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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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Dutch Appeals Court Rejects Bid to Stop Arms Exports to Israel
An Israeli tank stands on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, in Israel, Oct. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
A Dutch appeals court on Thursday confirmed a decision to throw out a case brought by pro-Palestinian groups to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.
The court said it was up to the state to decide what actions to take and not judges.
In a written ruling, the court said it could not order a blanket ban because the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian groups had not shown that the government was routinely failing to consider whether exported arms or dual-use goods would be used to violate rights.
The court in The Hague added that the Dutch government already did enough to discourage companies from working in the territories.
The plaintiffs, citing high civilian casualties in Israel‘s war in the Gaza Strip, had argued that the Dutch state, as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, has a duty to take all reasonable measures at its disposal to prevent genocide.
Israel has repeatedly dismissed accusations of genocide and said its Gaza campaign was focused solely on fighting Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that started the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel communities.
The court said the Netherlands did have that obligation under the Genocide Convention and that there was “a grave risk” that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
But it backed a decision by a lower court in December last year. In that case, the judges sided with the Dutch state which had said it continually assesses the risk around exported arms, and that it has refused some exports.
The pro-Palestinian NGOs had said the Netherlands had exported radar systems, parts for F-16 fighter jets and warships, police dogs and cameras, and software for surveillance systems.
The Dutch government says that it has halted most arms exports to Israel and only allows parts for defense systems such as the Iron Dome.
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Pelosi won’t seek reelection, ending the pioneering congresswoman’s decades of Jewish outreach
(JTA) — Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the long-serving former Speaker of the House, will step down from Congress at the conclusion of her current term in 2027, her 40th year in office.
Pelosi’s retirement caps an historic career in politics that included extensive outreach toward the Jewish community, from the 85-year-old’s home district of San Francisco to the halls of Israel’s Knesset and beyond.
“Because of your trust I was able to represent our city, our country, around the world, with patriotism and pride,” the representative told her home district Thursday in a social media video announcing her decision. “I will not be seeking reelection to Congress. With a grateful heart I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.” The Roman Catholic also invoked “the spirit of St. Francis.”
Her replacement could very well be Jewish, as well: California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a co-chair of the state’s Jewish caucus, launched his own bid for Congress weeks before Pelosi’s announcement, saying he would challenge Pelosi if she ran again.
First elected to Congress in 1987, Pelosi was elected speaker in 2007 — the first woman to hold the title. She remained the top House Democrat until stepping down from the leadership role in 2023.
Her father, congressman Thomas D’Alesandro, was active in advocating for a Jewish state in the 1940s. He later became close with Baltimore’s Jewish community in his second political life as that city’s mayor, which meant Nancy often attended bar and bat mitzvahs as a child.
Pelosi carried that spirit into her own time in Congress, visiting Israel and hosting Israeli politicians multiple times. She became especially close with Dalia Itzik, the first woman speaker of the Knesset. Along with most establishment Democrats of the era, she forged close relationships with pro-Israel lobbying giant AIPAC and major pro-Israel donors like Haim Saban, and she would advocate on behalf of Israeli hostages and their families from past regional conflicts.
She also formed bonds with American Jewish leaders including Rabbi David Saperstein, a Reform movement leader who advised her when she first became speaker, and played a key role in elevating the profiles of many Jews in Congress including Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jamie Raskin and Adam Schiff. Pelosi has several Jewish grandchildren.
She would have faced a formidable challenger in Wiener had she remained in the race — and not just because of growing voter antipathy to long-tenured Democratic leaders. Wiener, who is gay, has sought to inherit the mantle of beloved local Jewish legend Harvey Milk in his progressive politics. The state senator also has notched several victories for California Jews specifically, as his legislative caucus has lobbied the state to create a new office to combat antisemitism in public schools, among other accomplishments.
The post Pelosi won’t seek reelection, ending the pioneering congresswoman’s decades of Jewish outreach appeared first on The Forward.
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Afghanistan and Pakistan Exchange Fire as Peace Talks Begin
People inspect houses and vehicles destroyed during an airstrike, following a temporary ceasefire, amid the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Afghan and Pakistani troops briefly exchanged fire along their shared border on Thursday, both nations said, on the same day talks to find a lasting peace restarted in Istanbul.
Each nation blamed the other for starting the exchange of gunfire near Spin Boldak, an Afghan border town towards the south of their 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier.
There were no reports of casualties, and spokespeople for both sides said they remained committed to a ceasefire and continued dialogue in Istanbul.
Militaries from the South Asian neighbors previously clashed last month, with dozens killed in the worst such violence since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Both sides signed a ceasefire in Doha on Oct. 19, but a second round of negotiations in Istanbul last week ended without a long-term deal, due to a disagreement over militant groups hostile to Pakistan operating inside Afghanistan.
“We hope that wisdom prevails and peace is restored in the region,” Pakistan‘s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters on Wednesday.
He said Islamabad was pursuing a “one-point agenda” of convincing Afghanistan to rein in militants attacking Pakistani forces across their shared border, allegedly with the Taliban’s knowledge.
Two government sources said the head of Pakistan‘s military intelligence wing, Asim Malik, was leading the Pakistani delegation.
The Afghan delegation is led by intelligence chief Abdul Haq Wasiq, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told state broadcaster RTA.
TALKS AIMED AT PREVENTING REPEAT OF VIOLENCE
Pakistan and the Taliban had for decades enjoyed warm ties, but relations have deteriorated sharply in recent years.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harboring the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group that has clashed repeatedly with the Pakistani military. Kabul denies this, saying it has no control over the group.
The October clashes began after Pakistani airstrikes earlier in the month on Kabul, the Afghan capital, among other locations, targeting the head of the Pakistani Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban administration responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the border, which remains closed to trade.
While the ceasefire between the two nations’ militaries had held until Thursday’s exchanges, clashes have continued between the Pakistani military and the Pakistani Taliban throughout the period, with multiple deaths reported on both sides.