-year-old fragment containing the Ten Commandments and part of the Shema prayer discovered in Egypt in the late 19th century.

It is the world’s second oldest known manuscript containing a text from the Hebrew Bible. Continue Reading »

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| December 20, 2012
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In Jamaica, the Jewish future is in conversions & intermarriages

From 1849, there were enough Jews serving in the House of Assembly that it didn’t meet on Yom Kippur.

When Jamaica achieved independence from Britain in 1962, its 1st ambassador to the U.S. was a Jewish businessman & lawyer, Neville Ashenheim.

By Debra Rubin

 

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JTA) Marie Reynolds used the living waters of Kingston’s Rockford Mineral Baths for the ritual immersion required to complete her conversion to Judaism, formally becoming a member of one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere: Jamaican Jewry.

ucija.org

The tiny, racially mixed community — “200 souls,” as Jewish community leader Ainsley Henriques puts it — may well depend on Jews by choice like Reynolds. Continue Reading »

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| December 20, 2012
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Egyptian Media Reports Morsi Suffering From Brain Tumor

Egyptian media reported Thursday that recently installed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is suffering from a brain tumor.

By David Lev

 

Already saddled with a restive population that appears set on repeating last year’s revolution against the regime and mass protests against his style of governing, recently installed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is apparently suffering from a brain tumor, Egyptian media reported Thursday. The Al-Wafed newspaper said that the tumor in his brain was currently small, but spreading, and that Morsi needed to have it removed before February. If it was not taken out, his life would be in danger.

Mohammed Morsi

Mohammed Morsi – AFP photo

The report quoted medical officials said to be familiar with the president’s condition, but did not name any specific doctors, and no independent verification was cited. Continue Reading »

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| December 19, 2012
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Dancing bearded rabbis meet NBA on court

Group of Chabad rabbis in Houston, Texas sets basketball world alight with their on-court performance which is helping promote Judaism’s image  far beyond the court.

By jn1.tv

 

VIDEO –In Houston, Texas, a group of dancing rabbis has set the world of top tier NBA basketball alight with a performance which is helping promote the image of Judaism far beyond the court.

This YouTube video has become a sensation: A group of Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis paring traditional Hora, Texas square dancing and even 1980s style break-dancing at a Houston Rockets basketball game.

Video courtesy of jn1.tv

It may look spontaneous to the untrained eye, but these dancing rabbis have put a lot into this year’s “Hoops for Hanukkah.” Continue Reading »

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| December 19, 2012
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Washington Post challenges Washington’s Pentagon candidate

Joining several senators objecting to Chuck Hagel’s nomination as defense secretary, the Washington Post wonders if his extreme positions on critical issues (Iran, Israel) won’t serve as an obstacle to Obama’s policy

Yitzhak Benhorin

 

Though US President Barack Obama has yet to officially name Chuck Hagel as the defense secretary’s successor, several pro-Israel senators have already announced their objection to his nomination and said they would act to prevent it.

Chuck Hagel Photo: AP

Chuck Hagel – Photo: AP

On Wednesday, the Washington Post joined the opposing voices in an editorial claiming Hagel was not the right choice for the position.

The reason stated by Washington Post was Hagel’s radical stand on Iran and the Middle East, which was clearly evident when he repeatedly voted against enforcing sanctions to halt Iran’s race obtaining nuclear weapon and doubted the use of force to compel it to negotiate. Continue Reading »

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| December 18, 2012
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Israeli embassy’s Facebook page posted Palestinians would ‘lynch’ Jewish, Jesus & Mary

 

Bethlehem, once a thriving town, 80% Christian, dwindled down to a mere 15% due to religious persecution by the ruling Palestinian Muslims.  The mistreatment of Christians and Jews is nothing new. Gaza, Lebanon & Egypt’s demographics reflect the same phenomenon.

The comment was true….just not diplomatic.

Posted by Max Fisher

 

The official Facebook page of Israel’s embassy to Ireland this morning posted, and then abruptly deleted, a provocative message arguing that “hostile Palestinians” would “lynch” Jesus Christ and his mother, Mary, if they lived in today’s Bethlehem. The town of Jesus’s birth is today part of the Palestinian West Bank.

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