Judaism

Ohio bill would require colleges to allow student accommodation for religious observance

February 21, 2022

The Ohio House Higher Education Committee heard testimony on a bill on Feb. 15 that would require colleges and universities in the state to provide accommodation for students when there are conflicts between class assignments, exams and religious observances.

A number of Jewish organizations, including dozens of Hillels, Chabad Houses, historically Jewish fraternities, Jewish Federations and Jewish Community Relations Councils, are supporting the legislation.

The bipartisan ...

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Health care provider pays $75,000 in 'scrub skirt' religious bias suit

February 2, 2022

A Tennessee-based health care provider will pay $75,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit involving an Apostolic Pentecostal nurse who wanted to wear a “scrub skirt” to work. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the company denied the nurse’s right to religious accommodation.

Wellpath LLC hired Christian nurse Malinda Babineaux in 2019 to provide health services at Central Texas Correctional Facility in San Antonio. After accepting the Texas job offer, Babineaux informed the company’s human resources team that her religious beliefs required her to...

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A Jewish Teacher Criticized Israel. She Was Fired.

February 3, 2022

Last summer, Jessie Sander had been on the job at a Jewish school in Westchester County for less than a month when a meeting with her boss took an unexpected turn. Was she comfortable working at a Zionist institution? he asked.

Her boss, Rabbi David E. Levy of Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, N.Y., had come across a recent blog post she had written that renounced Zionism and sharply criticized Israel, Ms. Sander, 26, said in a lawsuit filed on Jan. 25. The rabbi had...

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Rabbi tells lawmakers about hostage ordeal and calls for more funding for security

February 8, 2022

The rabbi who escaped a hostage takeover at his synagogue last month testified before Congress for the first time on Tuesday about his ordeal, detailing why he opened the door for the attacker and how he and others were able to flee after the hours-long standoff.

On the morning of January 15 when the gunman arrived, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker of the Congregation...

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Biden's pick to combat antisemitism finally gets hearing

February 8, 2022

Describing herself as an “equal-opportunity foe of antisemitism,” President Joe Biden’s pick to monitor and combat prejudice against Jews around the world finally got her day before the Senate committee that will evaluate her nomination.

Biden had nominated Deborah Lipstadt to lead the State Department’s office for combating antisemitism in late July. A hostage standoff last month at a Texas synagogue brought about new calls for the Senate to act on her nomination.

“We’ve seen a spike of antisemitism here at home and abroad, making this position exceedingly...

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Jewish Federations eye security improvements for communities

February 1, 2022

A year before the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, a security director from the city’s Jewish federation came to the house of worship to train its religious school staff and rabbi on how to respond to violent situations. At the time, Stephen Weiss thought it was unnecessary.

But Weiss, then a teacher at the synagogue’s religious school, attended the training, where he was taught to avoid being easily seen by an active shooter and strategies to get away from dangerous areas. Both lessons proved useful in 2018 when a gunman entered the synagogue and killed 11...

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First rabbi chosen to lead Essex County social justice group

February 3, 2022

For much of the past two decades, Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin has worked on the front lines of campaigns to secure fairer treatment and greater opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Now, the veteran activist has a new opportunity to put those organizing skills to work as the next leader of the Essex County Community Organization.

ECCO, a faith-based grass-roots organization that fights for racial and social justice, named Ronkin its new executive director effective Jan. 15. The Jamaica...

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Planned alternative yeshiva in D.C. is hit with stop-work order

January 31, 2022

D.C. officials have halted work on what its founder hopes will be the city’s only yeshiva, or stand-alone Jewish study center, after regulators found a two-story building under construction — not the “enlarged family room” for which the city had given a permit.

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld announced late last year that he was leaving his longtime pulpit, Ohev Sholom, the District’s largest Orthodox synagogue, to found Yeshivas Reb Elimelech on a quiet residential street in the Northwest Washington neighborhood of Shepherd Park.

...
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Beyond Conservative and Reform: The Rise of the Unaffliated Synagogue

January 20, 2022

Temple Ohabei Shalom is the longest enduring Jewish congregation in Massachusetts. Founded in Boston in 1842, the congregation—now in Brookline—will celebrate its 180th anniversary this year.

The synagogue, which is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism, traces its Reform roots to the latter part of the 19th century. Yet, for the past...

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Synagogues forced to balance welcoming the stranger with protecting their own

January 19, 2022

The rabbi offered the man at the synagogue door a warm place to stay and a cup of tea.

But the gesture, seen by most Jews as a commandment to welcome the stranger and offer hospitality, is now under severe strain.

What happened next is well-known. A 44-year-old British citizen entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Saturday morning (Jan. 15) as Shabbat services were about to be livestreamed, and took four people, including the rabbi, hostage at gunpoint.

Source:...

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US law enforcement officials aim to reassure Jewish community in wake of hostage standoff

January 18, 2022

Top Biden administration law enforcement officials -- including the FBI director, the attorney general and the Homeland Security secretary -- sought to reassure more than 1,000 members of the Orthodox Jewish community during a teleconference meeting Tuesday that the federal government recognizes the severity of the recent hostage standoff in Texas and is prepared to promote...

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Muslims in interfaith bonds are proliferating. Imams willing to marry them are not.

January 10, 2022

When Faiqa Cheema and Jeff Beale were planning their September 2021 wedding, it was important to Cheema that it include elements of the traditional ceremony of her Muslim faith, while also being meaningful for her husband, who was raised Baptist.

The couple’s path to their dream interfaith wedding turned out to be more complicated than they expected. While such unions are increasingly common, Muslim clergy have long frowned on marrying outside Islam, and Cheema and Beale struggled to find an imam who would officiate, much less adapt the Islamic ceremony, known as a nikah, to...

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Buddhist leaders share open letter addressing antisemitism following Texas synagogue attack

January 19, 2022

Over 100 Buddhist leaders have signed an open letter addressing antisemitism following the January 15 synagogue attack at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, in which a gunman held four people hostage for 10 hours. Penned by Zen teacher Koshin Paley Ellison of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, the letter was shared via Google Doc for Buddhist leaders to sign.

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