((JR)) — For years, the Hanukkah llama has been a corny cliche that skeptics of the big-box Hanukkah industrial complex love to hate. What does a South American animal have to do with a holiday commemorating a Jewish miracle in the Middle East? Is a not-quite rhyme enough to justify “Happy Llamakah” sweaters and socks? […]
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(JR) — In the 2000s, as the small Israeli town of Sderot endured heavy rocket fire, thousands of residents left the city. Around the same time, a new population began moving in: Bnei Menashe Jews from the northeast Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram. More than 100 Bnei Menashe families called Sderot their home until […]
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(JR) — The AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, the site of a 1994 bombing that killed 85 people, was hit with a bomb threat Wednesday. Law enforcement searched the premises and determined that the threat was a false alarm. The building’s operations continued normally during the search, according to the Buenos Aires Herald. Emails […]
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((JR)) — Soon after news broke Wednesday morning of Jewish TV pioneer Norman Lear’s death at 101 years old, actors and comedians quickly took to social media to remember the titan of comedy. Tributes poured in from a who’s-who of Jewish celebrities — from Barbra Streisand and Jon Stewart to Alex Edelman and Billy Crystal. […]
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((JR)) — The “H” in NHL may as well stand for Hughes. Jewish brothers Jack, Luke and Quinn Hughes made hockey history on Tuesday night when they became the first trio of Jewish brothers to play in the same NHL game. Jack and Luke’s New Jersey Devils faced Quinn’s Vancouver Canucks in a night dubbed […]
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(New York Jewish Week) — In 1970, New York State passed one of the most expansive abortion rights laws in the country, its legislation putting into motion the eventual adoption of Roe v. Wade in 1973. But the legislation almost didn’t pass. It was only thanks to George Michaels, a Jewish Democrat in the New […]
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(JR) — The Dutch elections in November sent shockwaves through Europe, as voters delivered victory to Geert Wilders, a hard-right populist known for crusading against Islam, immigrants and the European Union — along with professing support for Israel. But for some Dutch Jews, who have watched an atmosphere of fear and antisemitism grow since the […]
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BERLIN (JR) — Recognizing Israel’s right to exist is now mandatory for those who want to become German citizens in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Applicants living in the state will have to confirm in writing “that they recognize Israel’s right to exist and condemn any efforts directed against the existence of the […]
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((JR)) — Norman Lear, the Jewish TV pioneer behind iconic comedies of the 1970s and 1980s that helped bring social commentary and Black characters into the mainstream, has died at 101. Lear’s death was announced by a spokesperson for his family, according to The New York Times. The decorated creator of “All In The Family,” […]
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BUENOS AIRES (JR) — South America is getting its first Jewish university next year. The Latin American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires — which is affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the Conservative movement’s flagship — obtained legal approval last month to establish the Isaac Abarbanel Jewish University Institute. The school will confer diploma, […]
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