Tag Archive for Jewish Diaspora

| October 31, 2013
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Polish prosecutor rules: Nude photo shoot in Jewish cemetery not illegal

 

 

Lukasz Szczygielski, a Polish photographer conducted a controversial photo shoot with a half-naked model which he explained, before apologizing, was meant to draw attention to a neglected Jewish cemetery.

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A Polish photographer did not break the law by conducting a photo shoot with a half-naked model at the Jewish cemetery in Checiny, Polish lawmakers held this week after a complaint was filed.

The city prosecutor in the Polish city of Kielce decided this week that Polish photographer Lukasz Szczygielski did not intend to insult the religious sensibilities of the cemetery of the Jewish community and that his main objective was art when he photographed a topless model at the Jewish cemetery in Checiny in August, TVN 24 reported. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| October 29, 2013
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NY court awarded $900k to delivery man for supervisors’ gas chamber gags

Adam Wiercinski’s managers were heard to say ‘you smell like Jew’.

The New York Post reported Monday that the jurors decided it was time for payback.

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A New York jury has awarded a Jewish deliveryman $900,000 in damages for the anti-Semitic harassment he endured at the restaurant where he worked, The New York Post reported Monday.

Mangia, the Manhattan restaurant where Adam Wiercinski worked.

Mangia, the Manhattan restaurant where Adam Wiercinski worked. – HAARETZ

According to the report, Adam Wiercinski was subjected to highly offensive gestures and remarks made by the supervisors at the Manhattan eatery, Mangia.

One night shift manager, Artur Zbozien, would often pass gas and then joke about Zyklon B, the cyanide-based pesticide used in Nazi gas chambers during the Holocaust. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| October 22, 2013
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ADL’s list of America’s ‘Top 10 anti-Israel groups’

While the annoying and very frustrating anti-Zionist Neturei Karta makes its debut, the ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ has made it to the list once again.

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The Anti-Defamation League released a list of the top 10 most “influential and active anti-Israel groups” in the U.S. on Monday, highlighting organizations it sees as being “fixated with delegitimizing Israel” and providing “misleading narratives” about Israel.

Members of Neturei Karta with Hamas.

Members of Neturei Karta with Hamas.- Photo: Reuters

 

The top 10 anti-Israel groups, as identified by ADL:

  1.  ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism)
  2.  American Muslims for Palestine
  3.  CODEPINK
  4.  Friends of Sabeel-North America
  5.  If Americans Knew/Council for the National Interest
  6.  Jewish Voice for Peace
  7.  Muslim Public Affairs Council
  8.  Neturei Karta
  9.  Students for Justice in Palestine
  10. U.S.
Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| October 1, 2013
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Survey of American Jews: Rapid assimilation, soaring intermarriage

22% of U.S. Jews describe themselves as having no religion, & the survey finds they are much less connected to Jewish organizations &much less likely to be raising their children Jewish.

NEW YORK (JTA) — There are a lot more Jews in America than you may have thought — an estimated 6.8 million, according to a new study. But a growing proportion of them are unlikely to raise their children Jewish or connect with Jewish institutions.

The proportion of Jews who say they have no religion and are Jewish only on the basis of ancestry, ethnicity or culture is growing rapidly, and two-thirds of them are not raising their children Jewish at all.

Continue Reading »
Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags:
| September 27, 2013
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4 Jews Among MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award Recipients

Four Jewish doctors & scientists among the 13 men & 11 women picked by the John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation for the annual Honorees for 2013.

By Anne Cohen, With Reuters

 

Four Jews are among 24 of America’s most creative and original thinkers who will each get $625,000 “genius” grants this year.

Genius Jews: Jeffrey Brenner (above),primary care physician in Camden, is among the 24 recipients of the MacArthur “Genius” Awards

Genius Jews: Jeffrey Brenner (above),primary care physician in Camden, is among the 24 recipients of the MacArthur “Genius” Awards

Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, 44, Sheila Nirenberg, a New York City neuroscientist, Sara Seager, a Canadian-American astrophysics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carl Haber, a physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are among the 13 men and 11 women picked by the John D. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags: ,
| September 2, 2013
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The Few Jews in Island Struggle to Keep the Faith

With no rabbi, no synagogue & a majority of interfaith marriages, Iceland’s few Jews find unique ways of keeping Jewish tradition alive …with a little help from their friends.

By Jenna Gottlieb, The Forward 
 

Iceland has no synagogue, no rabbis, no Jewish community center or organized structure. In fact, Judaism is not even one of Iceland’s state-recognized religions.

Reykjavík, Iceland's largest metropolitan area, seen from Hallgrímskirkja's steeple.

Reykjavík, Iceland’s largest metropolitan area, seen from Hallgrímskirkja’s steeple. Photo courtesy: Wikipedia Commons

Still, Iceland has about 100 Jews who call this North Atlantic island home. And last year, roughly 50 of them gathered in a hall downtown on Erev Rosh Hashanah for services — a proportion of prayer attendance that rabbis in many other countries would give their left arms to achieve.

Continue Reading »
Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , , ,
| 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.

Continue Reading »
Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| May 29, 2013
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Infamous Israeli ‘Kitchen Nightmares’ restaurant owner facing U.S. deportation

It apears Samy Bouzaglo’s worst crime wasn’t sassing Ramsey on TV, but what was discussed at the US immigration court proceedings.

 

An unsavory appearance on Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares” almost forced a Scotsdale restaurant owner to close up shop. But it turns out Samy Bouzaglo’s worst crime wasn’t sassing Ramsey or becoming very entertainingly unhinged on Facebook (and then blaming the crazy posts on hackers).

Samy and Amy Bouzaglo, Amy's baking company

Samy and Amy Bouzaglo of Amy’s Baking Company. – Photo: Facebook

Bouzaglo, who runs Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro with his wife Amy, might get deported. To Israel.

His lawyer had no comment on how Bouzaglo ended up in immigration court proceedings, but it seems it has something to do with jail time the Moroccan-born Israeli did for drug distribution and extortion charges before his arrival in the US 13 years ago.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| May 16, 2013
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IRS director fired by Obama over targeting pro-Israel & conservative groups

The Jewish Press reported last week that a Jewish group without any focus on Israel was “the recipient of bizarre and highly inappropriate questions about Israel.”

By and
 

U.S. President Barack Obama ousted the acting commissioner of the federal tax agency Wednesday, moving forcefully to quell a growing uproar over revelations that conservative and pro-Israel groups were improperly targeted for scrutiny when they filed for tax-exempt status.

Internal Revenue Service building in Washington.

The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. – Photo: AP

Obama, who had been criticized for appearing passive in his response to one of the latest scandals to hit his administration, promised new safeguards would be put in place to prevent a recurrence of the actions at the Internal Revenue Service. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| May 10, 2013
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Morocco’s king helped restore Jewish burial site off African coast

The Moroccan gov’t continues to be a ‘major benefactor’ of heritage preservation efforts on the island of Cape Verde, even though the Jewish-Moroccan community has long since disappeared.

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A Jewish burial plot in the island state of Cape Verde was rededicated with help from the king of Morocco.

Jewish gravesite, Cape Verde.

Jewish gravesites during their inauguration in the municipal cemetery of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde.- Photo: AFP

 

About 100 people attended the rededication ceremony last week.

“The support of King Mohammed VI to this project is representative of Morocco’s attachment to the preservation of its patrimony – Arab, Jewish or Berber,” Andre Azoulay, the king’s Jewish advisor, said in a statement read during the ceremony by Abdellah Boutadghart, a Moroccan diplomat. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| April 11, 2013
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WJC to meet far-right ‘anti-Zionist’ rally in Budapest

Although they rarely hold annual gatherings outside of Israel, the World Jewish Congress decided to meet in Budapest this year to show solidarity with Hungary’s Jews, who are facing ‘exceptionally strong’ anti-Semitism.

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A far-right Hungarian priest said an “anti-Zionist” demonstration will be held in Budapest on the first day of the World Jewish Congress’ General Assembly.
Former member of Hungarian far-right Jobbik.

Former member of far-right Jobbik party burns an Israeli flag during an anti-Zionism demonstration in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012 – Photo: AP

 

Lorant Hegedus Jr., a Calvinist priest and member of the ultra-rightist, anti-Semitic Jobbik party, announced that an “Anti-Bolshevik and anti-Zionist people’s gathering” will be held in the Hungarian capital on May 4, the first day of the WJC annual assembly. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , , ,
| February 7, 2013
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Belgian Jewish girls’ school no longer forced to admit sons of Holocaust denier

Rabbi Moshe Friedman, infamous for his participation with the Neturei Karta at the anti-Zionist & Holocaust-denial conference in Teheran in ’06, placed himself in the middle of a disgraceful controversy in Antwerp. Local court rescinds Rabbi’s injunction.

By JTA

 

THE HAGUE — A Belgian court reportedly has lifted an injunction forcing a haredi girls school in Antwerp to enroll two boys.

school

The Benoth Jeruzalem school for Jewish girls

The injunction, which according to the Joods Actuaal monthly was lifted on Feb. 7, was issued by a judge last month following a petition by Moshe Friedman, an anti-Zionist haredi activist excommunicated by the haredi community of Antwerp. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| February 5, 2013
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The Final word on European Jew’s origin?

Latest DNA study says Jews of European descent are multi-ancestrial, with many hailing from tribes in Caucasus who converted to Judaism and created empire that lasted 5 Centuries

By AFP

 

Jews of European origin are a mix of ancestries, with many hailing from tribes in the Caucasus who converted to Judaism and created an empire that lasted half a millennium, according to a gene study.

‘Genome of European Jews is a tapestry of ancient populations’ – Photo: Jupiter

The investigation, its author says, should settle a debate that has been roiling for more than two centuries.

Jews of European descent, often called Ashkenazim, account for some 90% of the more than 13 million Jews in the world today. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: ,
| January 30, 2013
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Australian elections scheduled for Yom Kippur

Liberal MP protests decision saying, “disenfranchises many Jewish Australians.”
Jewish leader responds: “not a problem…”

By SAM SOKOL

 

Australia’s upcoming national elections will be held on September 14 -which is the date on which Yom Kippur falls this year, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on Monday, arousing heated debate among politicians and Jewish community leaders.

Australia's new Prime Minister Julia Gillard - Photo by APAfter her announcement at the National Press Club in the capital Canberra, MPs from both Labor and the Liberal party were quick to attack the decision, both due to the long campaigning season that it has inaugurated and because some believe it to be insensitive to Australia’s Jewish community.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| December 30, 2012
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Belgian Jewish girls school forced to admit sons of Holocaust denier

Rabbi Moshe Friedman, infamous for his participation with the Neturei Karta at the anti-Zionist & Holocaust-denial conference in Teheran in ’06, has again placed himself in the middle of a disgraceful controversy, but this time in Antwerp.

 

By JTA

A Belgian court ordered a Jewish school for girls to admit two boys or face heavy fines.

school

The Benoth Jeruzalem school for Jewish girls

A Belgian judge ruled on Dec. 21, that because yeshivas are subsidized by the Flemish community, Benoth Jerusalem must admit the boys or face a $2,600 penalty per child for each day the boys are not permitted to attend, according to the Gazet van Anwerpen, a local paper. Continue Reading »

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