By Jacob Kamaras/JNS.org BOSTON–The Ruderman Family Foundation on Monday, Jan. 27, announced that Dr. Michael Ashley Stein, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and an internationally recognized expert on disability rights, will receive the inaugural $100,000 Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion. Stein is the co-founder and executive director of the Harvard Law School […]
Disabled rights activist awarded $100,000 Read More »
Jacob Kamaras, USASyrian opposition, Lebanese military blame Israel for strike on S-300 missiles (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) On Monday, Syrian opposition groups and the Lebanese military claimed that Israeli Air Force planes bombed S-300 missile launchers in the Syrian port city of Latakia on Sunday night. The S-300 is an advanced Russian anti-aircraft system. Despite the claims,
JNS news briefs: January 28, 2014 Read More »
International, San Diego County
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–The professor who directs the Center for Law and Media at Israel’s Ariel University says the Jewish state must argue its case more vehemently in the courts of law and public opinion, and to do that it must be willing to invest the money it takes to counter
Ariel professor urges more Hasbara spending Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Yifa Segal BRUSSELS – Three quarters of a century have passed, and very few Holocaust survivors are still with us, but the memory of the worst genocide in European history still lives on. “We have seen the danger in spreading false propaganda” said Martin Shultz, President of the European Parliament, “Even today we hear of
European Parliament commemorates Holocaust Read More »
Jewish HistoryMK Uri Ariel recites the kaddish at Auschwitz (video via Knesset spokesperson) By Aryeh Savir JERUSALEM –Before MK Uri Ariel, Minister of Construction and Housing, embarked on his trip to Poland together with some 60 Members of Knesset he received a special request – he was provided with a Tallit belonging to Shlomo Yom
MK dons a special tallit at Auschwitz Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish ReligionBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Uncertainty, and overdeveloped egos in high places are two realities of politics. First, uncertainties. They prevail in the competitive world of politics. Even the banal stuff of domestic policy can set the commentators wondering about what comes next. Currently the Middle East is in worse shape than the local squabbles
Ego, not ration, often drives U.S. policy Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, USA
TEL AVIV (Press Release)–The Pew Research Center published a major study of Jewish Americans pointing out that there are weaker connections to Judaism through religious affiliation and practice and stronger connections through ancestry, heritage and culture. Also pointed out in the Pew study is that there is a durability of Jewishness in America with
Being Jewish: the continuing story Read More »
Jewish Religion
Editor’s Note: Following is a summary report by an Iran Task Force co-chaired by Ambassadors Eric Edelman and Dennis Ross that was issued Monday, Jan. 27, by the Gemunder Center of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — Preventing a nuclear-capable Iran remains the most pressing national security challenge
Agreement made nuclear Iran more likely–JINSA Read More »
Middle EastNEW YORK (Press Release)–The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Monday, Jan. 27, commended Italian authorities for their strong condemnation of two anti-Semitic incidents in which pig heads were sent to a Rome synagogue, the Jewish Museum of Rome and the Israeli embassy on January 25, two days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano
Kudos to Italy for response to pig heads–ADL Read More »
InternationalNEW YORK (WJC) — The World Jewish Congress (WJC) has strongly protested calls by Swedish and Danish medical associations for a ban on religious male circumcision. “The recommendation of the two medical associations is an insulting and intrusive assault on religious freedom,” said WJC CEO Robert Singer. “Religious circumcision, a procedure that has been practiced
Danes, Swedes attack brit milah; WJC counters Read More »
Science, Medicine, & Education
By Anav Silverman JERUSALEM — Pre-state Israel experienced its first opera premiere when the Russian-born conductor and visionary, Mordechai Golinkin directed Verdi’s La Traviata (“The Fallen Woman”) in September 1923. With no opera house existing in Tel Aviv at the time, La Traviata had to be performed in movie theaters. In his quest to pioneer
A Polish opera director in the Judean Desert Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — Someone once told me that there is a lot of anonymous suffering in the world. The phrase haunted me as I was apprised recently of the death, in a residential fire, of a 45 year-old woman who was born with Down’s syndrome and who never spoke a word
Why rabbis should avoid ‘liturgical clichés’ Read More »
Jewish ReligionNEW YORK (Press Release)– In response to reports of anti-Semitism in the Pine Bush, N.Y. school district and elsewhere in the town, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has brought its Confronting Anti-Semitism program to Orange County in an effort to empower and equip the local Jewish community with constructive and effective responses to anti-Semitic incidents and
Anti-Semitism in Orange County, N.Y., stirs ADL Read More »
USA
By Sean Savage/JNS.org The U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations have yet to yield any tangible results. Serious disagreements remain over key issues such as borders, refugees, security, and the status of Jerusalem. Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a surprise visit to Jordan’s King Abdullah to discuss these issues. While Jordan officially supports a two-state
Does Jordan truly want an independent Palestine? Read More »
Middle East