Jewish Religion

Tens of Thousands of Orthodox Jews Protest Israel’s Military Draft Law

JERUSALEM, March 29, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews gathered yesterday (Tuesday) to protest Israel’s Military Draft Law, resulting in the forced enlistment of many Orthodox Jews. The protestors also decried Israel’s brutal tactics to crack down peaceful protestors. The demonstration was organized by the Edah HaChareidis – a Rabbinic umbrella association […]

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

A haggada for those who want more

Redemption, Then and Now: Pesaḥ Haggada with Essays and Commentary by Rabbi Benjamin Blech;  Menorah Books, Jerusalem, © 2017, ISBN 978-1-940516-73-8, p. 310, $24.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California –  Considering the long arc of Jewish history, the Haggada, a book containing the Passover Seder, the traditional ordered meal recreating God’s redemptive acts through the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion

“Yes, call me a Jew”

Historic Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia vandalized This new wave of anti-Semitism, delivered via bomb threats, cemetery vandalisms, swastika desecrations, and specific acts of violence, reawakens an old and bittersweet mantra in every Jewish soul: we are as vulnerable as we are enduring. I remember: somebody once wrote me a nasty letter after something I circulated

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion

StandWithUs publishes modern Israel Haggadah

LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — — A new Passover Haggadah is  being distributed by StandWithUs, an international Israel education organization, that emphasizes not only the themes of slavery and freedom but also underscores Jews’ 3,000-year-long connection to their ancestral homeland, Israel. The Haggadah, From Ancient Egypt to Modern Israel, is the brainchild of StandWithUs co-founder and COO, Jerry Rothstein. “According to a

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Prague synagogue gets two new Torah scrolls

Two new Torah scrolls donated to Prague’s Great Synagogue were inaugurated on Sunday during a festive ceremony. This is the first time since World War II that the Prague Jewish community received new Torah scrolls. During the Holocaust, Prague’s large Jewish community was almost completely wiped out: Prior to World War II, 125,000 Jews lived

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East

When the White House envoy made a minyan with the Prime Minister

White House special envoy Jason Greenblatt met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for three hours Thursday evening, the second time the two had face-to-face talks since Greenblatt arrived in Israel for a fact-finding mission earlier this week. Greenblatt also met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin this week, and traveled to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Where is the kippah? There is an answer

Commentators on social media wondered why White House special envoy Jason Greenblat did not wear a kippah (a Jewish skullcap) during his meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday. Orthodox Jewish men traditionally wear kippot. Greenblat studied at the Har Etzion yeshiva and attended Yeshiva University. He is a successful and respected lawyer and lives

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Leo Baeck and Jewish liberalism

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Tucked away in a quiet Jerusalem side-street is the Leo Baeck Institute, where activities associated with the man himself and various aspects of his heritage are held, its official purpose being ‘the study of German and Central European Jewry.’ Sister institutes are to be found in cities elsewhere

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Jewish Religion