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A Jerusalem family ripping up its living room floor found a staircase lost for 2,000 years, leading to a large ritual bath carved out of bedrock. It took the family some years to call in the authorities and show them the discovery beneath their house, in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Kerem. Throughout the interim, the family blocked off the entrance to the mikveh with wooden doors, and simply continued to live over it. When they did call in the Israel Antiquities Authority, beneath the doors, the archaeologists found the carved stone staircase leaving to a big mikveh, 3.5 meters...

From the man who married her grandmother to the man who married her daughter, from working a room full of bar mitzvah guests on behalf of her husband’s political career to headlining major pro-Israel events during her own, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s journey has never wandered far from Jews. Clinton’s Jewish encounters have been a natural consequence of her East Coast education, her trajectory in the party favored by a substantial majority of Jewish-Americans, and her embrace of the Jewish narrative of triumphing over adversity and bigotry, longtime friends of the 2016 presidential candidate say. Sara Ehrman, whose friendship with the...

Jenna Jameson says she has found love ... and God. The former adult film star has revealed that she is converting from Catholicism to Judaism. Why? The 41-year-old is embracing her Israeli fiance Lior Bitton's religious traditions. Jameson has been cooking up a storm, literally. She shared a picture of her latest attempt at making challah, a type of bread typically used by Jews during festival meals.

Robert S. Wistrich, who died suddenly last week, was considered the foremost scholar of anti-Semitism, which he called “the longest hatred,” one that appears to be metastasizing in the current era. Writing about Nazi anti-Semitism ruffles no feathers within academia and other elite circles. Mr. Wistrich, however, had been warning that “anti-Semitism has undergone a process of growing ‘Islamicization,’ linked to the terrorist holy war against Jews and other non-Muslims with its truly lethal consequences.” This “new” anti-Semitism,” he added, targetsIsrael, the only state with a Jewish majority: “the collective Jew.” “New” is a relative term: It was 40 years...

On Friday, President Obama spoke at a Jewish American Heritage Month celebration being held at the Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, D.C. Wearing a yarmulke, Obama addressed his Jewish gravitas, citing his two Jewish former chiefs of staff, saying he has been called America's "first Jewish president" by Jeffrey Goldberg, who recently interviewed him for The Atlantic. Goldberg was in attendance.

The Tri-Faith Initiative in Omaha has lofty goals for the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim partners involved. It is best summed up in the Tri-Faith’s Vision Statement: In working together, our vision is to build bridges of respect, trust and acceptance, to challenge stereotypes of each other, to learn from one another, and to counter the influence of extremists and agents of hate.

Musa, a Jew, was only 15 years of age when he developed interest in religion. He describes what he saw in Islam in relation to Judaism, which caught his interest and led him to accept it. He narrated his story sometime in 2007. Prior to my conversion to Islam, I lived my life as a Jew. Although my family was not traditional, I learned Judaism from traditional Jews. I went to an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, and an Orthodox Jewish school. I lived, and continue to live, in a Jewish community in the United States where there is little diversity. And...

By the Grace of G-d 25th of Shevat, 5746 Brooklyn, N.Y. Greeting and Blessing: This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of Jan. 26th, in which you write about a serious problem. As requested, I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart's desires for good. While all blessings come from HaShem [G‑d], a Jew is expected to do what is necessary in the natural order. In the matter of the said problem, you surely know that there are doctors and psychiatrists who treat it, and have been successful in many cases. I know of a...

Student-organized event faces enemies from within and without the Jewish community. On Thursday, April 23rd, courage, contempt and cowardice collided during a pro-Israel campus event called “iFest” that took place at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). In the middle of the festivities, the president of the student group Anteaters for Israel (AFI), which organized the three-day event, was berated and brought to tears by the president of the Jewish Federation of Orange County (JFOC), who was among the iFest attendees. According to AFI leadership, the incident affirmed that the organization’s decision to purposefully disassociate from the JFOC due to...

On Thursday, April 23, 2015, the Jewish state celebrated its 67th birthday – corresponding to the 5th of Iyar on the Hebrew calendar. What makes this unique in the annals of history is that Jews in the 20th century reestablished Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel after 2082 years of the land having been occupied and the Jewish people having been oppressed, exiled, persecuted – including, most notably, the Spanish Inquisition, pogroms, and the Holocaust. The last Jewish sovereign entity was the Hashmonean dynasty, which lasted 47 years, from 110BCE to 63BCE. The Romans colonized and ruled the land...

Thursday at the Israeli embassy while speaking at the 67th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence, Vice President Joe Biden said, “The dream of every Irish Catholic father is for his daughter to marry a Jewish surgeon.”

The Riminov Rebbe visited the Florida communities made up of South American immigrants from France, gave an unequivocal command to the Jews to leave and go to Israel, saying that there will be a civil war in the US. BeHadrei Haredim reported that the Rebbe said: “Leave while you still can. The situation will get worse and it will be difficult to move from state to state. After World War II the survivors came to the great men of Israel and Hasidic leaders and asked why they had not ordered the Jews of Europe to leave and immigrate to Israel...

By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyRa'anana, Israel --- April 18, 2015 ... No, the Jews are not running to Pontius Pilate and the Romans have no crucifixions scheduled for this weekend. But someone forgot to fax the Jehovah's Witnesses that Jews do not live in Israel to become converts to Christianity. Ra'anana residents, municipal officials, a city Chief Rabbi and the Yad L'Achim anti-assimilation organization coordinated efforts to cancel a Jehovah's Witnesses baptism ceremony today. This is the second time that Yad L'Achim has succeeded in heading off the same baptism-of-Jews ceremony. It was first scheduled to be held in...

Seventy years after the end of the Holocaust, Ukraine’s parliament has extended official recognition to a nationalist militia that collaborated with the Germans during the Second World War. According to a bill passed on Thursday, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, an ultra-nationalist faction that sought to establish an independent Ukrainian state, would be eligible for official government commemoration, according to the Kiev Post. While the group, an offshoot of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, engaged in warfare against both the Soviet Union and the Nazis, it also collaborated with Germany and took part in actions against local Jews. The Simon Wiesenthal...

Published on Feb 6, 2014 Leonard Nimoy explains the Jewish story behind the hand-gesture he made famous through his role as Spock on in the Star Trek science fiction series.

President Obama met with Jewish American leaders at the White House on Monday in a bid to defuse antagonism toward him and to convince them that he shares their concerns about the safety of Israel and the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. The meetings in the Roosevelt Room were designed to improve prospects for a deal being negotiated to limit Iran’s nuclear program — and hang on to the support of a key Democratic constituency. At the first meeting, the president spent an hour with the leaders of major Jewish organizations. Then the discussion continued with Obama’s national security adviser,...

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – Boulder’s Jewish Community Center was evacuated Monday morning after a letter containing white powder arrived saying “you have enemies.” The Boulder County Sheriff is responding to the situation at the center, which is located on the 3800 block of Kalmia Avenue.

Status of Jews in Bosnia: not very good, obviously. But…but…the Muslims in Bosnia are all moderates, and anyone who doesn’t think so is a racist, greasy Islamophobe! “If he was attacked because he is Jewish and because as such he is present in our media, just because he is doing his job, then it would be a very bad sign both for Sarajevo and for Bosnia and Herzegovina.” You can say that again. “Arrest made in attack on Bosnian Jewish leader,” JTA, April 6, 2015 (JTA) — A man was arrested in connection with the attack on Bosnian Jewish leader...

For Obama, it's never enough to greet Jews as Jews. He has to turn Pesach (Passover) into a black holiday (if you missed it, follow the link to Weasel Zippers and he has it highlighted). He did the same thing in his post-Seder message. For the seventh year in a row, President and Mrs. Obama hosted the annual White House Seder. The Seder provides an opportunity for the First Family to join in retelling the story of the Israelites’ arduous journey through the desert from slavery in Egypt to liberation in the Promised Land. In recounting the story, they joined...

A Belgian insurance company has refused to insure a Jewish kindergarten in Brussels. The company claimed the risk of a terror attack on the European Jewish Association-run institution was too high. EJA General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin called on all European governments and heads of European Union institutions to provide security to all Jewish institutions that would satisfy insurance companies, and establish an alternative insurance mechanism that would secure any institution that might fall victim to anti-Semitic attacks.