The Unexpected Successes of Satmar Hasidim

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, A Hasidic Village in Upstate New York is a brilliant, eye-opening, thought provoking, easy to read and enjoyable book by two university scholars, Nomi M. Stolzenberg of the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, who has written

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Feast

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Being able to hear all five Beethoven piano concerti played on two successive evenings was a rare treat. This was provided by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Steven Sloane, and brought Beethoven’s immense oeuvre in this realm into sharp and impressive perspective. On the first evening

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Dissecting the Ongoing Wave of Antisemitism

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Never would we expect Nazis assaulting an American Jew near Disney World. Or anywhere else in this nation. Yet authorities report that Nazis did in Orlando nearly two weeks ago what Nazis commonly did in Germany 85 years ago. Furthermore, the victim – identified as David Newstat, a student

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Bruce Ticker, Holocaust, International, Middle East, Opinion, USA

StandWithUs Thanks Rep. Lieu for Spearheading Bipartisan Letter on Title VI and Antisemitism

LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — StandWithUs would like to express sincere gratitude to Congressman Ted Lieu (CA-33) for spearheading a bipartisan letter to the United States Department of Education (DOE), asking the DOE to provide much needed technical assistance to the higher educations community about antisemitism, its various manifestations, and the protections to which Jewish

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USA

Amnesty International’s Pseudo-Scholarship

By Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D  BOCA RATON, Florida — In May, while Hamas was firing more than 3,000 deadly rockets from Gaza with the express purpose of murdering Jewish Israelis, members of academic communities around the world were falling over themselves to express their solidarity, not with the beleaguered citizens of the Jewish state again

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International, Middle East, Opinion, USA

Iran Unveils Long-Range Missile as Vienna Nuclear Talks Resume

Published by Reuters By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran unveiled a new domestically-made missile with a range of 1,450 kilometers on Wednesday, state TV reported, a day after Tehran and Washington resumed indirect talks to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal. Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, says its

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International, Middle East

Special Envoy Nominee Lipstadt Vows to Fight Antisemitism ‘Without Fear or Favor’

(JNS) The Biden administration’s nominee Deborah Lipstadt to lead the U.S. State Department’s office that monitors and combats antisemitism appeared in the Senate on Tuesday for her confirmation. Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lipstadt made the case that antisemitism is on the rise. “Increasingly, Jews have been singled out for slander, violence and

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USA

US Hopes to Seal Israel-Lebanon Maritime Agreement

By Yaakov Lappin (JNS) In recent days, Lebanese President Michel Aoun told a U.N. envoy that his country is ready to return to indirect negotiations with Israel over the maritime border between the two countries. Days later, the U.S. envoy to the maritime negotiations, Amos Hochstein, began conducting shuttle diplomacy, involving meetings with Israel’s Energy

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Middle East, USA

‘Ripped Away’ Is a Jewish Tale of Time Travel

Here is a short time-travel novel suitable for Young Adults and older readers imagining two high school students who barely acknowledge each other being transported to Whitechapel, London, during the time of the Jack the Ripper murders.  Abe and Mitzi, who are both Jewish Americans, find themselves transformed into the 19th Century Asher and Maya, two Jewish teenage neighbors, born to impoverished immigrant families. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

2 Potential Successors to Palestinian President Named to Top Posts

Published by Reuters UK RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Two potential successors to 86-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were named on Monday to top posts in the Palestine Liberation Organization at a meeting boycotted by his Islamist rivals. Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the PLO’s 141-member Central Council appointed Hussein Al-Sheikh, 61, an Abbas

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Middle East

US Warns of Extremism After Texas Synagogue Attack, Bomb Threats in Colleges

Published by Reuters By Kanishka Singh (Reuters) – The United States faces heightened threats from extremist groups domestic and foreign, underscored by last month’s hostage standoff crisis in a Texas synagogue and bomb threats at many historically Black colleges and universities, a U.S. government agency said on Monday. The warning comes after some schools across

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USA

Rep. Jacobs Leads Letter Calling for Special Envoy and New Strategy in the Sahel

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53), who is Jewish and whose district is in San Diego County, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY-5) addressed a letter to President Joe Biden urging the Administration to devise a new strategy for the Sahel region and appoint a Special Envoy to the

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International, San Diego County, USA

Discussing the Secrets of Torah Numerology with Author Rabbi Aaron Raskin

By Menachem Posner Chabad.org/News BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Viewers of Chabad.org/Video and consumers of the website’s in-depth essays have long known and enjoyed the prolific scholarly output of Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Downtown Brooklyn and rabbi of Congregation B’nai Avraham in Brooklyn Heights. The rabbi’s most recent work, Simanim: Parsha Mnemonics, provides a

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Jewish Religion, USA