World News
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Judge slashes Charlottesville penalties by 90%, from $26M awarded by jury to $2.35M
(JTA) — The judge in the civil case brought against the organizers of the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, that resulted in the death of a protester has slashed the penalties awarded to the victims. Victims in the case, brought by two Jewish attorneys who have made it their mission to hit neo-Nazis…
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Romanian city council votes down plan to remove bust of pro-Nazi government official
BUCHAREST (JTA) — Watchdogs in Romania slammed an administrative unit of Bucharest’s city council for refusing to dismantle a bust honoring Mircea Vulcanescu, who served as a finance minister in the country’s pro-Nazi government during World War II. On Wednesday, Sector 2 of the city council voted down a resolution that would have removed the…
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Moscow’s former chief rabbi: ‘The best option for Russian Jews is to leave’
(JTA) — Pinchas Goldshmidt, the former chief rabbi of Moscow who fled the country earlier this year, said other Russian Jews should leave before it’s too late in an interview with the Guardian. “When we look back over Russian history, whenever the political system was in danger you saw the government trying to redirect the…
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The Pope Benedict I knew: A keeper of his faith with a deep respect for Judaism
(JTA) — I was first introduced to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict XVI, in the late 1980s when he was visiting Jerusalem. Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem, was eager for me to meet with the cardinal, telling me that I would discover a very different person from the image portrayed in the…
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British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is knighted
(JTA) — Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth — commonly referred to as the United Kingdom’s chief rabbi — can now add a “Sir” to his title. Mirvis will be named a “knight commander of the order of the British Empire,” according to King Charles’ New Year…
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Embracing their place on ‘the fringes,’ queer artists reimagine Jewish ritual garments for all bodies
(JTA) — Binya Kóatz remembers the first time she saw a woman wearing tzitzit. While attending Friday night services at a Jewish Renewal synagogue in Berkeley, she noticed the long ritual fringes worn by some observant Jews — historically men — dangling below a friend’s short shorts. “That was the first time I really realized…
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In first speech, Israel’s new foreign minister signals a closer relationship with Russia
(JTA) — In his first speech, Eli Cohen, Israel’s new foreign minister under Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, has signaled that he will be pursuing less fractious ties with Russia, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. In a speech on Monday, Cohen announced that he will be meeting Tuesday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, something…
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In notable early move, Itamar Ben-Gvir visits Temple Mount, reportedly against Netanyahu’s urging
(JTA) — Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s new far-right security minister, visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Tuesday, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly urged him to delay the visit because of security concerns. The visit to the site, considered the holiest in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam, was treated as a provocation by…
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Pope Benedict XVI, who went from Hitler Youth to advancing Catholic-Jewish relations, dies at 95
(JTA) — Jewish groups are among those marking the death of Benedict XVI, the Catholic pontiff who died Saturday at 95, a decade after shocking the world by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign. “It is with great sadness that I learned today that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has passed away,” Ronald…
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Picking a new rabbi? A new novel about a church shows how
(JTA) — About a decade ago, I served on my synagogue’s rabbinic search committee. Normally I am allergic to any activity at which minutes will be taken, but it was a great experience, thanks to the care and intelligence that my fellow committee members brought to the process. Flush with satisfaction for a job well…
