World News
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Lecture on Holocaust in Poland canceled after far-right lawmaker storms podium
(JTA) – Polish-Canadian historian Jan Grabowski was about to deliver a lecture in Warsaw Tuesday related to his battle against efforts by Polish leaders to suppress uncomfortable truths about the history of antisemitism in the country before and during the Holocaust. But before Grabowski could get started, a far-right Polish lawmaker with a record of…
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Fighting food allergies becomes another ritual at synagogues, schools and camps
This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives. (JTA) — No challah on Shabbat for those with celiac disease or wheat allergies. No cheesecake for Shavuot for those with dairy allergies. No mishloach manot gift…
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Alfred Moses bought the Codex Sassoon for more than $30 million. He just saw it for the first time.
(JTA) — On Wednesday morning, Alfred Moses, 94, sat in a small white armchair at a round wooden table in a Manhattan office building as a historian gingerly turned the pages of a more than 1,000-year-old book in front of him. Two weeks earlier, Moses had paid a record-setting sum for the book — more…
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The Sassoons are having a moment. Here’s why that matters.
(JTA) — The Sassoon family is having a moment. The Baghdadi Jewish dynasty that made its fortune in trade across the Indian subcontinent and East Asia is the subject of the current exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York, titled “The Sassoons.” Joseph’s Sassoon’s book, “The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the…
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The Sacklers, Jewish family behind OxyContin, will pay $6B in deal that shields them from lawsuits
(JTA) – The Sackler family, the Jewish billionaires whose marketing of the painkiller drug OxyContin fueled the United States’ ongoing opioid epidemic, will receive full immunity from all civil legal claims in exchange for spending up to $6 billion on addiction treatment and prevention programs. The decision to grant immunity by a federal appeals court…
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Israelis flock to this tiny town in Peru for vacation — and psychedelic spirituality
PISAC, Peru (JTA) — About 20 miles northeast of the tourist capital of Cusco, the small Peruvian town of Pisac sits nestled among the verdant Andes Mountains. Lined with cobblestone streets and two-story adobe houses, the town offers a distinct blend of ancient Incan culture and breathtaking landscapes. Pisac’s main square, Plaza de Armas, is…
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Israel’s men’s soccer team reaches the under-20 World Cup quarterfinals with another last-minute goal
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — After a thrilling 1-0 victory over Uzbekistan on Tuesday, the Israeli under-20 national soccer team advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina. Israeli-Arab forward Anan Khalaili scored the winning goal in the penultimate 97th minute at Malvinas Argentinas Stadium in the Mendoza province, roughly 700 miles…
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Arkansas legislature names ‘Judea and Samaria’ as ‘Israel’s biblical heartland’ in resolution
(JTA) — The Arkansas House off Representatives approved a resolution encouraging trade with Israel that specifically mentions “Judea and Samaria,” the biblical name for the West Bank favored by Israel’s government. The resolution, approved last month by the Republican-led chamber, declares that “the State of Arkansas, which lies in America’s heartland, has a special kinship…
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Glace, a new Upper East Side ice cream shop, carries on the Zabar family tradition
(New York Jewish Week) — It’s not every day that a new ice cream parlor opens on the Upper East Side — much less a new, “French-inspired” scoop shop opened by the offspring of one the most famous Jewish families in New York’s culinary scene. On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, Sasha Zabar launched his latest…
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In Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial, Jewish rituals feature as prominently as the carnage of the day
PITTSBURGH (JTA) — Testifying at the trial of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, Carol Black described how, right before he opened fire, she had taken her yarmulke and tallis out of her velvet tallis bag. But first, she had to explain what a yarmulke, tallis and tallis bag were. “In my briefcase is a blue velvet…
