Archive for Jewish News

| May 19, 2012
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Toronto Islamic school sent packing over anti-Semitic lessons

School loses right to use public school for its classes after referring to Jews as ‘crafty’ and ‘treacherous,’ contrasting Islam with ‘the Jews and the Nazis.’

A Toronto Islamic school has lost the right to use a public school for its classes after anti-Semitic teachings were discovered in its curriculum and posted on its website.

David and Mary Thomson Collegiate - Wikipedia - May 19, 2012

David and Mary Thomson Collegiate - Wikipedia

 

The Toronto District School Board announced this week that the East End Madrassah could no longer rent space for its Sunday classes at David and Mary Thomson Collegiate until police finish their investigation of the anti-Jewish teachings.

The public school board “[needs] to be satisfied with the outcome of the investigation and that [the madrassah was] in compliance with our policies and procedures” before they can use school board property, board spokesman Jim Spyropoulos told the Toronto Star. Continue Reading »

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| May 18, 2012
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Old becomes new as couples personalize wedding ceremonies

In the U.S., some customize the traditional Jewish wedding to allow for self-expression and individuality.

In the months before his wedding, Jon Cetel cringed at the notion of having his friends dance him to his bride at a traditional bedeken ceremony, where he would place the veil over her face.

The concept “was completely foreign to me,” he said. It “felt too traditional.”

But his bride, Ashley Novack, 26, was entranced by the tradition. “I love dancing, and this sounded like an amazing opportunity definitely not to be missed,” she said.

The bride and groom face each other and smile during a traditional Jewish wedding.

The bride and groom face each other and smile during a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony at El Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba - Photo by Reuters

Rabbi Shira Stutman, director of community engagement at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington and the officiant at their wedding, had a suggestion: Reverse it. Continue Reading »

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| May 17, 2012
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Anti-Semitic Remarks on Facebook Prompt Police Arrests

Police in Glasgow, Scotland arrested six people over anti-Semitic remarks on Facebook that mocked the Jewish community of Giffnock.

Police in Glasgow, Scotland arrested six people over anti-Semitic remarks on Facebook that mocked the Jewish community of Giffnock, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Facebook logos

Facebook logos - Reuters

The page, titled “Welcome to Israel, only kidding you’re in Giffnock,” included a number of offensive posts against the Jewish community and received nearly 1,000 “likes” until it was shut down.

Fans of the page posted comments ranging from “Jewish scum” to “F*** the Jewish Zionist” while another person wrote: “Hebrew is not needed in the train station [because] all the Jews are f***ing rich c**** they have gold plated Bentleys,” the Jewish Chronicle reported. Continue Reading »

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| May 16, 2012
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Israel Launches ‘Bible-Birthright’ Program

The Bible Lands Museum is launching on Wednesday a new tour created for Birthright that shows the Bible as Israel’s true birthright.

The Bible Lands Museum is launching on Wednesday a new Jewish Heritage Tour created for Birthright-Taglit that shows the Bible as Israel’s true birthright.

The Museum is gearing up for 1,200 Birthright visitors from North America, and the tour is part of the Museum’s Birthright Israel Education Fair.

Birthright group arrives in Israel

Birthright group arrives in Israel - Israel news photo: Birthright PR

“Understanding the legacy of the Jewish people in modern Israel is inseparable from understanding the importance of our biblical history – our birthright,” says Amanda Weiss, director of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

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| May 15, 2012
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Miracle in Tzfat: Boys Find Stolen Torah Scrolls

Three grade school boys accidentally found six stolen Torah scrolls in an abandoned building where they wanted to establish a clubhouse.

Three grade school boys accidentally found six stolen Torah scrolls in an abandoned building where they wanted to establish a clubhouse.

The incredible story unfolded Sunday afternoon when nine-year-old Ariel Chaim Erdstein and three friends entered the ruins of a building and were shocked to discover the Torah scrolls, worth more than $250,000. Thieves stole them after breaking into the Chabad Tzemach Tzedek synagogue during the Sabbath a week ago.

Rabbis, police, 'heroes' and Torah scrolls

Rabbis, police, 'heroes' and Torah scrolls - Israel news photo courtesy of Batya Erdstein

“They ran out afraid that the thieves may have been hiding there also,” Ariel’s mother Batya told Arutz Sheva. Continue Reading »

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| May 14, 2012
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9 PhD students to receive Adams fellowships

Fellowships equal upwards of $100,000; each student will also receive exemption from tuition.

 

Nine doctoral students in the sciences will receive a total of $1 million in stipends for up to four years of PhD studies donated by Canadian philanthropist Marcel Adams.

Each student will also receive an exemption from tuition. The nine students will be presented with their fellowships at the annual Adams Seminar on May 20 at the Israel Academy of Sciences.

Marcel Adams meets with previous recepients - Photo: Israel Academy of Sciences
Marcel Adams meets with previous recipients – Photo: Israel Academy of Sciences

Graduates of the fellowship program are currently conducting postdoctoral training in universities around the world, including Columbia, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Cornell.

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| May 13, 2012
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Netanyahu ordered evacuation of Hebron home over fears of war crimes suits

AG’s fear of legal action against Israeli officials at The Hague also reason for state’s hesitance regarding authorization of the Ulpana Hill West Bank outpost.

 

Senior officials in the prime minister’s office said at the time that the evacuation was carried out after careful coordination between the defense minister and the prime minister. Nevertheless, Netanyahu’s aides went on the defensive against right-wing criticism and said that the premier had no choice but to approve the evacuation out of security and legal consideration.

 

Hebron evacuation - Olivier Fitoussi - 4.4.2012
Border Police officials evacuating a Hebron house taken over by settlers, April 4, 2012. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi

The aides said that during the late night discussion prior to the evacuation no decisions were made regarding the immediate evacuation of the house. Continue Reading »

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| May 13, 2012
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New York’s kosher-labeling rules are kosher, court rules

Federal Court says law aims to protect more than just Jews, who represent only about 30 percent of kosher-food consumers, according to New York state.

New York’s kosher-labeling rules interfere with freedom of religion about as much as St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, a federal appeals court has decided.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld New York’s Kosher Law Protection Act, passed in 2004, ruling that it does not interfere with religion in any way and exists solely for preventing fraud.

A man shops at the West Store supermarket in Port Stanley, March 14, 2012.

A man shops at the West Store supermarket in Port Stanley - Photo by Reuters

 

“The labeling law has the secular purpose of protecting against fraud by informing a consumer that a particular seller believes a product is kosher,” the decision released Thursday said, affirming Brooklyn federal court judge Nina Gershon’s 2011 opinion. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags:
| May 12, 2012
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Jews Celebrate Lag B’Omer This Week. – How was it commemorated 90 years ago?

Meron and tomb of Shimon BarYochai (circa 1930)

Meron and tomb of Shimon BarYochai circa 1930

 Wednesday evening Jews around the world will celebrate Lag B’Omer, the end of a month-long mourning period when traditional Jews refrain from weddings or joyous gatherings.  The mourning remembers the thousands of students of Rabbi Akiva, a reknowned spiritual leader at the time of the Talmud.  They died in a great plague that ended on Lag B’Omer.

 

The tomb on the hill (enlarged)
The tomb on the hill (enlarged)
In Israel, Lag B’Omer is celebrated with bonfires, hikes along nature trails, and gatherings at the tombs of of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the Galilee town of Meron and of Shimon the Just (Hatzaddik) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.
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| May 11, 2012
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Revealed: The scandalous history of Judaism’s most precious book

Theft, espionage, corruption and a cover-up lasting decades — a new book by a Times of Israel reporter exposes the extraordinary saga of the uniquely revered, 1,100-year-old Aleppo Codex

The Aleppo Codex, the manuscript at the heart of a new investigation by a Times of Israel reporter, is arguably Judaism's most important book
The Aleppo Codex, the manuscript at the heart of a new investigation by a Times of Israel reporter, is arguably Judaism’s most important book
Anew book by a Times of Israel reporter reveals dramatic new information about the fate of a manuscript many consider Judaism’s most important book — the 1,100-year-old Aleppo Codex.

The manuscript — or the part of it that did not go mysteriously missing in the mid-20th century — is currently held alongside the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.  Continue Reading »

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| May 11, 2012
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Govt. Cover-Up over Fate of Secret Libya Mission, Historian Says

The fate of 23 operatives on a secret mission in Libya remains unknown, government says. Historian: it’s a cover up.

Two weeks ago the Defense Ministry submitted a report in the decades-old case of the “23 on the boat” that said the fate of 23 Palmach fighters sent on a mission to Libya remains unknown. However, historian Aryeh Yitzchaki tells Arutz Sheva that the fighters’ fate was known from the beginning – but was covered up by those in power.

The mission, in May 1941, involved sneaking Palmach fighters to Tripoli on the British ship Sea Lion. Once in the Libyan capital, the young soldiers were meant to blow up explosives factories and attack Nazi troops, in an attempt to hurt the Nazi war machine. Continue Reading »

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| May 9, 2012
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No. 1 song in the world — in Hebrew

Israeli band Roi Lavi & the Good Guys covers the Gotye smash ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’

In case you haven’t heard it enough times in English, it’s now possible to listen to the world’s No. 1 song in Hebrew.

Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which has topped the charts in nearly 20 countries, has been re-recorded by an Israeli band called Roi Lavi & the Good Guys, attracting over 115,000 YouTube hits as of this posting.

 

Click to Play

Click to Play

Featuring rewritten lyrics and a singer wearing a yarmulke, the new “Somebody” follows a rendition performed on “Glee,” not to mention an ever-growing set of additional covers and remixes. Continue Reading »

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| May 9, 2012
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Finance Minister Steinitz: 44,300 new jobs created in March

Finance Minister presents government with data that some 44,300 new job opportunities opened in March, could Indicate period of economic growth

 

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz on Monday presented the government with data that stated that some 44,300 new job opportunities opened in March. This after the number of jobs on the market decreased by 16,200 in February.

According to the minister, some 270,000 new jobs were created over the past three years. He added that it was possible to see that over the last few years the Israeli market was creating jobs at a higher rate than the rate of employees joining the market, which may indicate that the drop in unemployment in Israel comes as a result of growth rather than a low percentage of participation in the workforce. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags:
| May 8, 2012
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Zimbabwe’s ‘black Jews’ observe traditions, if not faith

The Lemba tribe  say they are the descendants of white men who came from a place believed to be modern Yemen. But their ties to Judaism are cultural and not religious.

 

GUTU, Zimbabwe — Yarmulkes bob as voices swell in a sacred song carried from ancient Judea to the scenic fields of a far-flung southern African village that is home to a “lost tribe” of Israel.

“We have been singing this song for about 2,600 years. It’s an old, old song,” said Perez Hamandishe, wearing a white crocheted skullcup with a blue Star of David in a small village near Gutu, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of the capital Harare. Continue Reading »

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| May 8, 2012
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Australia’s top Catholic Archbishop says Jews are ‘intellectually and morally inferior’.

Australia’s most senior-ranked Catholic official has risked an international backlash by claiming that Jews are ‘intellectually and morally inferior’.

Cardinal George Pell said ‘the little Jewish people’ were shepherds who lacked intellectual development during a debate with atheist Richard Dawkins.
He went on to claim that Germans had suffered more than the Jews during  the horrors of the holocaust in the Second World War.
Cardinal George Pell, Australia's most senior-ranked Catholic

Cardinal George Pell, Australia's most senior-ranked Catholic

(Scroll down for video)

The remarks came during a televised debate with Dawkins on Australian TV in which the pair became locked in a heated discussion on religion and evolution.

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