News Brief

Ukrainians Replace Plaque Mentioning Jews At Babi Yar

08/14/2012 | JNS

The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s European office, the Russian Holocaust Center of Moscow and Verbe et Lumiere criticized Ukrainian authorities Monday for replacing a plaque at Babi Yar identifying the thousands of Jews murdered there during the Holocaust with an epitaph referencing only “the peaceful citizens of Rostov-on-the-Don and Soviet prisoners of war.”

In Wisconsin, Jews Reach Out To Sikhs After Milwaukee Shooting

08/07/2012 | JTA

Almost as soon as she heard the news about a deadly shooting at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee, Elana Kahn-Oren’s phone started ringing.

As director of the Jewish Community Relations Council at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Kahn-Oren fielded call after call from concerned area Jews asking what they could do to help.

“We have to make sure to be respectful of the Sikh community and to make sure that we find appropriate avenues to express that support,” Kahn-Oren told JTA.

Marvin Hamlisch, Music Legend, Dies At 68

08/07/2012

Marvin Hamlisch, the acclaimed composer and arranger of dozens of Broadway plays and films, has died at 68.

Hamlisch died Monday in Los Angeles following a brief illness.

He was best known for the long-running Broadway musical “A Chorus Line,” which won several Tony Awards and for which Hamlisch won the Pulitzer Prize.

Philathropist Sami Rohr Dies At 86

08/07/2012 | JNS

Sami Rohr, a Jewish philanthropist living in Florida, has died at the age of 86. Rohr was active with Chabad-Lubavitch and has donated more than $250 million to global Jewish causes. A $100,000 annual prize for Jewish literature given by the Jewish Book Council is named in his honor.

New Glasses Blur Immodesty For Haredi Men

08/07/2012 | JTA

Haredi Orthodox men in Israel are buying glasses that will prevent them from seeing the immodest women that threaten their way of life.

The glasses, which are being sold for $32.50, have a special blur-inducing sticker on their lenses that provides clear vision for up to a few yards so as not to impede movement, but anything beyond that becomes blurry -- including women.

While it is not known how many have been purchased, the devices have gone on sale recently in haredi Orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem and elsewhere, reported the Times of Israel.

Israeli Court Orders Army To Find Living Solution For Palestinian Villagers

07/31/2012 | JTA

Israel has 30 days to arrange a living situation for 27 Palestinian families whose homes are set to be demolished, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled.

The village of Zanuta, located in the southern Hebron Hills in the West Bank, is scheduled for demolition by the Israel Defense Forces because it sits on an archaeological site. But the villagers’ legal representative argued before the court on Monday that the state must allow for regular construction in the village because it has existed since before 1967, according to Haaretz.