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How Jewish studies scholars navigated Jewish law and fire-code rules to save Hanukkah at their conference
(JTA) — The email landed like a batch of soggy latkes last week: Hanukkah candle-lighting would not be permitted at the annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies.
“We recognize the sacrifice many of you will make to attend the conference during the holiday of Chanukah. We apologize that the conference hotel will not allow us to light candles in a separate room, as we have done in the past,” the professional group for Jewish studies scholars said in a message to its members, of whom approximately 1,200 are expected at this week’s convening in Boston.
Thus began a MacGyver-like scramble by some of the country’s leading Jewish studies scholars to hack a Hanukkah solution that would comply with both halacha, Jewish law, and the Sheraton Boston’s interpretation of Massachusetts fire code.
At first, the scholarly group directed conference-goers to details about a Hanukkah celebration at a nearby synagogue where menorahs could be lit, at least on the first night of the holiday Sunday. But that was little consolation for those whose personal practice of Judaism is rooted in traditional Jew law — which says the Hanukkah menorah must be lit in the place one eats and sleeps.
Some conference attendees said they would rely on Jewish law’s provision for travelers, which says someone on the road can be considered as having fulfilled the commandment to ignite a Hanukkah light if his family at home does so. But not everyone at the conference has a family, and even some who do were unsatisfied with that option.
Electric menorahs offered another possibility. After all, such devices are frequently found in hotels and other public spaces, and they’re what Chabad, the Orthodox denomination, uses in its famous public Hanukkah celebrations, this year scheduled for more than 15,000 locations around the world. But not everyone owns one, and at any rate, the use of oil wicks or, in the last few centuries, wax candles that offer a similar experience is considered preferable, according to some interpreters of Jewish law.
On Facebook and over email, anger was expressed. Impractical suggestions for the conference to relocate were made. And fear mounted that some conference-goers would smuggle in contraband menorahs and light them in their hotel rooms.
“You can’t stop people from breaking the rules, and it’s certainly much less safe to have that than something being watched,” Joshua Shanes, a historian at the College of Charleston who was part of the behind-the-scenes scramble, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Finally, on Friday morning, with some scholars already Boston-bound, Laura Arnold Leibman, a professor at Reed College and a member of the AJS board, announced a solution.
“We were able to negotiate with the hotel what I am referring to as the ‘Kaplan-Shanes compr[om]ise’ this morning that should allow for a halachic solution to the candle lighting situation (see details below), and I was able to get a beautiful hanukkiah this morning from the Israel Bookstore in Brookline that will meet the fire code,” she wrote on Facebook, to plaudits from association members.
Under the plan, a single Hanukkah lamp can be lit, under supervision, at the hotel. But each candle must be contained within a glass enclosure with at least 2 inches of space above the flame — so Leibman bought glass votives used to hold yahrzeit memorial candles, as well as a massive menorah to which they could be affixed.
“This was the only Hanukkiah I could find in Brookline large enough to handle them [and] will clean them up before Sunday and glue them down for safety to the inserts,” Leibman wrote alongside pictures of the brass menorah on her hotel windowsill.
That solved the problem of the flames themselves. But what of the obligation to light, which under traditional Jewish law each household must fulfill individually?
Enter the “Kaplan” of the compromise: Lawrence Kaplan, a professor of Judaic and rabbinic philosophy at McGill University who is perhaps best known for compiling and editing the teachings of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik of the philosophy of Maimonides, the 12th-century Jewish philosopher.
Kaplan wrote on Facebook that he had consulted Rabbi Daniel Fridman, the rabbi of the Teaneck Jewish Center and the top rabbi at the Torah Academy of Bergen County, for a way to have a single conference-goer fulfill the mitzvah of lighting a Hanukkah lamp on behalf of others. He learned that a contribution of a penny (or more) could enable someone to buy into the mitzvah — so a bowl for coins will sit aside the jerry-rigged menorah.
“I really l appreciate the effort and expense to which you went,” Kaplan wrote on Liebman’s Facebook post. “It was easy for me to suggest the idea but it was you who transformed it into a reality.”
Now, the discussion has shifted to whether contributions in excess of a penny can be turned into donations to the Association for Jewish Studies — and what can be done to prevent such a snafu in the future. Next year’s conference in San Francisco starts after the holiday ends, and the 2024 conference will be online-only. But in 2025, the first day of the conference again corresponds with the first night of Hanukkah.
Shanes and Liebman both indicated that they expected the right to light candles to be written into the contract with any future conference host, marking a return to the old custom of having conference-goers light candles on their own schedule.
“At least for this year,” Shanes said, “we’re all coming together. It’s a silver lining I suppose.”
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The post How Jewish studies scholars navigated Jewish law and fire-code rules to save Hanukkah at their conference appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel Defends Move to Restrict NGOs in Gaza Amid Concerns of Hamas Exploitation
A Palestinian carries aid supplies that entered Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Amid international criticism over its latest humanitarian oversight measures in Gaza, the Israeli government is moving forward with its policy requiring NGOs to maintain proper registration in order to operate in the enclave, aiming to ensure aid reaches civilians safely while preventing its exploitation for terrorist purposes.
According to a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, 37 international non-governmental organizations that failed to renew their registration will no longer be allowed to operate in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank starting Jan. 1.
After being notified of the registration requirement in March and given nearly 10 months to comply, the organizations that failed to meet the deadline were informed that their authorization would end on Thursday, with an orderly withdrawal required by March 1, 2026.
While international media has repeatedly accused Israel of unfairly and illegally targeting humanitarian NGOs, Israeli officials have long argued that many of these groups have been infiltrated and manipulated by Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades.
The Israeli government is now moving forward with its latest initiative, defending the policy as officials work to reform a system that has long been exploited for terrorist purposes.
“A hostage was raped by her doctor. Another hostage, Noa Marciano, was murdered by a doctor who injected air into her veins. Both in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza where International NGOs were operating at the time,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on X, referring to two of the Israelis who were kidnapped by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists during their Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
“The idea that Israel will not do due diligence on employees of International NGOs is simply unacceptable. Get your act together, submit the application, provide requisite information and do the work you aspire to do,” the statement read.
A hostage was raped by her doctor. Another hostage, Noa Marciano, was murdered by a doctor who injected air into her veins. Both in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza where International NGOs were operating at the time.
The idea that Israel will not do due diligence on employees of… pic.twitter.com/LkNIeQcfnK
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) December 31, 2025
According to the Israeli body responsible for coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the suspended organizations provide less than 1 percent of total aid, which will continue through NGOs holding valid permits.
“The message is clear: Humanitarian assistance is welcome – the exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorist purposes is unacceptable,” Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli said in a statement. “Israel will continue to protect its sovereignty, its citizens, and the integrity of humanitarian action.”
Among the international organizations reportedly banned are multiple branches of Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam, the Danish and Norwegian Refugee Councils, Caritas Internationalis, the Quaker-founded American Friends Service Committee, and the International Rescue Committee.
As a safety measure to block NGO workers with ties to terror groups, the government’s new rules require nonprofit organizations to submit detailed records of their operations, including the names of all foreign and Palestinian employees and their passport and personal identification numbers.
The resolution also establishes an inter-ministerial team to review NGO applications and deny registration for various reasons, including denying Israel’s right to exist, promoting delegitimization campaigns, calling for boycotts against the Jewish state, or engaging in other disqualifying activities.
NGOs must be transparent about their personnel and funding sources.
23 international NGOs – including organizations from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France – have been approved and are operating in the Gaza Strip.
Humanitarian assistance to Gaza continues… pic.twitter.com/o0psjCNOVD
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) December 31, 2025
Amid a fierce international campaign against the Israeli government’s latest initiative, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland issued a joint statement earlier this week warning of a “catastrophic” situation if nonprofits are not allowed to operate in Gaza in a “sustained and predictable” manner.
“As Dec. 31 approaches, many established international NGO partners are at risk of being deregistered because of the government of Israel’s restrictive new requirements,” the statement read.
“As winter draws in, civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,” it continued.
As world powers outline multi-billion-dollar plans to rebuild Gaza after the war, recently obtained documents reveal that Hamas has long run a coordinated effort to penetrate and influence NGOs in the war-torn enclave — contradicting years of denials from major humanitarian organizations.
Last month, NGO Monitor — an independent Jerusalem-based research institute that tracks anti-Israel bias among nongovernmental organizations — released a new study revealing how Hamas has for years systematically weaponized humanitarian aid in Gaza, tightening its grip over foreign NGOs operating in the territory and exposing patterns of complicity and collaboration that contradict the groups’ persistent denials.
According to dozens of internal Hamas documents, the Islamist group’s officials designated specific points of contact with “highly respected” international NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, Save the Children, and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Referred to as “guarantors,” these Hamas-approved senior officials at each NGO allowed the terrorist group to closely oversee activities, influence decision-making, and circumvent restrictions imposed by some Western governments on direct engagement with Hamas.
With NGOs in Gaza — both local and international — required to secure Hamas’s approval to provide services and run projects, the report shows the group wields veto power over humanitarian operations, allowing it to control, manipulate, and exploit aid to advance its political and military objectives.
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Mamdani Sworn In as Mayor of New York, City’s Jews Prepare for Uncertain Future
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers a speech during his inauguration ceremony in New York City, US, Jan. 1, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Zohran Mamdani was sworn in just after midnight on New Year’s Day as the next mayor of New York City, ushering in a new era of anti-Zionist leadership in a city home to the world’s largest Jewish community outside of Israel.
Mamdani, 34, took the oath of office early Thursday morning in a private ceremony at the decommissioned Old City Hall subway station, a location selected to highlight his focus on public transit and working-class New Yorkers. New York Attorney General Letitia James administered the oath shortly after midnight, formally ushering in the tenure of Mamdani.
Placing his hand on a Qur’an, Mamdani became the first Muslim mayor in New York City history, as well as the first mayor of South Asian descent and one of the youngest ever to hold the office. Supporters hailed the moment as a watershed moment for the city’s Muslim community, while some Jewish organizations emphasized the need for the new administration to demonstrate a clear commitment to combating antisemitism at a time of heightened concern.
In brief remarks after taking office, Mamdani said his administration would focus on affordability, unity, and delivering for everyday New Yorkers, signaling continuity with the populist economic themes that defined his campaign.
Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor of New York City at Old City Hall Station, New York, US, Jan. 1, 2026. Photo: Amir Hamja/Pool via REUTERS
A larger public swearing-in ceremony took place on Thursday afternoon on the steps of City Hall, with appearances by fellow democratic socialists US Sen. Bernie Sanders, who presided over the ceremony, and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. During his remarks, Mamdani, a Democrat, doubled down on his progressive agenda, vowing to pursue a range of lofty campaign promises and govern “expansively and audaciously.”
Mamdani’s rise has been closely followed within Jewish and pro-Israel circles, particularly given his fierce criticism of Israel and association with fringe anti-Zionist figures and movements. Jewish communal leaders, wary of the new mayor, have stressed they will judge him by his actions in office, including how he addresses antisemitic incidents, protects Jewish institutions, and engages with the city’s Jewish residents.
Mamdani, a far-left democratic socialist and avowed anti-Zionist, is an avid supporter of boycotting all Israeli-tied entities who has made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career and been widely accused of promoting antisemitic rhetoric. He has repeatedly accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide”; refused to recognize the country’s right to exist as a Jewish state; and refused to explicitly condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been associated with calls for violence against Jews and Israelis worldwide.
Mamdani will assume the mayorship amid an alarming surge in antisemitic hate crimes across New York City.
Jews were targeted in the majority (54 percent) of all hate crimes perpetrated in New York City in 2024, according to data issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). A new report released on Wednesday by the New York City Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, which was established in May, noted that figure rose to a staggering 62 percent in the first quarter of this year, despite Jewish New Yorkers comprising just 11 percent of the city’s population.
Since securing the election, Mamdani has stressed a commitment to forcefully combatting antisemitism while in office. However, a recent report released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) revealed that at least 20 percent of Mamdani’s transition and administrative appointees have either a “documented history of making anti-Israel statements” or ties to radical anti-Zionist organizations that “openly promote terror and harass Jewish people.”
Among these groups are Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Within Our Lifetime (WOL), all of which routinely glorify the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, harass Jewish students on campus, and stage protests outside synagogues.
According to the ADL, Mamdani’s appointees include individuals who have promoted classic antisemitic tropes, vilified supporters of Jewish self-determination, sought to undermine the legitimacy of Israel, expressed sympathy for Hamas, and celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre carried out by the Iran-backed terrorist group. Several appointees were also flagged for alleged connections to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has compared Jews to termites, described Judaism as a “dirty religion,” called the Jewish people “Satan,” publicly questioned the Holocaust, shared anti-Israel conspiracy theories, and blamed Jews for pedophilia and sex trafficking. Others, according to ADL, dismissed reports of Hamas atrocities as “propaganda” or publicly justified the Oct. 7 atrocities as a form of justified “resistance.”
Leading members of the Jewish community in New York have expressed alarm about Mamdani’s victory, fearing what may come in a city already experiencing a surge in antisemitic hate crimes.
A Sienna Research Institute poll released in early November revealed that a whopping 72 percent of Jewish New Yorkers believe that Mamdani will be “bad” for the city. A mere 18 percent hold a favorable view of Mamdani, according to the results, while 67 percent view him unfavorably.
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Yemen’s Aden Airport Shuts as Saudi-UAE Rift Deepens
Passengers wait for their flights at Aden Airport in Aden, Yemen, Jan. 1, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Fawaz Salman
Flights at Yemen’s Aden international airport were halted on Thursday, the latest sign of a deepening crisis between Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose rivalry is reshaping war-torn Yemen.
At the airport — the main international gateway for parts of Yemen outside Houthi control — passengers crowded the terminal, waiting for updates on their flights.
Later on Thursday, Yemeni sources said flights between Aden and all destinations outside the UAE would resume, though Reuters was unable to confirm that immediately.
Air traffic was shut down due to a row over curbs on flights to the UAE, though there were contradictory accounts of exactly what had happened and who was responsible.
Awadh al-Subaihi said he had been waiting at the airport for a flight to Cairo for medical treatment. “We are suffering, and many other patients and elderly people here are waiting in a difficult situation,” he said.
The UAE backs the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) that seized swathes of southern Yemen from the internationally recognized government last month.
Saudi Arabia, which backs the government, regarded that move as a threat, triggering the biggest crisis between it and Gulf neighbor the UAE in decades.
The UAE-backed STC controls the transport ministry in the internationally recognized coalition government, whose main leadership is supported by Saudi Arabia.
The ministry accused Saudi Arabia in a statement of imposing an air blockade, saying Riyadh had instituted measures requiring all flights to go via Saudi Arabia for extra checks.
It added that when it objected to this, Saudi Arabia had clarified that the restriction was only on flights between Aden and the UAE.
DISAGREEMENT OVER WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
A Saudi source denied any involvement in restricting flights, adding that Yemen’s own internationally recognized government had imposed the requirement on flights between Aden and the UAE in order to curb escalating tensions.
The Saudi source added that the southern-controlled ministry had then responded by ordering a full shutdown of air traffic rather than comply with the restrictions on flights to and from the UAE.
An official source at the transport minister’s office denied this, saying the minister had not issued any decisions to close the airport.
Reuters could not immediately reach the leadership of the internationally recognized government, which has been in Saudi Arabia since the STC seized swathes of the south last month, for comment on the airport closure and flight restrictions.
The UAE Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the airport closure.
The tussle is the latest in a deepening crisis in Yemen that has exposed a deep rift between the two Gulf oil powers.
Saudi Arabia this week accused the UAE of pressuring Yemen’s STC to push towards the kingdom’s borders and declared its national security a “red line,” prompting the UAE to say it was pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen.
That followed an airstrike by Saudi-led coalition forces on the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla that the coalition said was a dock used to provide foreign military support to the separatists.