September 30, 2013
NEW YORK (JTA) — Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told a Jewish audience that the extremist Golden Dawn party would be eliminated.
“There is no room for the neo-Nazis in any part of the democratic world,” Samaras said Monday in New York during an address to the American Jewish Committee at a reception in his honor.
His remarks came two days after a crackdown by the Greek government on Golden...
September 30, 2013
NEW YORK (JTA) — An estimated 6.8 million Jews live in the United States, with 65 percent of them concentrated in six states, according to a new study.
The estimate counts 4.2 million American adults who self-identify as Jews; 1 million Americans who identify as having a Jewish background but do not identify as Jewish by religion; and approximately 1.6 million Jewish children.
The new population estimates are not based...
September 30, 2013
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli film “Bethlehem” won six Ophir Awards and will represent Israel at the Academy Awards.
Israel’s equivalent of the Oscars was held Saturday night.
The film received Ophirs from the Israeli Academy of Film and Television for best feature film, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, best editing and best casting.
“The Gatekeepers,” featuring interviews with Israel’s former intelligence chiefs, won the Ophir for best...
September 30, 2013
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel will accept a peace agreement that includes handing over Arab parts of Jerusalem, senior Likud lawmaker Tzachi Hanegbi said.
“I think we will be able to give a good answer, a win-win answer, to almost every issue including the Jerusalem issue, including the settlement issue — every issue has a compromise that can be relevant to both sides,” Hanegbi said while speaking as part of a...
September 30, 2013
By HILLEL KUTTLER
BALTIMORE (JTA) – Needing a gift for retiring New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera, the Baltimore Orioles pitched their idea for a sculpture to the Israel-born artist Omri Amrany.
No surprise there, even though Amrany knows nothing about baseball. The 59-year-old Amrany, now living in the Chicago area, has become the go-to guy for sculptures of athletic giants.
A week after the Orioles put in their request,...
September 30, 2013
The continuing education series between Reform Congregation Gates of Prayer and Orthodox Congregation Beth Israel fostered by Gates of Prayer Rabbi Robert Loewy and former Beth Israel Rabbi Uri Topolosky will continue next month as a joint program offered at both locations located along West Esplanade Avenue in Metairie.
“Kosher Genes” begins the series on at 7:30 p.m. on October 9 with guest speakers Chris Dvorak, a genetic counselor from...
September 30, 2013
Rabbi Ethan Linden of Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation continues his successful “Lunch ‘N Learn” adult learning sessions tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1, at the synagogue located at 3737 West Esplanade Avenue in Metairie.
The class on “Aspects of Creation,” which is free and open to the public, will begin at 11:00 a.m. followed by an hour-long period for lunch. Lunch is provided by the synagogue. For more information call 504-889-1144.
September 30, 2013
“The Menschkins,” a weekly cartoon series by Harvey Rachlin and syndicated through JNS.org, begins its first week as an online service of the Crescent City Jewish News today.
A “Cartoons” category under Features has been created, which will take you to the webpage with all of the most recent cartoons. After a time, the entire page will be populated with links for cartoons. Today’s link, for example, is titled “Meet...
September 30, 2013
By TEVI TROY
On the first weekday of chol hamoed Succot, most years, my wife and I take our four children to Hershey Park. The park, which is in Lancaster, PA., is closed to everyone but frum Jews on that day.
Lancaster is not known as a center of frumkeit — it is most decidedly “out of town — but on that day Hershey not only makes accommodations for the...
September 29, 2013
(JTA) — The alleged shooter of a rabbi in southern Russia was killed in a raid by Russian security forces.
Sherif Akhmedov was one of five suspected extremists killed last week in Derbent, in the predominantly Muslim Republic of Dagestan near Chechnya, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a statement issued Friday, according to international news agencies.
Akhmedov, who has been wanted since 2011 for his alleged involvement in bombings...