Judaism

Second gentleman attends National Menorah lighting ceremony: 'Jewish history is American history'

November 28, 2021

Doug Emhoff, husband to Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke at the National Menorah lighting ceremony on Sunday for the first night of Hanukkah.

The first Jewish spouse of a president or a vice president, Emhoff has publicly highlighted various tenets of his faith while his wife is in office.

"On this first night of Hanukkah, Jews all around the world are going to light their menorahs in the windows of their homes -- just like the vice president and I are going to do later tonight at our home here in DC," Emhoff said during the ceremony. "As we light this menorah on...

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Some Jews see antisemitism and White nationalism becoming less fringe since the 2017 Unite the Right rally

November 26, 2021

For a moment, Rabbi Rachel Schmelkin imagined that after the first day of the 2017 Unite the Right rally, life would go back to normal.

The day before, hundreds of white nationalists had descended on Charlottesville, where she was an associate rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel. They carried torches, chanted racist slogans and tore through crowds with flags pointed like spears. A night’s sleep, she had hoped, would expel the trauma she had experienced.

“The Unite the Right...

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Swastika 'Hotspot' Found Near New Rochelle HS, District Confirms

November 22, 2021

School officials are condemning the behavior and taking steps to reach out after a hateful personal hotspot name containing the image of a swastika was found to be available near the high school campus.

The school district reaffirmed its no-tolerance policy to racism and promised to open a conversation with students to promote understanding in the wake of the troubling incident, Superintendent Jonathan Raymond wrote in a letter to families dated Nov. 22.

The hateful hotspot name that included a depiction of a swastika showed up on devices as an available WiFi...

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Harlem is home to an important part of Jewish history in New York

November 11, 2021

On a Tuesday morning in early November, 16 adults and a baby in a stroller huddled in a group near the statue of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in Harlem. Despite the chill in the air, all eyes were intent on Barry Judelman as he delivered a brief history of the neighborhood’s Jewish community.

The group, gathered that day for the Jewish Harlem Walking Tour, was mostly older and Jewish. This is generally true of the participants in the various Jewish history tours he leads around New York City, Judelman said. “That’s...

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Feds prompt Michigan to revise religious practice restrictions on prisoners

November 4, 2021

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday it has reached a settlement with the Michigan Department of Corrections to change the state's policy limiting worship and religious activities for prisoners, as well as the kosher diet fed to Jewish inmates.

Under the agreement, Michigan corrections officials agreed to eliminate its policy that required a minimum of five people for religious services or activities. It will also remove a prohibition on group religious practices for Hindus, Yorubas, Hebrew Israelites and Thelema practitioners, unless there's...

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Police investigating desecration of Torah scroll at George Washington University fraternity

November 1, 2021

A fraternity house at George Washington University was vandalized over the weekend, including desecration of a Torah scroll, according to the university and Tau Kappa Epsilon.

"Our entire chapter is outraged and saddened by this blatant act of antisemitism and violence against our brothers," the fraternity said in a statement Sunday evening.

Chapter President Chris Osborne told CNN by phone the...

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Book explores how a diverse Jewish neighborhood responded to a horrific hate crime

October 27, 2021

The three-year anniversary of the Tree of Life shooting in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Wednesday (Oct. 27) will include an outdoor memorial service at Schenley Park, with 11 trees planted to remember those slain.

The 11 who died when an armed intruder entered a building housing three Jewish congregations and started firing indiscriminately have been eulogized and written about widely.

Journalist Mark Oppenheimer decided to explore how the Squirrel Hill community responded.

Source:...

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How some "Jewitches" are embracing both Judaism and witchcraft

October 25, 2021

In a scene from a recently released movie, three older women in a small room slowly walk clockwise around a table covered in candles, chanting curses softly.

A scene from the latest “Macbeth” remake? Not exactly: It’s a moment from indie film “A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff,” a musical exploration of spirituality, Jewish identity and the Bernie Madoff case.

Its creator, Alicia Jo Rabins, identifies...

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A New Showcase for the Story of Jews in the South

October 19, 2021

 Some of the artifacts may seem mundane for display in a museum: a steamer trunk, a peddler’s cart, a cash register from a men’s clothing store.

But they reflect the little-known 350-year history of Jews in America’s Southern states, which is the focus of the new $5.5 million Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience here.

“This all about how Jews came to the South, where they might have experienced a difficult welcome and where they succeeded at building loving...

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When a Jewish hospital chaplain was asked to perform a Catholic baptism

October 15, 2021

When Hope Fried received the text from the primary pediatric staff chaplain at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City last spring, she burst into tears. She was on call, working the overnight shift during the residency year of her training as a chaplain. Pacing her Manhattan apartment, her mind was racing.

The message came in at around nine in the evening explaining that a Catholic, Spanish-speaking mother in the labor and delivery unit was preparing to give birth to a baby who would either be stillborn or expected to die soon after birth. She was asking for her child to be...

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Washington National Cathedral dedicates carving to Elie Wiesel, the first modern Jew memorialized in the building

October 12, 2021

Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday dedicated the fourth of the planned “quartet” of human rights carvings in the building’s vestibule, honoring the late Elie Wiesel with prayer and discussion of the Holocaust survivor’s legacy of pursuing justice, hope and faith in the face of humanity’s darkest crimes.

The dedication marked the first time a modern Jew has been memorialized at the huge, Gothic-style cathedral, which houses hundreds of images in its carvings, stained glass and other art inside and outside in an effort to be a...

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American Girl releases doll outfits for Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah celebrations

October 5, 2021

This holiday season, American Girl characters Samantha, Addy and Josefina can celebrate the Christian holiday of Christmas, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah or Diwali, the festival of lights observed by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs.

Next year, they’ll be ready for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, too.

The religious holidays are part of a capsule collection of doll clothes and accessories for six cultural celebrations and were released last week by American Girl, the popular line of dolls and books telling the stories of American girls throughout history to the...

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After tweaking rituals during the pandemic, a Jewish burial society in Pittsburgh has made amends

October 5, 2021

Tahara, the act of washing and purifying the deceased, is paramount to Jewish burial. So when the pandemic descended on the United States in March 2020, members of a Pittsburgh-based Jewish burial society devoted to the practice made a difficult decision.

Given fears of COVID-19 transmission, members of the New Community Chevra Kadisha stopped traveling to funeral homes and performing the sacred act of tahara in person. Instead of physically washing and purifying a body prior to burial, members gathered on Zoom for what they called a “spiritual tahara,” ...

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