Judaism

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

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, author of ‘You May Want to Marry My Husband,’ dies at 51

CHICAGO — Amy Krouse Rosenthal, a Chicago author who wrote a heart-wrenching column called “You May Want to Marry My Husband” while battling ovarian cancer, died Monday at 51. Rosenthal was a prolific creator described on her website as “a person who likes to make things.” That description includes children’s books and “grown-up books,” salads,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Obituaries & memorials, USA

Iran Says Israel’s Netanyahu Distorts Jewish History

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for saying Persians once tried to destroy the Jewish people, accusing the Israeli premier of distorting Jewish history. On a trip to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, Netanyahu said Persians tried to destroy the Jewish people 2,500 years

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Jewish History, Middle East

George Olah, USC scientist who won Nobel Prize in chemistry, dies at 89

George Olah, a USC chemist and Nobel laureate who found new ways to study previously imperceptible stages in hydrocarbon-related chemical reactions, has died at his Beverly Hills home at age 89. The Hungarian-born scientist’s research, which earned USC its first Nobel in 1994, fueled the advancement of cleaner-burning gasoline, improved oil refining and even led

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Obituaries & memorials, Science, Medicine, & Education

Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s late UN ambassador, died from heart attack: Report

Russia’s longtime envoy to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died from a heart attack suffered inside his Manhattan office last month, a city official said Friday. The ambassador’s cause of death was confirmed by a senior city official on condition of anonymity Friday after the medical examiner’s office declined to release details about his passing

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International, Obituaries & memorials, USA

San Diego Jewry exhibit opens at S.D. History Center

Story by Donald H. Harrison; Photos by Shor M. Masori SAN DIEGO — It was no accident that the “Celebrate San Diego! The History & Heritage of San Diego’s Jewish Community” exhibition in Balboa Park’s San Diego History Center opened on Erev Purim. Curator Joellyn Zollman explained to an opening evening crowd on Saturday, March

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori

Joni Sledge, of ‘We Are Family’ group Sister Sledge, dies at 60

Joni Sledge, who belonged to the four-sister disco-era group Sister Sledge, best known for its No. 1 hit “We Are Family,” died Friday at her home in Phoenix, a spokeswoman for the group announced. She was 60. No cause of death has been announced. “Yesterday, numbness fell upon our family,” said the Sledges in a

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

Haiti pays last respects to former President Rene Preval

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Haiti said goodbye Saturday to one of its most decorated and respected presidents, Rene Preval, in a Catholic ceremony spanning almost three hours. Just as in life, Preval, in death, brought together Haitians of all colors, socioeconomic standings and political leanings as peasant organizations paid tribute by wearing of traditional straw hats — a

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International, Obituaries & memorials

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