World News

(JTA) — A pair of pants coming up for auction are being described as “holy” — and not just because they’re a little torn.  Rather, the pants once belonged to the late Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, an Israeli haredi Orthodox leader considered by his followers to be the leading Jewish authority of his generation. Kanievsky died…

(New York Jewish Week) — American Jewish progressive organizations drew hundreds of New Yorkers out in the rain opposite the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan on Tuesday to show support for democracy in Israel and protest its government’s proposed court reform. Hundreds of thousands of people across Israel have turned out to weekly protests opposing the…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. David Cicilline, the Jewish Rhode Island Democrat and influential pro-Israel progressive, is leaving Congress. Cicilline said Tuesday he will exit Congress in June to head the Rhode Island Foundation, the biggest funder of nonprofits in the Ocean State. The foundation is massively influential in the state and leading it could offer…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In a rare comment on internal Israeli politics, the umbrella organization for local Jewish federations is urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to drop one element of his government’s controversial plan for judicial reform. On Tuesday, the Jewish Federations of North America sent an open letter to Netanyahu and Yair Lapid, leader of…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — George Santos, the New York Republican congressman in trouble for a string of lies about his education, his career and his background, said his claims of Jewish identity were a “party favor joke.” But he doubled down on his debunked claim that his maternal grandparents were Jewish. Santos made the comments on…

(JTA) — Conservative-Masorti Judaism strives to accommodate the rich diversity of the Jewish world. A crucial part of this mission is ensuring that Jews of color feel welcome in our communities and heeding the call for racial justice. The voices of Jews of color must be heard in our movement. In that spirit, we —…

(JTA) – A Catholic high school in Miami forfeited its semifinal game in a state soccer tournament over the weekend, days after players fought in an on-field brawl with a Jewish school’s team. The Catholic school, however, did not offer additional comment on eyewitness accounts claiming that the fight was fueled by antisemitism. Archbishop Coleman…

ODESSA, Ukraine (JTA) – A year after Rabbi Mendy Wolff spirited 120 children and staff away from the Mishpacha Orphanage in this war-torn country to the safety of Berlin, he is preparing to bring them home. That’s not because the war is over — far from it. One year after Russian tanks first rolled into Ukraine,…

(JTA) – In a major victory for pro-Israel advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal against an Arkansas state law requiring all companies that contract with the state to sign a pledge promising not to boycott Israel. The Tuesday dismissal reverses a lower court decision that had rendered the law unconstitutional, ending…

TRUSKAVETS, Ukraine (JTA) — Nearly 600 Jews stand shoulder-to-shoulder, eyes trained on the young man leading the service to close out Shabbat. The crowd sings a soulful havdalah tune that lifts up its final words: “hamavdil ben kodesh l’chol” — ”the One who divides between sacred and ordinary.”   It looks like a Shabbat gathering anywhere…