Jewish News

Kerry: Syria committed to ME peace

Israeli officials on Thursday dismissed speculation that US Sen. John Kerry will have any luck in Damascus, testing the waters for a Syrian-Israeli diplomatic channel, saying President Bashar Assad’s bellicose statement at the recent Arab League summit in Libya belied any peaceful strategy. Assad on Sunday called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to ditch negotiations with Israel in favor ...

Jews Celebrate Canadian Town’s First Torah

The Jewish community of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada, and specifically the members of Chabad of Okanagan, got to take part in a once in a lifetime experience to help complete a Torah, something all members of the Jewish faith hope to do at some point during their life. “The Torah is the heart of Judaism, it is ...

Jews and Politics: Why Vote?

In a day’s time New York City will settle one of the most interesting mayoral races we have seen in a while. As a community, we must come together and support a candidate for mayor and city council. The 35th city council district has seen a wide variety of candidates as well, all of whom are vying to become our ...

Jewish Students Find a Second Home at Chabad

Every Friday night, Rivka Gurary serves a $1,000 meal. She spends two to three days preparing dishes of chicken, soup,challah, gefilte fish, rice, salads and desserts – from scratch. The meal is not only for her immediate family – her husband, Rabbi Moshe Gurary and their five children – but also the entire Jewish community at the University of Buffalo. The Chabad House, located at 2450 North ...

Jewish Giving: Then and Now

What is an ideal Jewish society? One in which giving is unnecessary? In which giving comes naturally? If a society is truly ideal, then tzedaka (righteous giving) should be unnecessary because there shall be no needy: “There shall be no needy among you…” (Deuteronomy 15:1) But not even Deuteronomy – with its endless directives preparing the Israelites to enter the ...

How to Make a Shofar for High Holidays

One of the most pinnacle points of the Jewish High Holidays is the blowing of the shofar, which happens no less than 100 times during Rosh Hashana alone. So Jewish News One went to the Golan Heights to one of only three shofar factories in the world to discover how a kosher shofar is created. For Shimon Kaynan, the fascination ...

How an Asian Convert to Judaism became Unlikely Leader of Unusual Synagogue

What do a Japanese rabbi, a Korean church and a Chinese restaurant have in common? For Temple Isaiah of Great Neck, on Long Island, N.Y., the answer’s no punch line. The three components have all played a crucial role in the congregation’s colorful 46-year history. For 37 years, this Reform congregation held the majority of its services inside the Community ...

Health Officials to Monitor New Drive-By Kapparot Ritual

The Jewish New Year has started, and Rockland health officials are planning to monitor religious ceremonies involving live chickens — including a new twist on the ancient rite by a man who wants to drive a truck filled with fowl to locations where people can pray, then take the livestock away. Rockland Commissioner of Health Dr. Joan Facelle said that ...

Head Shluchim Treat Juniors to Day of Appreciation

Six families on Shlichus in Monmouth County, NJ were treated to a fun-filled day of relaxation and rejuvenation by head Shluchim Rabbi Baruch and Tova Chazanow, who wished to express their feelings of appreciation to the shluchim for all their hard work and devotion to the Rebbe’s Shlichus during the past year. Early Tuesday morning, the Chazanow, Bernstein, Schapiro, Wolosow, Gourarie, Galperin ...

Haredi group slams Kapparot ritual

Leaflets calling for an end to the use of live chickens as part of the Kapparot ritual have been hung outside synagogues in Kfar Saba, Kadima-Tzoran and other Sharon region communities in recent weeks. Kapparot is Jewish folk custom during the days before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to transfer one’s sins to a chicken or to money given ...

For Venezuelan Jews, a New Home for Rosh Hashanah

In Venezuela, Fanny Hausmann celebrated Rosh Hashanah by cooking honey-and-apple cakes, visiting the elderly and gathering with family and friends. This year the customs will be quite similar: She will attend service at the synagogue Wednesday to bring in the Jewish New Year and then host a big dinner for more than two dozen relatives. The only difference: They’ll be ...

Commie Camp: Indoctrination or True Jewish Values?

A new documentary about a progressive Jewish summer camp is making its way around the Jewish film festival circuit. Commie Camp, by Katie Halper, takes as its hook a comment by Rush Limbaugh in 2012. Trying to undermine U.S. President Barack Obama’s pick for head of Bureau of Labor Statistics, Limbaugh prepared a zinger. Evidently the nominee had sent her ...