Judaism

A Jewish Ritual Collides With Mother Nature

March 5, 2010

Author: Samuel G. Freedman

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/us/06religion.html

Last Saturday morning, as a blizzard sputtered out its last squalls over Passaic, N.J., Chaya Leah Smolen sent her husband and several children off to synagogue. She issued the children a message that might seem to contradict the essence of winter motherhood: do not carry any tissues.

To that admonition, she added others. The children...

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Jews, Muslims Worry Body Scanners Violate Religious Laws

March 3, 2010

Author: Omar Sacirbey

Source: Religion News Service

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

Canadian lawyer Kerry Gearin is planning to fly to Washington, D.C., this summer for a conference on Islamic family law, but the full-body scanners being deployed in some U.S. airports make her wonder if she’ll be forced to leave her modesty...

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Germany’s Mega Passion Play Is Back, And Jews Are Watching Carefully

February 24, 2010

Author: Niels Sorrells

Source: Religion News Service

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

With its focus on the last days of Jesus’ life, a Passion play should, by its nature, arouse passions. But here, the world’s most famous Passion play keeps stirring the wrong kind.

As it has almost every 10 years since...

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Del.'s 1st Jewish Gov. Hangs Mezuzah At Mansion

February 24, 2010

Author: Staff Writer

Source: WJZ

Wire Service: AP

http://wjz.com/wireapnewsmd/Delaware.s.1st.2.1516477.html

Delaware's first Jewish governor has hung a mezuzah at his home — the governor's mansion in Dover.

The small ornamental boxes containing a prayer scroll are commonly affixed to entrances of Jewish homes. Rabbi Peter Grumbacher affixed the mezuzah to a door post at Woodburn on Tuesday...

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Makeshift Bomb Thrown At Cairo Synagogue, No Dead

February 21, 2010

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Yahoo News

Wire Service: AP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100221/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_synagogue_attack

A man hurled a suitcase containing a makeshift bomb at Cairo's main downtown synagogue in the early hours Sunday morning, but there were no injuries or damage, police said.

According to the police report, a man entered a hotel located on the fourth floor...

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Bomb Threat And Anti-Semitic Slur Delay Jewish-Themed Russian Opera Premiere

February 20, 2010

Author: Staff Writer

Source: European Jewish Press

Wire Service: AFP

http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/42487

The premiere of a Jewish-themed opera in Saint Petersburg was delayed Thursday after an unknown person threatened to blow up the theatre, police said.   

The historic Mikhailovsky theatre had been due to present a staging of "The Jewess" by French composer Jacques Fromental Halevy when it received the...

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Boca Raton Police: Synagogue Vandalism a Hate Crime

February 16, 2010

Author: Brian Haas

Source: Sun Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/boca-raton/fl-boca-temple-hate-crime-20100216,0,6582224.story

Police on Tuesday were investigating the vandalism of a Boca Raton synagogue as a hate crime after burglars broke in, damaged property and left behind anti-Semitic and racist messages.

Firefighters responding to a fire alarm about...

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Algerian Inter-Faith Leaders Call for More Religious Freedom

February 12, 2010

Author: Walid Ramzi

Source: Magharebia

http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/02/12/feature-01

Algeria is a religiously tolerant nation that will never encroach on the rights of non-Muslims to worship, Religious Affairs Minister Bouabdellah Ghlamallah told participants at an Algiers seminar on Wednesday (February 10th).

Under the banner of "Religious Worship: A...

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Man Faces Prosecution for Taking Daughter to Church

February 11, 2010

Author: Jackie Walker

Source: The Houston Chronicle/Religion News Service

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/6863014.html

A Chicago man could face prosecution for violating a restraining order by taking his 3-year-old daughter to church.

Joseph Reyes, 35, converted from Catholicism to Judaism when he married his wife, Rebecca. According to Rebecca Reyes, they agreed to raise their daughter Jewish. But when the...

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Vancouver Jewish Community Gets the Chance to Showcase Its City

February 11, 2010

Author: Ben Harris

Source: Jewish Exponent

http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/20590/

Shmuel Birnham's road from Vancouver rabbi to official Jewish clergyman of the 2010 Winter Olympics began, in all places, at an interfaith service with the Dalai Lama.

During the Tibetan leader's 2004 visit to Vancouver, Hong Chian, a local Buddhist doctor, invited Birnham to be one of the Jewish representatives at the service. When the Olympics rolled around,...

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Row Over Plan to Build Jewish Museum Of Tolerance On Site Of Muslim Cemetery

February 10, 2010

Author: Rory McCarthy

Source: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/jewish-museum-tolerance-muslim-cemetery

A group of Palestinians descended from 15 of Jerusalem's oldest Arab families lodged a protest with the UN today in a fresh effort to prevent the construction of a "Museum of Tolerance" on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery.

The project, run by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los...

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Jewish-Muslim Study Course Grounds Interfaith Dialogue In Sacred Text

February 9, 2010

Author: Sue Fishkoff

Source: JTA

http://jta.org/news/article/2010/02/09/1010531/jewish-muslim-study-course-grounds-interfaith-dialogue-in-sacred-text

Judaism is a harsh, exacting faith condemning rebellious children to death by stoning. Islam exhorts Muslims to kill non-believers.

Neither statement, according to many Jewish and Muslim scholars, is true. But they are among the...

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