OU

An owner of the restaurant formerly known as Jezebel says the idea to ditch the biblical troublemaker’s name was decided before the Orthodox Union took over kosher certification last week.

There are two resolutions up for proposal at the two-day annual policy plenum of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), starting Sunday in Washington, D.C. One advocates for fair pay, and the other for gun control. But the talk among the delegates will be about a third resolution that won’t be on the agenda.

The planned March 10 contested election pitting incumbent Orthodox Union president Simcha Katz against former president Harvey Blitz is not to be. (See “OU Internal Struggles Leading To Showdown,” Jan. 18)

Jewish organizations are expressing concerns at cost-cutting proposals in President Obama's $3.8 trillion budget for 2013.

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and The Jewish Federations of North America released statements Monday objecting to the proposal that would reduce the tax deductibility rate of charitable donations for taxpayers earning more than $250,000 to 28 percent from the current 35 percent.

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Two national Jewish organizations criticized a provision in the Obama administration’s federal budget proposal that would reduce the tax deductibility rate of charitable donations.

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and The Jewish Federations of North America both released statements Monday objecting to the president's proposal, which would force taxpayers earning more than $250,000 to deduct contributions to charities at a rate of 28 percent rather than the current rate of 35 percent.

The nation’s largest synagogue-sponsored chapter of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth seceded this week from the youth arm of the Orthodox Union, sending a powerful message to national leadership over how the Baruch Lanner situation was handled over the years and indicating the crisis is not over.Even after Rabbi Lanner’s resignation as NCSY director of regions was announced last Friday, wide-scale communal fallout continued from The Jewish Week’s special report on the rabbi’s alleged long-term abuse of teens — physical, emotional, psychological and se

Richard Joel, who was named this week to chair a special Orthodox Union commission investigating its role regarding Rabbi Baruch Lanner, pledged a “full and open” inquiry aimed at ultimately “restoring confidence” in the organization and its youth arm, the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY).Joel, president of Hillel, the Jewish campus organization, will head an eight-member commission of respected men and women in the Orthodox community.

The Orthodox Union is set to name Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, a widely respected Baltimore spiritual leader, Torah scholar and psychotherapist, as its top professional next week, according to several sources.

The Orthodox Union has instructed a kosher slaughterhouse under its supervision to alter its slaughtering practices after a hidden camera recorded what has been widely criticized as inhumane and cruel procedures.
Rabbi Menachem Genack, the OU’s kosher administrator, said the change was made after he and several other rabbis visited the plant in Postville, Iowa, owned by AgriProcessors Inc.
The visit was prompted by their viewing of the videotape made by the animal rights group PETA.

The animal rights group PETA has called into question the manner in which cows are killed at a kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa that is under the supervision of the Orthodox Union.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals videotaped the process, which it calls “evidence of cruelty to animals,” but the OU’s kosher supervisor said the animals were slaughtered in a painless manner.