December 31, 2013
NEW YORK (JTA) — A Houston company that owns 53 Jewish funeral homes completed its acquisition of Stewart Enterprises, the second-largest provider of funeral services in the United States, headquartered in New Orleans.
Jewish community members had protested the acquisition last month at the offices of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, fearful the price of Jewish funerals at the Stewart-owned Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home in Silver Spring, Md., would rise...
December 31, 2013
(JTA) — A federal judge dismissed a religious discrimination lawsuit filed against Northwestern University for censuring a Chabad house for underage drinking.
The university cut ties in September 2012 with the Tannenbaum Chabad House and its director, Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein, after reports that the rabbi had served underage students wine and hard alcohol.
In the lawsuit, Chabad claimed that the university discriminated against the religious organization, disaffiliating with it...
December 30, 2013
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Immigration to Israel rose slightly in 2013 to 19,200, but that included a significant drop in immigrants from the United States. Last year Israel absorbed 18,940 new immigrants.
The most dramatic increase in aliyah came from France, with 3,120 immigrants, a 63 percent increase over the previous year. The Jewish Agency for Israel credited its own programs to introduce French young people to Israel for the rise....
December 27, 2013
(JTA) — Al-Qaida in Pakistan distributed a video showing a captive U.S. government contractor asking the Obama administration to negotiate with his captors.
Al-Qaida released the video message featuring Warren Weinstein, a former Peace Corps and USAID official, late Wednesday night. In the video, which was sent to journalists and news services in Pakistan, Weinstein, 72, sits alone against a white wall and asks President Obama to release al-Qaida terrorists in exchange...
December 27, 2013
(JTA) — A new nondenominational Jewish burial society has replaced an Orthodox one at a Boston-area Jewish funeral home.
Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston, which launched this fall and is part of a growing movement of Jewish burial societies that include non-Orthodox volunteers, began performing tahara – the ritual preparation of bodies for burial – at Brezniak-Rodman Chapel in West Newton, Mass., on Dec. 16.
Until this month, the Orthodox-run Chevrah...
December 26, 2013
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) – Following a long debate in the Knesset on Wednesday evening, 106 of the 120 MKs (Members of Knesset) signed a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama calling for the immediate release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who has spent 28 years in jail.
The Knesset will convey the letter to Obama via U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro, and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein will also present a...
December 25, 2013
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) — Following the recent uptick in Palestinian terrorism, the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv has issued an Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens, prohibiting U.S. citizen embassy employees and their families from taking public transportation—including shared minibus taxis—and urging Americans in Israel to “exercise caution and take appropriate measures to ensure their safety and security.”
The message, published on the embassy’s website and Facebook page, comes in...
December 25, 2013
(JTA) — The Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities issued a statement opposing a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
The statement dated Dec. 20 came a week after the membership of the American Studies Association in an online vote endorsed its national council’s call for a boycott of Israeli universities.
“Any such boycott of academic institutions directly violates academic freedom, which is a fundamental principle of AAU universities...
December 25, 2013
By BEN SALES
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The disclosure last week that American intelligence spied on former Israeli prime ministers has given new momentum to the effort to secure a pardon for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several leading members of Knesset members have called in recent days for Pollard’s release following reports that documents leaked by former defense contractor Edward Snowden showed U.S. intelligence...
December 23, 2013
NEW YORK (JTA) — A Minnesota court is hearing an appeal of a lawsuit arguing that Hebrew National is falsely labeling its products as “100 percent kosher.”
The original lawsuit, filed in May 2012 by 11 plaintiffs claiming fraud and breach of contract, was dismissed in January by U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank on the grounds that the issue is religious in nature and therefore not for the courts to...
