Tag Archives: Judaism

From a statement issued by the White House: On Rosh Hashanah, Jewish communities around the world celebrate the world’s birth and commemorate the creation of humankind. Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe that follow charge those who celebrate to pause, look inward, and reflect on the past year. It is a time to undertake an inventory of the soul, …

The Times of Israel reports: Doug Emhoff, husband to US Vice President Kamala Harris, will serve as guest speaker at this year’s National Rainbow Seder. The event, a virtual one, strives to celebrate Passover through an LGBTQ lens. The Seder’s theme is “Renewal and Resistance: a Journey Towards Liberation.” It will include a specially commissioned Haggadah coupling the story of …

The Jewish News reports: Ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election, some 75 percent of U.S. Jews would vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, while 22 percent would vote to re-elect U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a poll released on Monday by the American Jewish Committee. In 2016, 71 percent of American Jews voted for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary …

The Times of Israel reports: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has released a new campaign video in which he says he is “very proud to be Jewish” and that he looks forward to “becoming the first Jewish president in the history of this country.” The two minute and 40 second video also blames President Trump for a rise in anti-Semitic …

From an op-ed published tonight by Jared Kushner: As the poison of anti-Semitism spreads with dangerous violence throughout Europe, the Middle East, and even here at home — most recently in a horrific attack on Tuesday in Jersey City — President Trump is taking meaningful action to crush this evil. On Wednesday, the president will sign an executive order to …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump will sign an executive order effectively defining Judaism as a nationality, not just a religion, in what the White House has described as an order to combat antisemitism on US college campuses. The move has already been criticised by free speech advocates, who were concerned a broader definition of antisemitism could be used to limit …

The Times Of Israel reports: US President Donald Trump told a pro-Israel conference Saturday night that some American Jews don’t love Israel enough. He also noting that he did not have to worry about getting his audience’s votes, because they would cast ballots with business interests in mind. Those comments, to the Israeli American Council advocacy group in Florida, drew …

Newsweek reports: President Donald Trump failed to invite Jewish Congressional Democrats to the White House’s annual Hanukkah party on Thursday night, demonstrating that Washington partisanship can poison even the most benign religious holidays. The decision shocked some Jewish Democrats, who observed that previous presidents had invited members of the opposing party to religious holiday parties. “Why would you make partisan …

Just in from the Public Religion Research Institute: The American religious landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation. White Christians, once the dominant religious group in the U.S., now account for fewer than half of all adults living in the country. Today, fewer than half of all states are majority white Christian. As recently as 2007, 39 states had majority white …

Politico reports: A prominent coalition of American rabbis has decided not to hold its annual conference call with the president to mark Jewish holidays, citing Donald Trump’s remarks on the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, as supporting “those who advocate anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia.” “We have concluded that President Trump’s statements during and after the tragic events in Charlottesville are …

Politico reports: The prevailing narrative about when President Donald Trump launches his most reckless tirades involves the absence of the two people viewed as the great moderating influences in his life: his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner. The couple are Orthodox Jews who observe the Sabbath, which runs from sundown Friday until sundown on Saturday—the time when Trump …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Two complaints of incitement have been filed to the police against Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar for comments he has made calling men and women from the LGBT community “a cult of abomination,” and stating that they are liable to the death penalty according to Jewish law. Amar’s comments created a fierce political backlash from …

The alarm sounds much like a high-pitched air raid siren. Gothamist reports: Long-time Brooklynites may be familiar with the siren noises that resound on Friday evenings in neighborhoods across the borough. This noise, which signals the beginning of Shabbat, gives observant Jews a heads up that it’s time to head home before sundown. The sirens are especially common in neighborhoods …

JMG reader Chaim Levin sends us the below clip in which Yosef Edery, a Brooklyn member of the Chabad Orthodox Jewish sect, celebrates the Orlando massacre. “People were killed in an act of terror. Fine. If an Arab did it, good for him! God hates sin. They deserved to die. I have no mercy for people that God has no …

From the Times Of Israel: Getting baked on Passover is no longer just for matzah, a leading Orthodox rabbi ruled, after sniffing (but not smoking) some cannabis leaves. Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, widely considered the leading living ultra-Orthodox halachic authority, ruled that marijuana is kosher for Passover and can be either eaten or smoked over the eight-day Jewish festival, during which …

Even though baby boys continue to contract herpes from their rabbis, yesterday the New York City Board Of Health repealed its requirement that Ultra Orthodox parents sign a Bloomberg-era consent form which warns them about a controversial circumcision ritual. Gothamist rants: After a few years of toothless bureaucracy and a minimal amount of government involvement, New York City is a …

The “Peeping Rabbi” has been sentenced. Rabbi Barry Freundel was sentenced to 6-1/2 years for secretly videotaping dozens of women naked in the mikveh of his high-profile Washington D.C. synagogue. The disgraced cleric was sentenced to 45 days for each of 52 counts of voyeurism. The courtroom cheered the decision and Freundel was taken into custody immediately D.C. Judge Geoffrey …

A flight from New York City to Tel Aviv was delayed on Wednesday because ultra-Orthodox passengers refused to sit next to women. According to the passengers who were on the plane, their fellow ultra-Orthodox travelers refused to sit next to women prior to the takeoff, which not only delayed the flight, but caused actual chaos to ensue on the plane. …

Via the Washington Post: In the Western U.S., Buddhists represent the largest non-Christian religious bloc in most states. In 20 states, mostly in the Midwest and South, Islam is the largest non-Christian faith tradition. And in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast, Judaism has the most followers after Christianity. Hindus come in second place in Arizona and Delaware, and there …

Via USA Today: Jews in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk where pro-Russian militants have taken over government buildings were told they have to “register” with the Ukrainians who are trying to make the city become part of Russia, according to Israeli media. Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city’s Jews to provide …