Judaism

Thessaloniki’s new Holocaust museum a sign of a city finally embracing its Jewish past

Once called the Flower of the Balkans, 74 years after the Nazis destroyed the great Sephardic community, the Greek city to begin construction of a fitting memorial By Gavin Rabinowitz When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the children of a Greek Jewish Holocaust survivor unveiled a plaque Thursday for the planned Thessaloniki Holocaust Memorial Museum,

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International, Jewish History

A Czech town renowned for its history of anti-Semitism would like to forget its Jewish past

Plans to rehabilitate a pre-war Jewish cemetery in the Czech town of Prostejov have run into fierce local opposition. The foundation behind the plan says it has been torpedoed by deliberate misinformation and anti-Semitism. Tomas Jelinek stands over a broken headstone and scrapes at patches of cement obscuring the name. Sweating heavily in spite of

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International, Jewish History

Scion of chief rabbinical family breaks ranks over intermarriage

Amichai Lau-Lavie to leave Conservative rabbinic group; seeks new definition for non-Jewish partners. By Gary Rosenblatt If you had to describe Amichai Lau-Lavie’s rationale for breaking ranks with the Conservative movement, as he is about to do, on its prohibition against rabbis performing intermarriages, it might be this: Love trumps tribe. A popular and dynamic

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Jewish Religion, USA

Settler rabbi who praised attacks on Arabs indicted for incitement

Charges cite a 2013 article in which Yosef Elitzur said so-called ‘price tag’ assailants are those ‘who take responsibility for the security of Jews’ By Jacob Magid Rabbi Yosef Elizur (c) speaks with his lawyer in the Rishon Lezion court. August 2010 (Roni Schutzer/Flash90) A settler rabbi who praised and encouraged attacks against Palestinians in

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

Ivanka Trump Mistakes Judaism As One of The World’s Largest Religions

Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter and one of his personal advisers, incorrectly identified Judaism as one of the three largest world religions during her Monday appearance on “Fox & friends.” Read: Ivanka Trump To Appear On ‘Fox & Friends’: What To Expect From Her Interview During her appearance on the cable morning news show,

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Jewish Religion, USA

Rabbi Sacks essays on the Book of Numbers

Covenant & Conversation, Numbers: The Wilderness Years, A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Maggid Books and The Orthodox Union, Jerusalem, © 2017, ISBN 978-1-68025-294-1, p. 171, plus glossary, $14.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California –  World-renown rabbi and scholar Rabbi Jonathan Sacks begins with the assertion that the Book of

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

History detective tells SDHC gala of her adventures

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – If you think of a history researcher as someone who spends nearly every waking hour poring over old manuscripts, you haven’t met Joellyn Zollman, Ph.D She’s the curator of the “Celebrate San Diego! The history & Heritage of San Diego’s Jewish Community” exhibit which is being presented through

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

E.L. Woody, the self-proclaimed ‘King of the Paparazzi’, dies at 70

He didn’t meet Sylvester Stallone on the best of nights, and it didn’t go much better the time he bumped into Kiefer Sutherland. But Mark Wahlberg liked E.L. Woody, at least enough to cast him in HBO’s hit series “Entourage.” Wahlberg’s marching orders for Woody were clear enough — just play yourself. So Woody strapped

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Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Jewish great-grandson has a play on Theresienstadt

By Sandee Brawarsky J.R.R. Tolkien’s great-grandson Nicholas Tolkien. Separated by three generations, one lived through war to create a magical world of fantasy, and one was blessed to know peace but writes about an unimaginably tragic chapter of history. Playwright and director Nicholas Tolkien, who makes his Off-Broadway debut this month with “ Terezin,” is

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Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA