The Latest News

Shmuley Boteach Considers Run For Congress
Monday, February 6, 2012 | JTA

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has sent a letter declaring his intent to run for Congress in New Jersey's newly formed 9th District.

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Shmuley Boteach To Run For Congress
Monday, February 6, 2012 | JTA

 

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has sent a letter declaring his intent to run for Congress in New Jersey's newly formed 9th District.

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Geraldine Gross, Former Jewish Week Contributor, Dies At 86
Monday, February 6, 2012 | Staff Report

Geraldine K. Gross, who covered the Brownstone Brooklyn area for The Jewish Week from the mid-90s until 2001, died on Jan. 28th at 86 after a long illness.

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Philadelphia Jewish Exponent Blasts BDS Group For Barring Reporter
Sunday, February 5, 2012 | JTA

Philadelphia’s Jewish newspaper is in a flap with organizers of a boycott, divestment and sanctions conference over the disinvitation of one of its reporters from the event.

Philadelphia’s Jewish Exponent published an article on its website Friday reporting that organizers of the National BDS Conference had barred the paper from covering the Feb. 3-5 conference at the University of Pennsylvania -- a charge that a conference organizer denied.

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'Jewish Indiana Jones' Pleads Guilty To Fraud Charges
Sunday, February 5, 2012 | JTA

Rabbi Menachem Youlus, the selft-styled “Jewish Indiana Jones” who turned out to be a Jewish Walter Mitty has pleaded guilty to fraud.

Youlus’ accounts of remarkable tales of rescuing Holocaust-era Torah scrolls were contradicted by historical evidence, witness accounts and records showing that he simply passed off used Torahs sold by local dealers who made no claims as to the scrolls’ provenance.

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Loughner Still Not Ready To Stand Trial For Giffords Shooting, Shrink Says
Sunday, February 5, 2012 | JTA

Jared Loughner is not yet competent to stand trial, according to the court-appointed psychologist in the case of the shooting that wounded Gabrielle Giffords.

Christina Pietz recommended evaluating Loughner's competence in another four months, the Arizona Daily Star reported Thursday, citing a court order.

Loughner's first four-month-stay is set to expire Feb. 8, and the judge in the case set a hearing for Monday to consider Pietz's recommendation, the newspaper said.

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UPDATED: Maryland Teen Must Convince High School He Needs A Kippa
Sunday, February 5, 2012 | JTA

 A Jewish student at a Maryland high school was asked to prove that he wore a head covering for religious reasons.

Caleb Tanenbaum, 17, was asked by the administration of Northwood High School in Silver Spring to provide a letter from a rabbi explaining that he was wearing his Rastafarian-style head covering for Jewish religious reasons. A school rule forbids all headwear, with the exception of students who verify that their headwear is religious in nature. Other students also have been asked for verification.

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Israel: Time Of Iran Reckoning Is Closer
Friday, February 3, 2012 | JTA

Israeli officials said the time was near to consider a military strike on Iran.

"Today, unlike the past, the world has no doubt that Iran’s nuclear program is steadily nearing readiness and is about to enter an ‘immunity zone," Ehud Barak, the defense minister, said Thursday at the Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center's conference, in remarks reported by Bloomberg News.

The 'immunity zone' refers to the point beyond which military experts believe it will be impossible to slow Iran's nuclear program with a strike.

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An Obama campaign worker at the newly opened headquarters in Boca Raton.
Obama’s Florida Supporters
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 | Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Boca Raton, Fla. — Amid the political drubbing of President Barack Obama in the Republican presidential candidates’ debates and in campaign television commercials here, the local Obama For America campaign headquarters opened in this Broward County city Saturday evening with balloons, pizzas and assorted desserts.

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Mitt Romney, left, and Newt Gingrich at recent debate. getty images
Gingrich ‘Baggage’ Loaded For Florida GOP Jews
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Delray Beach, Fla. — In the heart of Jewish South Florida — Boca Raton — on the eve of the crucial Florida primary, Audrey Atlas was channeling Republican voters everywhere.

A former Democrat who admits she has become more conservative in recent years, Atlas, 70, is so fed up with President Barack Obama (“he’s too left wing”) that she switched her party affiliation in December in order to vote in Tuesday’s Republican-only primary.

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