Pondering the state of American Jewry
Threats against Jewish students at Monument Valley Regional Middle School have been ruled “no threat to safety” by school officials, according to a report by the Berkshire Eagle. The report cited parents of students in the school, who detailed several threats and incidents. Parents said one student told Jewish students that he was going to …
Fred Behrend had a bar mitzvah in 1939, after his family fled to Cuba from Nazi Germany. The family left with nothing, so guests brought their own food. Exactly 80 years later, on the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 93-year-old Behrend will celebrate his bar mitzvah once again in Voorhees, N.J. at Congregation Beth El. …
So this got absolutely no play in the mainstream media, but blogger Elder of Ziyon had it. Two men “of foreign background” claiming to be repairmen, tried to enter a Jewish school called Yeshiva Darchei HaTorah in Toronto, Canada, and if the men hadn’t been spotted, checked out, and turned away, one shudders to think …
Synagogues in California took special security measures to protect congregants over Rosh Hashana. So did shuls in Pittsburgh, and indeed, in all of America. Such measures included installing extra security cameras, having guards check handbags, and hiring extra security guards. Somehow, we have always thought this would not be needed here, in America. It is …
A California judge has ordered John T. Earnest to stand trial for the murder of 60-year-old Lori Kaye and the attempted murder of others present on that fateful day at the Chabad synagogue in Poway. During the September 19 hearing, the 911 recording was publicly aired for the first time. Surveillance footage of the shooting …
Police have arrested Matthew James Amiot, 36, in connection with a fire that destroyed a synagogue that had been in use for 119 years. Firemen were able to rescue 10 of the 14 Torah scrolls at the Adas Israel Synagogue. But only 8 of the 10 were salvageable. Duluth doesn’t have a very large Jewish …
This week, the opinion columns were flying thick and fast as the world rushed to condemn Mayor DeBlasio for not doing enough about antisemitic attacks in New York. The attack that seemed to make the journalists reach their boiling point, was the one in which Rabbi Gopin was beaten with a paving stone. A 64 …
The world is once again in an uproar over a statement made by President Trump, in regard to Jews who vote Democrat. The US president, at a press conference in the Oval Office, in response to Ilhan Omar’s call to cut the $3 billion in annual aid given to Israel, stated, “I can’t even believe …
The Anglican Church of Canada intends to remove a prayer for the conversion of the Jews from its liturgy. The prayer is to be replaced with a text on the “Reconciliation with the Jews.” Bruce Myers, the Anglican bishop of Quebec, issued a statement saying that the changes are meant to move the community to …
For years, presidents promised to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, but it took Donald Trump to follow through. Now Joe Sestak, who is one of the many Democrats hoping to win the nomination for president in 2020, says he wants a redo. “We need to move the embassy back out of Jerusalem, …