Tag Archive for Jewish World

| May 2, 2014
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Reform Jewish groups threaten to leave or overhaul Conference of Presidents

 

Conservative Jewish group’s VP calls for major overhaul after rejection of yesterday’s J Street’s membership bid.

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The Union for Reform Judaism is seeking an overhaul of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in the wake of its rejection of J Street’s bid for membership.

Rick Jacobs. Photo: Screenshot from URJ Biennial's Twitter page.

Rick Jacobs. – Photo: Screenshot from URJ Biennial’s Twitter page.

The Reform group in a statement posted Thursday on its website said leaving the Presidents Conference, an umbrella body, is an option.

“As of yesterday, it is clear that the Conference of Presidents, as currently constituted and governed, no longer serves its vital purpose of providing a collective voice for the entire American Jewish pro-Israel community,” URJ President Rick Jacobs said in the statement.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| May 1, 2014
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Major American Jewish Org. Rejects J Street’s Admission

51 American Jewish organizations rejected the admission of the far left-wing lobby into the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

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The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a non-profit U.S. group comprised of 51 national Jewish organizations, voted Wednesday at 6:00 P.M. EST to reject the dovish lobby J Street’s request for admission.

J Street supporters holding a rally in Boston for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

J Street supporters holding a rally in Boston for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. – Photo: Bob Nesson

The self-declared “pro-Israel, pro-peace” organization was founded in 2008 and presents itself as an alternative to AIPAC, the powerful, veteran pro-Israel lobby.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| April 24, 2014
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Spanish town with ‘Kill Jews’ in its name votes to change it

 

 

The Spanish village’s 56 registered voters have marked May 25 as the day to decide whether to keep the name or revert to its original name.

Researchers believe Jewish residents that converted to Catholicism, changed the name to convince Spaniards they opposed Jews.

The Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

The tiny Spanish village of Castrillo Matajudios, the second word of which means “Kill Jews,” will hold a referendum next month to decide if it should change its name, which offends outsiders and embarrasses some residents, its mayor said Tuesday.

The Castrillo Matajudios flag – Photo credit: Wiki Commons

The village’s 56 registered voters will be asked on May 25 whether they want to keep the name or change it to the similar but non-offensive name it once had, Mayor Lorenzo Rodriguez Perez said.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| April 19, 2014
Comments Off on Egyptian authorities foil attempts at smuggling Jewish religious artifacts

Egyptian authorities foil attempts at smuggling Jewish religious artifacts

 

Egypt’s Antiquities Minister said the smugglers planned to send the Jewish religious artifacts to Belgium.

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Authorities in Egypt say they have seized a cache of Jewish religious artifacts that smugglers wanted to ship to Belgium at one of the country’s main ports.

Crown seized by officials in Damietta, Egypt, April 18, 2014

Crown from a cache of Jewish religious artifacts seized by officials in Damietta, Egypt, April 18, 2014 – Photo: AP

Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said in a statement Friday that officials found the artifacts while searching cargo Thursday at the coastal city of Damietta.

AP

Items from a cache of Jewish religious artifacts seized by officials in Damietta, Egypt, April 18, 2014 – Photo: AP

Among the artifacts are a cylindrical wooden box plated in silver, which would have held Torah scrolls.

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| April 12, 2014
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Denmark & Norway allow male circumcision under gov’t guidelines

In Denmark’s press release Friday: ‘Ritual circumcision of boys has been practiced for thousands of years in the Jewish & Muslim populations. The procedure is not banned in any country.’ 

“When someone believes very strongly that circumcision is correct, then it is no use going against them,” agreed Lise Moller, the chief of the association’s ethics committee.

By JTA

 

Resisting calls to ban the non-medical circumcision of boys, the governments of Norway and Denmark have taken steps to preserve the practice’s legal status.

Health Minister Bent Høie on the podium at the Parliament in Oslo. - Photo: Thomas Winje Øijord/NTB Scanpix

Health Minister Bent Høie on the podium at the Parliament in Oslo. – Photo: Thomas Winje Øijord/NTB Scanpix

Norway’s health ministry has submitted a bill that proposes placing some limitations and fees on ritual circumcision but not banning it outright, while Denmark’s health board issued guidelines stating that the practice is legal.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| April 8, 2014
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Sharp rise in Ukrainian immigration to Israel as Jews flee unrest

Jewish new immigrants from Ukraine registered higher at Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption in the 1st 3 months of the year, with an increase of 43% over the same period last year.

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Responding to escalating unrest in their country, hundreds of Jews have been fleeing Ukraine since the start of year and heading to Israel.

General view of Kiev's Independence Square

General view of Kiev’s Independence Square, the epicenter of the country’s recent unrest, Ukraine, on a mourning day Sunday, February 23, 2014. – Photo: AP

Preliminary figures indicate that the pace picked up markedly in recent weeks with more than 250 new immigrants from Ukraine registered at the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption since the beginning of April.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| April 6, 2014
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Lost Mikvehs discovered in the Netherlands when forgotten after the Holocaust

Mikvehs were covered up & only exposed recently when members of the Jewish community in Groningen chanced upon blueprints of the building.

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A Dutch Jewish organization rediscovered two ritual baths that had been forgotten after the Holocaust.

Groningen Folkingedwarsstraat synagogue

Groningen Folkingedwarsstraat synagogue – Photo: Google Street View

In reporting about the find Friday, the Crescas Jewish education institute wrote on its website that large parts of the 19th-century ritual baths, or mikvehs, were unearthed last week at a Jewish community building in the northern city of Groningen.

“The mikvehs are an exciting find,” Crescas wrote. “They are remarkably well-preserved. The marble of one of the baths was partially damaged during renovations.”

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| April 5, 2014
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Study Determines Circumcision Comparable to Vaccination

American-Australian medical research team finds 50% of uncircumcised males will contract an adverse medical condition caused by their foreskin.

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An Australian-American team of researchers recommended circumcising infant males to avoid diseases, in a new study that compared the practice to vaccination.

A mohel doctor is surround by other rabbis and relatives as he holds a boy at his circumcision.

A mohel is surround by other rabbis and relatives as he holds a boy at his circumcision. Photo: AP

The team, led by Brian Morris of the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney, asserted in their newly published study that half of uncircumcised males will contract an adverse medical condition caused by their foreskin. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| March 31, 2014
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French Jewish Immigration at All Time High

Numbers show 854 French immigrants arrived in Israel during January & February, more than 3 times the number arriving in the same 2-month period last year.

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A record number of Jewish immigrants from France poured into Israel in the first few months of the year, according to figures released by the Jewish Agency Sunday.

French Jewish youth

About 1,000 French high school students are in Israel on a program known as Bac Bleu Blanc (“Blue White Seniors”). Some are expected to join a growing number of French Jews making aliyah. – Photo: JAFI

The figures show that 854 French immigrants arrived in Israel in January and February – more than three times the number arriving in the same two-month period the previous year.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| March 27, 2014
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1st Time Ever: Palestinian students visit Auschwitz in organized visit

Visit to Nazi death camp is aimed to teach Israeli & Palestinian students about the other side’s suffering, in effort to see how empathy can facilitate reconciliation.

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A group of 30 Palestinian students arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau on Thursday, in what is believed to be the first organized visit by Palestinian students to a Nazi death camp.

The gate of the former German Nazi death camp of Auschwitz.

The gate of the former German Nazi death camp of Auschwitz.- Photo by AP

The students are spending several days in Kraków and Oświęcim guided by two Jewish Holocaust survivors.

A news blackout on the trip was requested by the organizers.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , , ,
| March 24, 2014
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A small Jewish community splits over conversion in rural Uganda

Even with support from the Diaspora, the community remains poor. All the members are farmers, including Sizomu, who despite his rabbinical degree, grows plantains to support himself.

 

NABUGOYE, Uganda (JTA) — On Fridays at sundown, the Jewish residents of this village set amid the lush hills of eastern Uganda gather in the synagogue to greet Shabbat.
Enosh Keki Maniah, the head of the breakaway Orthodox faction of Uganda's Abayudaya Jewish community, hopes to move to Israel. (Ben Sales)Enosh Keki Maniah, the head of the breakaway Orthodox faction of Uganda’s Abayudaya Jewish community, says, “We didn’t  have a grudge with anyone.” (Ben Sales)

 

The room is bare, the light is dim and the Conservative prayer books are worn.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| March 13, 2014
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On the lighter side, Meet the new (Jewish) Bachelorette from Atlanta

 

Andi Dorfman, a nice Jewish 26 yr-old from Atlanta, won hearts & headlines when she bumped herself out of ‘The Bachelor’ just before the final rose.

By JTA, JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

The Bachelor came to a disappointing close Monday, with leading man Juan Pablo Galavis not proposing. Luckily, something good did come out of the show’s 18th season: The selection of the next “Bachelorette.”

Andi Dorfman

Andi Dorfman, a 26-year-old Jewish Assistant District Attorney from Atlanta, won hearts and headlines when she eliminated herself from the show after having it out with Juan Pablo, who, it seems, is a tad self-absorbed.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: ,
| March 10, 2014
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Video: Wounded Ukrainian protesters airlifted for medical treatment in Israel

This project faced initial obstacles in terms of both hospital access within Israel & funding.

Dr. Valeriya Babchik, a physician at Kaplan, helped to organize the project, along with Arieli & Marina Lysak, Kiev residents.

 

TEL AVIV (JTA) – For 17-year-old Bolodimir Bedyuk, a Ukrainian who was severely wounded in clashes with Ukrainian police on Feb. 18, Israeli medical care may be his only hope.

A wounded individual is transported to a waiting plane, where he will be flown to Israel to receive medical care. (Shimon Briman)A wounded individual is transported to a waiting plane, where he will be flown to Israel to receive medical care. (Shimon Briman)

After a pitched battle with Ukrainian police forces on Institutskaya Street in Kiev, Bedyuk suffered chest wounds and extensive liver damage — his brother Aleksei said Bolodimir’s liver “was torn practically in half.”

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Category: Israel News, Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| March 8, 2014
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Iranian Ayatolla preaches Albert Einstein was Shiite Muslim

Iranian Ayatolla Mahadavi Kani explains in a video circulating on the internet that the Jewish scientist Albert Einstein, proved his Theory of Relativity in understanding the ascension of the Prophet Mohammed.

By HAARETZ

An Iranian cleric claims that the Albert Einstein, the great 20th century scientist who developed the Theory of Relativity, was a Shiitie Muslim, Israel Radio reported on Saturday.
Albert Einstein declines David Ben-Gurion's offer of position as the president of Israel. - Photo courtesy Judaica Heaven

Albert Einstein declines David Ben-Gurion’s offer of position as the president of Israel. – Photo courtesy Judaica Heaven

 

The report cites a video by Ayatolla Mahadavi Kani, described as the head of the Assembly of Experts in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who says that there are documents proving the Jewish scientist embraced Shiite Islam and was an avid follower of Ja’far Al-Sadiq, an eighth-century Shi’i imam.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| March 1, 2014
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Online petition demands Zuckerberg act on Facebook antisemitism

Swedish Jew who launched online initiative gets roughly 17,000 signatures urging Facebook to follow it’s own TOS by taking down “vile, horrific” antisemitic posts.

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An online petition urging Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to help stamp out anti-Semitism on the social networking site had garnered nearly 17,000 signatures by Friday.

Protesting Facebook antisemitism – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The petition is the brainchild of Anna Berg, a Swedish Jew who told Maariv newspaper this week that she has long been battling anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the Scandinavian country.

“Anti-Semitism is once again on the rise in our society,” the petition reads. Continue Reading »

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