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Alvin Kass, 87, Chief Chaplain of the New York City Police Department
Rabbi Alvin Kass, 87, the Chief Chaplain of the New York City Police Department, is the longest serving chaplain in the history of the NYPD. In his 57 years as a chaplain, he has counseled law enforcement officers of all faiths and won the right for Jewish police officers to observe various tenets of their religion, including not working on the Sabbath and major Jewish holidays. He is also spiritual director of the Shomrim Society, the organization of Jewish Police Officers. In April, he received New York University’s Eugene J. Keogh Award for Distinguished Public Service. Kass lives in Manhattan.
For the full list of this year’s “36ers” — which honors leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers who are making a difference in New York’s Jewish community — click here.
How does one become a police chaplain?
I began my career as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force, following my schooling at Columbia University where I received a BA and MA, a PHD from NYU and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. I also hold a Doctor of Divinity degree from JTS. I am currently adjunct professor of philosophy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. I am the rabbi emeritus of the East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn, where I served as senior rabbi for 36 years. My first pulpit in NY was at the Astoria Center of Israel in Long Island City.
Tell us about one of your proudest accomplishments.
I was among the first to respond after 9/11 and comforted the families of the 23 police officers who lost their lives on that occasion. I also conducted High Holy Day services at LaGuardia Airport for emergency workers who had come from all over the country to assist after the terrorist attacks.
Who is your New York Jewish hero?
Rabbi Robert Gordis, the late professor emeritus of bible and philosophy at JTS.
What’s a fun/surprising fact about you?
I am an avid jogger and swimmer.
How does your Jewish identity or experience influence your work?
I feel that one of my principal responsibilities is to strive for Jewish unity as well as the unity of all peoples. The bible says that all humanity began with a single person. That means all human beings are brothers and sisters. The main responsibility for a spiritual leader is to bring all people closer together, including those of your own faith. I feel particularly proud that the Shomrim Society embraces Jews of all backgrounds and points of view. The organization is a paragon of the unity that ought to bind all Jews together.
Was there a formative Jewish experience that influenced your life path?
The summers I spent as a teenager at Camp Ramah filled me with the drive to impart the beauty and profundity of Judaism to all people.
Do you have a favorite inspiring quote?
“If you only know one religion, you don’t know any.” — Ari Goldman
What is your favorite place to eat Jewish food in New York?
Jerusalem Steak House in Brooklyn
What is your favorite book about New York?
“The Chief” by Albert Seedman
In one sentence, what was your best experience as a Jewish New Yorker?
Joining in the Shomrim Society’s distribution of food packages to poor Jews on the Lower East Side
What are three spots in NYC that all Jewish New Yorkers should visit?
1. The Museum of Jewish Heritage
2. Jewish Children’s Museum
3. Center for Jewish History
Anything else you’d like us and our readers to know about you?
I am a proud father of three and grandfather of three. Until her death in 2017, I was married for 54 years to Miryom Kass, who taught music and mathematics at the Rabbi Harry Halpern Day School in Brooklyn. Additionally, I am an avid Yankees fan.
How can people follow you online?
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The post Alvin Kass, 87, Chief Chaplain of the New York City Police Department appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Mistrial Declared in Case of Students Charged After Stanford Anti-Israel Protests
FILE PHOTO: A student attends an event at a protest encampment in support of Palestinians at Stanford University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Stanford, California U.S., April 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
A judge declared a mistrial on Friday in a case of five current and former Stanford University students related to the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests when demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the school president’s office.
Twelve protesters were initially charged last year with felony vandalism, according to prosecutors who said at least one suspect entered the building by breaking a window. Police arrested 13 people on June 5, 2024, in relation to the incident and the university said the building underwent “extensive” damage.
The case was tried in Santa Clara County Superior Court against five defendants charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass. The rest previously accepted plea deals or diversion programs.
The jury was deadlocked. It voted nine to three to convict on the felony charge of vandalism and eight to four to convict on the felony charge to trespass. Jurors failed to reach a verdict after deliberations.
The charges were among the most serious against participants in the 2024 pro-Palestinian protest movement on US colleges in which demonstrators demanded an end to Israel’s war in Gaza and Washington’s support for its ally along with a divestment of funds by their universities from companies supporting Israel.
Prosecutors in the case said the defendants engaged in unlawful property destruction.
“This case is about a group of people who destroyed someone else’s property and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. That is against the law,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement, adding he sought a new trial.
Anthony Brass, a lawyer for one of the protesters, told the New York Times his side was not defending lawlessness but “the concept of transparency and ethical investment.”
“This is a win for these young people of conscience and a win for free speech,” Brass said, adding “humanitarian activism has no place in a criminal courtroom.”
Protesters had renamed the building “Dr. Adnan’s Office” after Adnan Al-Bursh, a Palestinian doctor who died in an Israeli prison after months of detention.
Over 3,000 were arrested during the 2024 US pro-Palestinian protest movement, according to media tallies. Some students faced suspension, expulsion and degree revocation.
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Exclusive: FM Gideon Sa’ar to Represent Israel at 1st Board of Peace Meeting in Washington on Thursday
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks next to High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, and EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica as they hold a press conference on the day of an EU-Israel Association Council with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will represent the country at the inaugural meeting of the Gaza Board of Peace in Washington on Thursday, i24NEWS learned on Saturday.
The arrangement was agreed upon following a request from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will not be able to attend.
Netanyahu pushed his Washington visit forward by a week, meeting with US President Donald Trump this week to discuss the Iran situation.
A U.N. Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorized the Board of Peace and countries working with it to establish an international stabilization force in Gaza and build on the ceasefire agreed in October under a Trump plan.
Under Trump’s Gaza plan, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would be expanded to tackle global conflicts.
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Two Men Jailed in UK for Islamic State-Inspired Plot to Kill Hundreds of Jews
Weapons seized from the home of Walid Saadaoui, 38, who along with Amar Hussein, 52, has been found guilty at Preston Crown Court of plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired gun rampage against the Jewish community, in Britain, in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on December 23, 2025. They are due to be sentenced on Friday. Photo: Greater Manchester Police/Handout via REUTERS
Two men were jailed on Friday for plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired attack on the Jewish community in England, a plan prosecutors said could have been deadlier than December’s mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were both convicted after a trial at Preston Crown Court, which began a week after an unrelated deadly attack on a synagogue in the city of Manchester, in northwest England.
Prosecutors said the pair were Islamist extremists who wanted to use automatic firearms to kill as many Jews as they could in an attack in Manchester.
They were found guilty little more than a week after a mass shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in which 15 people were killed.
Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu said on Friday that, had Saadaoui and Hussein carried out their plan, it “could have been very much more serious” than the attacks in Australia and Manchester.
Judge Mark Wall sentenced Saadaoui to a minimum term of 37 years and Hussein to a minimum term of 26 years, saying: “You were very close to being ready to carry out this plan.”
Hussein refused to attend his sentencing, having refused to attend most of his trial, which Wall said reflected Hussein’s cowardice, describing him as “brave enough to plan to threaten an unarmed group with an AK-47 but not sufficiently courageous to face up to what he did.”
POTENTIALLY ONE OF DEADLIEST ATTACKS ON UK SOIL
Saadaoui had arranged for two assault rifles, an automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition to be smuggled into Britain through the port of Dover when he was arrested in May 2024, Sandhu told jurors at the trial.
He added that Saadaoui planned to obtain two more rifles and another pistol, and to collect at least 900 rounds of ammunition.
“This would likely have been one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever carried out on British soil,” Wall said.
Unbeknown to Saadaoui, however, a man known as “Farouk,” from whom he was trying to get the weapons, was an undercover operative who helped foil the plot.
Walid Saadaoui’s brother Bilel Saadaoui, 37, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism. He was sentenced to six years in jail.