Pondering the state of American Jewry
A Jewish family was subjected to an antisemitic harangue as they traveled on the tube (subway). As he attempted to keep his children calm, a Muslim woman confronted the abuser. The whole thing was captured for posterity by a quick-thinking bystander with a phone, of course. Yahoo news – Muslim woman confronts man shouting anti-Semitic …
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 …
According to a survey conducted by the World Jewish Congress (WJC) some two months ago, just before the Yom Kippur attack on a synagogue in Halle, more than a quarter of the German participants agreed with antisemitic tropes about Jewish people. The exact numbers are 351 out of 1,300 Germans that agreed with the antisemitic …
While we were yet celebrating the final leg of the Jewish high holidays in America, Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef (Nissim) Karelitz was being laid to rest in Jerusalem. The nephew of the Chazon Ish, Rabbi Karelitz was chairman of the Beit Din Tzedek of Bnei Brak, and one of the leading rabbis of Lithuanian Jewry. Born …
Singer-Actress Demi Lovato got a free trip to Israel, apparently sponsored by Zeev Elkin of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All she had to do was write a few posts. While she was in Israel, she got baptized in the Jordan River and had a religious experience. She posted about that. View this post …
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 …