Jewish News

Spill May Have Taken Its Largest Victim Yet

Over the last weeks, the carcasses of oily pelicans, turtles and other animals have washed to shore in the Gulf of Mexico. Now the first dead whale has been found — a juvenile sperm whale floating 77 miles from the leaking oil well.On Tuesday, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship spotted the 25-foot animal due south of the Deepwater ...

Spectacular Hercules statue found in Jezreel Valley

A marble statue of Hercules from the second century CE has been uncovered in Israel in excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting at Horvat Tarbenet, within the framework of the Jezreel Valley Railway project, directed by the Israel National Roads Company. According to Dr. Walid Atrash of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “This is a rare discovery.The statue, which probably ...

Special Hanukkah Podcasts on Israel National Radio

Arutz Sheva – Israel National Radio is featuring many special Hanukkah podcasts.Torah Tidbits Audio with Phil ChernofskyPhil Chernofsky of the OU Israel Center compares Parshat Mikeitz and the holiday of Hanukkah.Life Lessons with Judy SimonIn this classic episode, Judy talks about real Hellenism, and lessons we can learn for today’s society. Are you familiar with the full Hanukkah story, and not ...

Special Bottles Of Wine From Hagaon Rav Chaim Kanievsky To Be Given To All Attendees Of Exclusive Fundraiser

All attending the upcoming exclusive fundraiser event this coming Sunday, will be receiving a ‘Gebenched’ bottle of wine from Hagaon Rav Chaim Kanievsky, TLS reports. In addition to the raffle of a personally inscribed Siddur from Hagaon Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, each attendee will be receiving their own gift to take home, a small bottle of wine from a Siyum ...

Sparing a Thought on Passover for the Refugees in Israel

For many of us, fleeing persecution and trekking across a hot desert, seem light years away. We enjoy the great food, intellectual discussions and lively singing, of the Seder, but sitting comfortably, surrounded by our friends and family, it is hard to imagine that we have just escaped slavery.According to Jewish tradition, each of us should place ourselves in the ...

Space to Grow for Krivoy Rog Children

Snowy weather and cold January temperatures didn’t stop parents and children from the Krivoy Rog Jewish community to come out and celebrate the opening of a new facility, Sunday. The Ukrainian community’s 10-year-old kindergarten moved into a new space—a beautifully designed building where the foundations of Jewish education will be laid for the city’s Jewish kinder.Widely supported by local educators, ...

Space shuttle Endeavor makes final landing

Space shuttle Endeavor ended its last mission with a safe return to Cape Canaveral in Wednesday’s pre-dawn darkness.Commander Mark Kelly – whose wounded wife Rep. Gabrielle Giffords remained in a Houston rehab center during the landing – noted the craft’s enduring “legacy.”“Your landing ends a vibrant legacy for this amazing vehicle that will be long remembered,” he said. “It’s sad ...

Soviet Roots of Modern Jewish Germany

Over the past three years, new immigration rules have sharply reduced the number of Jewish people immigrating to Germany.The door has been closed, but now 90% of Germany’s 220,000 Jews are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.Germany’s concerted effort to rebuild Jewish life over the last 20 years, essentially by importing it from the former Soviet Union, has been one ...

South African Jewish Immigrants Still Struggling to be Accepted in Australia

A $5 million synagogue was officially opened in Melbourne on the final day of Hanukkah last month, believed to be the first in Australia built by South African immigrants largely for South Africans.In Sydney, however, there were no celebrations last month when a tortuous six-year saga came to an end after a court dismissed an appeal to allow an eruv ...

South Africa to reinstate Israel envoy, after recalled over Gaza flotilla

South Africa has decided to reinstate its ambassador to Israel nearly two months after recalling him to protest the deadly naval raid on a Turkish-flagged ship carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, AFP reported on Tuesday. In its statement to that effect, the South African foreign ministry said that it would still support calls for international probe into the commando ...

South Africa begins World Cup party

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – South Africa brimmed with pride and anticipation on Thursday on the eve of the first World Cup on African soil as the nation’s icon Nelson Mandela said the tournament would bridge racial divides.While the last of the 32 competing teams flew in, the Rainbow Nation was caught up in a wave of euphoria not seen since the ...

Some Reform rabbis doubt new movement chief’s devotion to Israel

NEW YORK – A group of Reform rabbis and activists has launched a campaign protesting the nomination of Rabbi Richard Jacobs as the new president of the Union for Reform Judaism, casting doubt on Jacobs’ devotion to Israel.Ads taken out by the group in several Jewish weeklies in the United States state that Jacobs “does not represent the pro-Israel policies ...