Author: Eric A. Stern

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/us/05religion.html?em

In Montana, a rabbi is an unusual sight. So when a Hasidic one walked into the State Capitol last December, with his long beard, black hat and long black coat, a police officer grabbed his bomb-sniffing German shepherd and went to ask the exotic visitor a few questions.

Though there are few Jews in Montana today, there once were many...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: JTA

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/12/01/1009467/mock-trial-association-to-accomodate-shabbat

The American Mock Trial Association has changed its official policy to accommodate Jewish students who observe the Sabbath.

The organization's board of directors amended the rules to allow a team to change its trial schedule for the National High School Mock Trial Championship if...

Author: Eric Fingerhut

Source: JTA

http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/12/01/1009477/adl-ajc-join-brief-on-wiccan-clergyman

The Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee have signed on to an Americans United for Church and State amicus brief arguing that a Wiccan clergyman should be able to challenge a state prison policy that limits paid chaplaincy positions to people who are...

Author: Sudarsan Raghavan

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/24/AR2009112403898.html

The last remaining Jews in Yemen are vanishing, driven out by politics, war and hatred. Once numbering 60,000, one of the oldest Jewish populations in the Arab world now has fewer than 350 members.

In recent months, persecution by Islamist extremists has intensified,...

Author: Corina Knoll

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs23-2009nov23,0,4185069.story

The challah was blessed, the Manischewitz wine was poured, the candles were lighted. It could have been any Shabbat dinner in Los Angeles, were it not for the fact that it took place midweek and the room was full of Catholic schoolteachers.

The 34 teachers were participants in Bearing Witness...

Author: John Schwartz

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/us/21mezuzah.html?_r=1&em

The case of the missing mezuzah will go to trial.

Last week the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, ruled that a case may go forward involving a family’s fight to affix a small box containing Hebrew religious texts, known as a mezuzah, to the doorposts of their condominium units...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AFP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jlom3-NbKJ1eT6p34vmeY88gzkPA

Faith leaders on Tuesday gathered at a Jewish religious and cultural centre in Mumbai to light candles to those who died in last year's deadly terror attacks on the city.

The candles were lit after a moment of silence to remember the six people...

Author: John McManus

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8359414.stm

The government is facing criticism over claims that it allows faith schools to refuse jobs or promotion to staff with different, or no, spiritual beliefs.

The National Secular Society is arguing at its conference that current legislation discriminates against well qualified, non-religious teachers,

The Department for Children, Schools...

Author: Abdon M. Pallasch

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/religion/1884091,CST-NWS-mezuzah14.article

A federal appellate court on Friday revived a Jewish family's lawsuit against a Chicago condominium association that repeatedly removed a mezuzah from the family's doorpost.

Many Jews believe their religion requires them to post the religious symbol -- a small,...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Wire Service: AP

Author: Matthew E. Berger

Source: Religion News Service

http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/anti_gay_church_sets_its_sights_on_jews/

The 7-year-old boy in the red hat and hooded sweatshirt seemed like any other child playing in the street, except for the sign Luke Phelps-Roper was carrying: “God Hates Fags.”

For more than a decade, Westboro Baptist Church has raised a ruckus with...

Author: Sarah Lyall

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/world/europe/08britain.html?em

The questions before the judges in Courtroom No. 1 of Britain’s Supreme Court were as ancient and as complex as Judaism itself.

Who is a Jew? And who gets to decide?

On the surface, the court was considering a straightforward challenge to the admissions policy of a Jewish high school in London. But...

Author: AP

Source: The Boston Globe

https://archive.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2009/11/07/...

Author: Sue Fishkoff

Source: San Francisco Jewish Community Publications

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/40426/stanford-faith-groups-unite-in-wake-of-sukkah-vandalism/

Stanford University’s Jewish community celebrated the first night of Sukkot by eating the traditional festive meal inside the sukkah they put up every year.

The next morning, on Oct. 3, a student walked into the sukkah...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Merinews

http://www.entertainmentandshowbiz.com/avatar-hindus-ask-for-a-disclaimer-with-james-camerons-avatar-2009111822418

Concerned Hindus have asked James Cameron to attach a disclaimer in the beginning and end of his forthcoming film “Avatar”, saying that it has nothing to do with Hinduism or its concepts.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in...