JACKSON, Mississippi — The emotion was palpable in the pews Friday night at Beth Israel Congregation’s first Shabbat service since its synagogue was targeted by an arsonist last week. “We will not only survive, we will thrive,” the congregation’s student rabbi and spiritual leader, Benjamin Russell, told his community. He was draped in the only […]
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It had all the trappings of a conventional Christmas pageant: the three wise men, Christmas carols, and children dressed as angels. But there was a twist: This pageant, performed on Sunday in New Jersey, also included a Hasidic Jewish caricature, carrying a sack of coins and dancing with the devil. Earlocks swaying, the character called […]
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JACKSON, Mississippi — Days after their synagogue was burned in an arson attack, dozens of Jews in this city stood for prayer in a communal service. The interfaith prayer event at the Thalia Maria Hall in downtown Jackson, billed by Mayor John Horhn as an “All-City Call to Prayer and Action,” had been planned as a […]
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Leaders of Tulsa’s Jewish community are publicly pushing back against a proposal to open a publicly funded Jewish charter school in Oklahoma, saying the plan was developed without meaningful local input and could destabilize existing Jewish institutions. In a joint statement released this week, senior figures from Tulsa’s synagogues, Jewish day school and community organizations […]
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As news broke over the weekend of an arson attack that heavily damaged the only synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, a few prominent individuals connected the culprit to pro-Palestinian activism. “This is a major tragedy. But it’s more than that,” Deborah Lipstadt, formerly the State Department’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, wrote on the social network […]
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The militant pro-Israel group Betar US has agreed to halt its operations in New York in a settlement with state Attorney General Letitia James, whose office found that the group had committed a “campaign of violence, harassment, and intimidation against Arab, Muslim, and Jewish New Yorkers.” The settlement announced Tuesday followed a months-long investigation into […]
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The remains of a synagogue in southern California destroyed in last January’s Eaton wildfire were vandalized over the weekend with anti-Zionist messages. The rabbi of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center and the Anti-Defamation League decried the vandalism as antisemitic. “The vandalism of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center is antisemitism — full stop,” ADL […]
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A Los Angeles real estate investor known for selling homes to celebrities has donated a $100 million office tower to Chabad, the global Orthodox Jewish outreach movement, to create what is slated to become one the world’s largest Jewish centers. Alon Abady and his wife, Monique, transferred the 16-story, 300,000-square-foot complex at 9911 W. Pico […]
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A Jewish education group seeking to create the nation’s first publicly funded religious Jewish charter school took its case to Oklahoma’s charter school board Monday, reviving a high-stakes constitutional battle over whether government money can be used to run faith-based public schools. The National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, founded by Peter Deutsch, a […]
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As President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric against Somali immigrants in Minnesota and ordered a surge in immigration enforcement because Somalis took part in a social-service fraud scheme, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey pushed back. “’When a fraud takes place, when a crime takes place, you investigate it, you prosecute it, you charge it. You […]
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