Free Republic

Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the beloved directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai, were killed during one of the worst terrorist attacks to strike India in recent memory. Jewish communities around the world reacted with shock to the loss of the couple, who were killed Thursday at their Chabad House during an apparent standoff between Indian military forces and terrorists. Their toddler son, Moshe, managed to escape with his nanny some hours before Indian commandos stormed their building, known as the Nariman House, in the popular touristy neighborhood of Colaba. The Associated Press reported that the boy was unharmed, but was...

Whether by plane, train or car, thousands of Jewish activists from all over the world made their way to the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y., for the much-anticipated 25th annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries. The rabbis began trickling in on Tuesday as their flights landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport. More so than in years past, this year’s conference will shine a spotlight on Jewish unity. It takes place in a year of hakhel, a once in seven years occurrence that was marked during the time of the Holy Temple by a gathering of men, women and...

I am taking some time off from FR to cool down after the election, and to celebrate my son's wedding in Alabama. So if you don't get pings and articles to the Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry list, I'm on vacation. While I am in the deep South, I will be working on a history series of Southern Jewry which will appear at Jewish-history.com and also at Chabad.org, which will be posted here when I return. Stay strong, FReepers! The American people are tough and will survive.

Israel is becoming a nation at war with itself. The conflict is not just with militant Palestinians. Militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank clash regularly with Israeli police who remove illegal homes. Israeli security officials have warned of possible assassination attempts on peace-seeking Israeli leaders. In September, Jewish militants tried to assassinate Professor Zeev Sternhell, a supporter of Peace Now, which documents settlement construction. Settlers are damaging Palestinian property in retaliation for government actions against the outposts. The Israeli cabinet on Sunday branded the disturbances “a threat to the rule of law and order in Israel.” The situation is...

MAX MUTCHNICK has “shpilkes.” Mr. Mutchnick, who used the Yiddish word to describe his restless energy, didn’t become a creator and executive producer of the sitcom “Will & Grace” by being a blushing wallflower. “I’m a big personality,” said the impulsive Mr. Mutchnick, 42, who melds borscht belt shtick and urbane wit in his writing and his life. So it was unusual for him to be intimidated by Erik Hyman, an entertainment law associate at the Los Angeles firm Loeb & Loeb. “He’s out of my league,” was Mr. Mutchnick’s initial impression. “I’m Mel Brooks, and he is Anne Bancroft....

Shlomo Klein, Vice President of the venerable wig wholesaler Georgie, told the American TV network Fox News on Thursday that the human-hair "Sarah Palin" – which sells for $695 on an internet wig retail site --- is one of the company's most popular wigs. The wig, which is listed as a "Best Seller" on a well-known retail wig vendor's website, has sold in the dozens since the Republican Convention. Although Palin was a relative unknown before she was tapped to become the running mate of Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, the Governor of Alaska has become a national celebrity...

NABLUS, West Bank — They came in waves, ardent Jewish settlers, religious women from central Israel, black-clad followers of Hasidic courts and groups of teenage boys and girls, almost a thousand of them in all. Crammed into a dozen buses and escorted by the Israeli military, the Jewish pilgrims slid quietly along deserted streets throughout the early hours of a recent morning while the residents of this Palestinian city, a militant stronghold ruled until recently by armed gangs, slept in their beds. The destination was the holy place known as Joseph’s Tomb, a tiny half-derelict stone compound in the heart...

Pupils from a suburban St. Louis middle school allegedly hit Jewish classmates. District spokesman: There is a mix of sadness and outrage At least four students from a suburban St. Louis middle school face punishment for allegedly hitting Jewish classmates during what they called "Hit a Jew Day." The incident happened last week at Parkway West Middle School in Chesterfield. District officials said Thursday they believe that fewer than 10 children of the district's 35 Jewish students were struck. District spokesman Paul Tandy said that in most cases, the students were hit on the back of their shoulders but one...

Shocking: One of Britain's largest synagogues in the Hampstead Garden suburb canceled an adult-education class on the Tanya, following objections by senior congregants who declared it "racist." Vivian Wineman, vice-president of the Board of Deputies, said: "Lubavitch philosophy has elements which are unacceptable." A synagogue's decision to abandon a study course after a religious commentary was pronounced "racist" has been criticized as "outrageous" and "spineless" in the latest edition of the shul magazine. London's Hampstead Garden Suburb United Synagogue, one of Britain's biggest synagogues, discontinued an adult-education class on the Tanya earlier this year, following objections by three senior congregants,...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday urged his people to plant trees across the West Bank in response to Jewish settlers attacks on farmers during an olive harvest critical to many Palestinians' livelihoods. Abbas described settlers attacks on Palestinian farmers and the uprooting of trees during an annual olive harvest as a "dangerous Israeli escalation" and urged the international to intervene. [...] The United States and Israel's other allies have long urged Israel to remove the half million Israelis who live on occupied land in defiance of international law. (Writing by Wafa Amr; Editing by Jon Boyle)

On December 21, 1997, Barack Obama wrote a short review of William Ayers’ book A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court, which had recently been published by Beacon Press. Here’s a photo of how the review appeared in the Chicago Tribune: Obama’s review of Ayers’ book says, “A searing and timely account of the juvenile court system, and the courageous individuals who rescue hope from despair.” I had seen mentions of the existence of this review in a very few media outlets, including CNN, National Review, American Spectator, and a handful of others. But because the review...

All pupils at a primary school face being served halal meat at lunchtime whether they are Muslim or not, it emerged today. Dale Primary, which has a large proportion of Asians among its 550 pupils, is consulting parents about the controversial move. Under the plans pupils would only be offered Islamic-approved meals on days when meat is on the menu to 'avoid cross-contamination'. For meat to be classified halal, a Muslim must have slaughtered the animal from which it came by a single cut to the throat and without stunning it first. A prayer, including the words 'Allah is great',...

Its observers abstain from food, sex, baths and wearing leather for 26 hours, casting away distractions that may cloud their mission: Getting closer to God. Jews will celebrate Yom Kippur on Wednesday and Thursday this year. Taking place 10 days after the start of Rosh Hashanah, the start of the new Jewish year, "Yom Kippur is the holiest of days on the Jewish calendar," said Kim Gonzalez, teen director and Jewish educator at the Levite Jewish Community Center in Birmingham. The holiday is both somber and joyful, a bittersweet reflection on one's good and bad deeds in the past year....

Caricaturist Boris Efimov, whose drawings during World War II helped stoke morale among Russian troops in the fight against Nazi Germany, died last week in Moscow. One of the world’s oldest Jews, he passed away just shy of his 109th birthday. Born Boris Fridland in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1899, Efimov was just a toddler when his family moved to Bialystok in present-day Poland. He studied art and by the time he moved to Moscow in the 1920s, his drawings were attracting the attention of influential politicians. But it was his depictions of German troops and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler that...

Betty Friedan couldn't have predicted Sarah Palin. Why do liberal Jews have such a problem with Sarah Palin? One would think that the die-hard feminists in the Jewish community would trumpet the ascension of a woman to the second spot on a presidential ticket, much as they did over two decades ago when Geraldine Ferraro took center stage with Walter Mondale in a quixotic attempt to unseat Ronald Reagan. At the time, Gloria Steinem and her feminist clones were tripping over each other to see who could best herald the Democratic vice presidential contender as the modern Susan B. Anthony...

Crown Heights, NY - The battle lines are being drawn between The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization and the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE) with the advent of the season of Kapparot, the ancient Jewish rite of slaughtering chickens to atone for one's sins before the holiday of Yom Kippur. PETA zeroed in for the second year in a row on NCFJE's annual Kapparot project. The organization raises funds for its outreach activities by selling the chickens used for the ritual. In an exclusive interview with Israel National News, NCFJE Chairman of the...

Country's Industrialists Association says Jewish state trying to claim ownership of traditional Lebanese delicacies like tabouleh and hummus, plans international food-related suit Roee Nahmias Published: 10.06.08, 09:10 / Israel Money Lebanon is planning on filing an international law suit against Israel for violating a food copyright, Fadi Abboud, president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association, told the al-Arabiya network. The Lebanese claim is that Israel markets original Lebanese food like tabouleh, kubbeh, hummus, falafel and fattoush which the Lebanese considered their trademarks prior to the establishment of the Jewish state. Abboud explained that the fact that Israel has been marketing Lebanese...

O'Reilly hammers Obama about Ayers

Following recent settler violence in the West Bank, the IDF Central Command canceled a number of scheduled visits to Joseph's Tomb in Nablus last week and says it will not permit any until the settler leadership forcefully condemns the attacks, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The decision was made by Samaria Brigade commander Col. Itzik Bar and was delivered to the settler leadership by Maj. Nehemia Hen, who is in charge of settlement security in the area. Jews have been allowed access to Joseph's Tomb since the beginning of the year in monthly visits coordinated with the Samaria Brigade. Each...

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