As jury launches deliberations in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, defense concedes shooter’s hatred of Jews

PITTSBURGH ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — After 11 days of graphic and emotionally fraught testimony in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial, and a 90-minute closing argument that included gruesome photos and the replay of harrowing 911 calls, it was time for the defense to speak. A lawyer for Robert Bowers, accused of being the gunman who murdered […]

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‘You’re on the path to sin’: A Florida rabbi faced antisemitic harassment after speaking up at a school board vote

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Rabbi Adam Miller was exiting a school board meeting in his city of Naples, Florida, when two men approached him in the parking lot. “Your prophet is not real, and Judaism is not a real religion,” they yelled at him, according to the subsequent police report. The rabbi recounted other colorful epithets, […]

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A Missouri school district could ban ‘Maus,’ citing concerns about whether it is ‘explicit sexual material’

((JEWISH REVIEW)) – A Missouri school board is preparing to vote next week on whether to ban Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust graphic memoir “Maus” — even though no parent in the district has challenged it. Spiegelman himself is among those exhorting the board of Nixa Public Schools, a district of about 6,000 students in Christian County just […]

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Defense rests in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial without calling witnesses or presenting evidence

PITTSBURGH ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Defense attorneys in the trial of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter will not be calling witnesses or presenting evidence in court, following 11 days of harrowing testimony from witnesses called by the prosecution.  The defense attorneys’ choice underscores their acknowledgement that their client committed the attack. Since the beginning of the trial, […]

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Israel’s Diaspora minister calls J Street ‘hostile’ after group tweets negatively about him

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Amichai Chikli, the Israeli Diaspora minister who has antagonized some liberal segments of American Jewry, called J Street “hostile” to Israel after it retweeted a photo of the minister from New York City’s Celebrate Israel Parade. Chikli was photographed at the June 4 parade making what appeared to many to be an […]

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A new children’s book will depict the Jewish Theological Seminary’s devastating 1966 library fire — and how its neighbors responded

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Just before locking down in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, children’s book author Caroline Kusin Pritchard was waiting to pick up her two toddlers from preschool at Congregation Beth Am in Palo Alto, California, when she saw a thin volume poking out of a shelf in the synagogue library.  The […]

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Connecticut College replaces president mired in antisemitism scandal with interim president who has one of his own

((JEWISH REVIEW)) – Jewish students at Connecticut College celebrated in March when they successfully pressured their school’s president to step down over her plans to host a fundraiser at a golf club with an alleged antisemitic and racist history. But some recoiled this week when they learned who their new interim leader would be: a […]

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