I was late to the havurah movement — the egalitarian, counterculture congregations that blended grassroots spirituality, social activism and skepticism about mainstream synagogues and the Jewish establishment. By the time we joined Farbrengen in Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s, the founders of the movement were sprouting gray hairs and more than a few were […]
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The financial services company Credit Suisse had hundreds more bank accounts with Nazi ties than it had previously revealed, a new investigation reported this week. The findings were discovered when independent investigators audited UBS, the Swiss bank that acquired Credit Suisse in 2023. “What the investigation has found to date shows that Credit Suisse’s involvement […]
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Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s planned visit to Australia this weekend, which was scheduled in the wake of the Bondi massacre in December, has drawn widespread opposition and planned protests, including from some Jews. Following Herzog’s invitation to visit the country by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, some Labor party members and pro-Palestinian groups called for […]
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Canadian Jewish groups are denouncing a government decision to replace the country’s antisemitism and Islamophobia envoys with a new “Rights, Equality and Inclusion” council. The new advisory council, announced by the Canadian government on Wednesday, is billed in a press release as aiming to “foster social cohesion, rally Canadians around shared identity, combat racism and […]
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A British jury has acquitted six activists from the British group Palestine Action who were charged with breaking into the U.K. site of an Israeli defense company, eliciting criticism from British Jewish groups and leaders. The defendants — Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan […]
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An Israeli-Palestinian restaurant in Berlin that became internationally known for its “Make hummus not war” message is closing after 10 years — but a new TV series will extend its story. Kanaan, a hummus bar run by Oz Ben David, an Israeli, and Jalil Dabit, a Palestinian, has announced it will shutter in March. The […]
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Since the end of World War II, Vienna has functioned as an Ellis Island for Jewish refugees from Europe and the Middle East, a place where survivors, dissidents and religious minorities arrived with little more than documents and hope, and departed toward new lives. That role has come to an end: HIAS is shutting down […]
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I’ve been to Madrid twice, both times to perform ritual circumcisions, and both trips overlapped with some of the saddest yearly Jewish commemorations: Tisha B’av and, this year, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The timing gave both visits a somewhat somber tone. On my outbound journey last week, I was stopped by Israeli security to check […]
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France has issued arrest warrants for two French-Israeli activists for “complicity in genocide,” a charge that stemmed from the pair allegedly blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip. The arrest warrants were issued in July against Nili Kupfer-Naouri, the president of the organization Israel Is Forever, and Rachel Touitou, an activist with the organization […]
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British LGBTQ activist Peter Tatchell was arrested for holding a sign with the phrase “globalize the intifada” at a pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday. Tatchell’s arrest comes weeks after the police in London announced that they would arrest pro-Palestinian protesters who chant “globalize the intifada.” While the common pro-Palestinian phrase is defended by its […]
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