By 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 EastTEL AVIV (Press Release) — An estimated 25.8 million Americans have diabetes. Another 79 million are thought to have “prediabetes,” meaning they are at risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Now Dr. Nataly Lerner of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and her colleagues have discovered that a simple blood test reveals an individual’s risk
Diabetes can now be predicted earlier Read More »
Science, Medicine, & EducationNew excavations shed light on Sobibor death camp (JNS.org) A recent excavation has provided a silent testimony to the mass killing of about 250,000 Jews at the Nazis’ Sobibor death camp in Poland, 70 years after the perpetrators tried to cover their tracks by razing the site to its core and planting what was to
JNS news briefs: January 27, 2014 Read More »
InternationalBy Sheryl Rowling SAN DIEGO– Dear Money Maven, I invest in several mutual funds. I was looking at my statements and realized that I have no idea what investments these funds hold. I’m not trying to second guess the managers, but how do I know if they’re investing in companies I wouldn’t want to own?
Avoiding investments in terror states Read More »
Sheryl RowlingBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration is angry that Senate proponents of additional sanctions against Iran (to be instituted if the interim accord expires without a final agreement) appear to be more skeptical of Iranian promises than the president and Secretary Kerry are. The administration is angry as well that signers, particularly Democratic
Are Obama, Kerry blaming Jews for Iran failures? Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen