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Harvard says it’s not divesting from Israel

08/17/2010

WASHINGTON (JTA) - Harvard University said the sale of some of its investments in Israel was not politically motivated and it is not divesting from Israel.

Harvard spokesman John Longbrake told Foreign Policy that the university sold $39 million in stocks in five Israeli companies because Israeli stocks could no longer be considered part of the emerging markets portfolio, where they previously had been held.

Wiesenthal Center Opposes Ground Zero Mosque

08/06/2010 | Adam Dickter | Assistant Managing Editor

The latest Jewish organization to weigh in on the Ground Zero mosque controversy is opposed to the project, siding with the Anti-Defamation League in what had been a lonely stand against the proposed $100 million Cordoba House on Park Place.

Sendak gives $1 million to N.Y. Jewish agency

08/02/2010

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Children's book author Maurice Sendak has given $1 million to the Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services of New York.

Sendak, 82, who wrote the iconic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are,” gave the money in honor of his life partner, Eugene Glynn, a longtime psychiatrist for the organization.

The money will go toward general operating support, and the organization will name one of its 15 clinics after Glynn, who died in 2007, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Rockets apparently from Sinai strike Eilat

08/02/2010

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Five rockets suspected to have been fired from Sinai hit Eilat and Aqaba.

A Jordanian man was killed and three people were wounded when one of the rockets hit central Aqaba, a Jordanian Red Sea port city. There were no casualties reported in Eilat, where the rocket struck north of the hotel area.

Israel's military said it was in contact with the Jordanian and Egyptian armies following the incident.

ADL, AJC Weigh In On Ground Zero Mosque (Updated)

08/02/2010 | Adam Dickter and Jacob Berkman

The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement Friday against the building of a mosque near the World Trade Center memorial site. And on Monday, the American Jewish Committee entered the fray as well, saying the Cordoba Initiative's $100 million cultural center on Park Place "has “has a right to be built.” But the organization urged the founders of the center to "urgently address concerns about funding and support for terrorism."

Riverdale Orthodox Shul To Have Woman Lead Kabbalat Shabbat Tonight

07/30/2010 | Staff Report

In a move that apparently would make history for an Orthodox synagogue in the United States, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale is scheduled Friday night to have a woman lead a Kabbalat Shabbat service where both men and women are expected to be in the pews.