יום שבת, ט׳ אלול תשפ״וSaturday, August 22, 2026
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The Hamas terrorist organization has scolded Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas for sending condolences to the family of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Abbas sent his message of sorrow via 12 visiting Knesset Members who met with him in Ramallah. Abbas told them he has previously met with members of the revered rabbi’s family. One of Rabbi […]
Last week in Budapest, Israel’s glamor MK Yair Lapid scolded Israelis for living in Berlin and not in Israel. So what does he say in NY? Israel may be home, but you know, you are much safer if you stay put.
Hundred of people continue to stream to the graveside of Rav Ovadia, in Jerusalem.
By Shai Afsai
Sigd means “prostration” or “bowing down” in Ge’ez, the ancient Ethiopian liturgical language.
The 300-year-old manuscript that was found in a heap of garbage.
By JTA
Israeli President Shimon Peres called on the Council of Europe to reconsider a resolution condemning male ritual circumcision. In a letter issued Sunday to Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe — a pan-European intergovernmental organization — Peres wrote that he was “sorry to hear” of the resolution. The resolution, which was passed […]
By JTA
Denmark’s Jewish community has lost 25 percent of its registered members over the past 15 years, partly due to anti-Semitism, its president said. The Jewish Community in Denmark, or Mosaisk Troessamfund, currently has 1,899 members compared to 2,639 in 1997, Mosaisk President Finn Schwarz told the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in an interview published last week. […]
A mourning tent has been set up next to the home of Rav Ovadia Yosef on Kablan street, Har Nof for the duration of the Shiva (week of mourning). Visiting hours are between 10 AM and 1 PM, and between 4 PM and 7 PM. The family asks that all visitors restrict themselves to those […]
Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett wrote in his Facebook page that Rav Ovadia was one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our nation.
Five years ago, the IDF abandoned a base called Shdema near Bethlehem, part of “Area C” designated as Israeli-controlled, and tried to turn it over to Arabs. A group of women stopped the army.
No matter how secular Israeli Jews may appear, the glow of Torah burns somewhere inside almost everyone. Peres was not pretending when he called Rav Ovadia his “teacher.” His tears were real.
The gigantic contribution of Rav Ovadia to Israel cannot be measured, but one indication is the 850,000 people who attended his funeral and a huge number who did not come, knowing there was no room for many more.
Two more Jews, both from the United States, and a German non-Jew won the Nobel Prize in medicine in Monday, while two Israel contenders lost out. The newest Jewish Nobel Prize winners are James Rothman of Yale University and Randy Schekman of the University of California. The Israeli hopefuls were Hebrew University professors Howard Cedar […]
Moses made the right turn after all. In his song at the end of the Torah he spoke of ‘precious things of “Givat HaOlam.” The hidden meaning of “precious things” seems to be oil. Not olive oil, but black gold.
Hillary Clinton, an undeclared candidate for the Democratic nominee for president in 2016, has told Human Abedin to ditch Anthony Weiner if she wants to advise her former boss at the State Dept., The New York Post reported Monday. The ultimatum has been given before but has greater meaning following Weiner’s embarrassingly poor finish in […]
World Jewry lost one its greatest Torah sages and political leaders Tuesday. Rabi Ovadia Yosef, known affectionately as Rav Ovadia, has passed away at the age of 93, but his memory will be a blessed memory for millions.
Be careful what you wish for. Netanyahu again turns Abbas’ refusal to see Israel as a Jewish state a "red line.” If Abbas “doesn’t miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” fine. But what if Abbas calls his bluff?
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is scheduled to undergo critical and complicated surgery Monday morning, doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital said Sunday night. Earlier in the day, doctors put Rav Ovadia back on a breathing machine after his condition worsened following his breathing on his own for a period of time. The spiritual head of the […]
By Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)
Wonder Bread, fresh off its post-bankruptcy revival, will get kosher certification in the New York area from the Orthodox Union (OU), according to an OU bulletin. The kosher Wonder Bread won’t be sold everywhere, but approved products will bear the OU’s symbol on their packaging. Previously, Wonder Bread was certified by the Triangle-K, which is […]
By JTA
The Anti-Defamation League accepted an apology from the retailer Hobby Lobby for an employee’s alleged comment that the store “doesn’t cater to you people.” Hobby Lobby was mired in controversy after a blogger reported that the chain neglected to stock Hanukkah items. After calling a New Jersey Hobby Lobby store and inquiring about the Hannukah […]
By Shalom Bear
The proposal will allow European Jews to use the extraterritorial status of the Israeli embassy to legally perform Brit Mila.
By Chabad.org
The Torah they got “is a piece of art. It is one of the most beautiful Torahs anyone's ever seen…”
By Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)
The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Ruderman Family Foundation are launching The Ruderman Family Foundation Opportunity Initiative, which will place young adults with disabilities in internships and fellowships at Jewish federations across the U.S., beginning in 2014. “By making people with disabilities more visible, we will raise awareness of the importance of […]
By JTA
Tunisian Jews believe they are in danger, the head of a Tunisian rights group said following attacks on the community. Yamina Thabet, head of the Tunisian Association Supporting Minorities, visited the Tunisian island of Djerba, home to about 2,000 Jews and the El Ghriba synagogue, which dates to 586 B.C. “Tunisian Jews feel in danger, […]
e particularly struck that the wineries - which produce wonderful wine - are so close to the very active borders with very hostile neighbors.
Praying in a minyan on an airplane is forbidden if it robs others passengers of their sleep or interferes with the duties of stewards and stewardesses, ruled newly elected Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Replying to a congratulatory letter from El Al CEO Eliezer Shkedy on the election of the […]
By JTA
A Greek court has ordered the head of the ultranationalist Golden Dawn party held in jail until his trial following six hours of testimony that ran through the night. Nikolaos Michaloliakos was arrested last week with several other lawmakers and senior Golden Dawn members on charges of forming a criminal organization, part of an unprecedented […]
The Western Wall Rabbi told Haredi girls to – in effect – let the Women of the Wall pray as they wish. An analogy to “let sleeping dogs lie” would be taken the wrong way.
By JTA
Practices covered by the resolution include female genital mutilation and the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons.
By JTA
The chain Hobby Lobby, following a blog report that it did not stock Hanukkah merchandise, said it was evaluating its inventory, and also looking into an alleged anti-Jewish slur by one of its employees. Ken Berwitz on his Hopelessly Partisan blog wrote over the weekend that a friend who asked about Hanukkah goods at the […]
By JTA
Move over Kohn Kerry and let the moviemakers take over. It took five years of negotiations for an IMAX visual tour of Jerusalem, including the three major religions, to come to the screen.
The Women of the Wall are unhappy again. Yes, they can read from the Torah, but now that have no scroll. It was damaged by dampness, and WoW blames the government for lack of proper storage.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef regained consciousness at Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem Wednesday but his condition remains very serious, doctors said. He woke up and recognized family members, who helped him put on tefillin. His physician, Dr. Dan Gilon, said that the rabbi may not have suffered brain damage. The 93-year-old Torah sage and spiritual […]
A resolution that calls male ritual circumcision a “violation of the physical integrity of children” was passed overwhelmingly by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The council, a pan-European intergovernmental organization that strongly influence European Union decisions, debated and passed the resolution on Tuesday, as reported here. The resolution was based on a […]
By Batya Medad
Our people in Jewish Home and Likud kept campaigning that they had to be in the coalition to influence government. They're in now, and what influence do they have?
By Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)
Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics vowed to "crack down" on antisemitism in his country through legal and political means during a conference on Jewish life and antisemitism in Europe. "We cannot allow, especially knowing our own responsibility, antisemitism to gain strength in Hungary," he said. "We know Hungarians were responsible for the Holocaust. Hungarians were perpetrators, and victims." […]
By Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) welcomed the Vatican’s announcement of the canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII, citing their groundbreaking work in denouncing antisemitism and building positive Jewish-Catholic relations. “For us in the Jewish community, Popes John Paul II and John XXIII have already been saints for a long time. They are towering men […]
Lhota: "David Koch’s beliefs on social issues are no different than mine or my opponent’s when it comes to women’s choice and women’s issues and other issues like that."
Banning Jewish circumcisions used to be anti-Semitic. Today it is called a “violation of human rights.” Why aren’t there protests for children’s rights to watch porno and get sick on junk food?
Warsaw Ghetto survivor and researcher Israel Gutman has died in Jerusalem at the age of 90. He was born in Warsaw, where he was wounded in the Jewish uprising against the Nazis in 1943. He is survived by two daughters and three grandchildren. Gutman survived three concentration and death camps, including Auschwitz, but his parents […]
By JTA
Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez sent out a blitz of 31 tweets to urge President Barack Obama to include the issue of the Buenos Aires Jewish Center AMIA bombing in its bilateral talks with Iran. The tweets posted Monday night from the president’s official Twitter account also mentioned the pressure that she feels from U.S. Jewish […]
Pew survey: U.S. Jewish intermarriage rate rises to 58 percent
By JTA
The CEO of the (U.S.) Chevra Hatzalah ambulance service resigned amid allegations that he conspired with William Rapfogel, the ex-CEO of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, in an insurance scam on the Met Council. Rabbi Dovid Cohen gave no reason for stepping down over the weekend at Hatzalah, according to David Shipper, the Jewish […]
By Kosher Today
Several kosher food manufacturers and distributors introduced new products in time for the Jewish holidays as part of an overall push to gain an edge over competitors. For some, the timing of the introduction was designed to coincide with what several termed “a period of time when you have the customer’s attention.” In the major […]
By JTA
A fire destroyed two Israeli-owned kosher restaurants in a South Florida shopping plaza, including one that was torched a year ago by arsonists. The early Sunday morning fires that hit the Achla Pita Grill and Bon Ami Cafe at the Emerald Center in West Hollywood are being investigated as suspicious, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The […]
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Yad Vashem recently recognized Dr. Mohamed Helmy and Frieda Szturmann as Righteous Among the Nations, an honorary title bestowed by Yad Vashem on behalf of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Dr. Helmy, an Egyptian physician living in Berlin and Szturmann, […]
Doctors reported a “slight improvement” in the health of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, “Rav Ovadia,” Saturday night, but cautioned that he still is in “very serious” condition. His son, recently elected Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, said that Rav Ovadia briefly opened his eyes during Shabbat and moved his arm. He asked for people to continue […]
By Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)
Three sukkahs, two in the United States and one in Israel, will share the title of "Number One Sukkah" as the winners of the Jewish Agency for Israel's first Sukkathon competition. The three winners are the sukkah at Terrace at the Glen, an assisted living facility in Queensbury, New York; the Schachter family sukkah in […]
Hundreds of thousands of Jews in Israel and throughout the Diaspora are praying for the health of “Rav Ovadia,” one of Israel’s most influential rabbis and one of today’s greatest Torah sages. A name has been added.
Jerusalem police once again have prohibited Jews from visiting the Temple Mount because of security officials' unintended admission that they cannot or do not want to deal with violent Arabs. Officially, police say that they blocked the planned visit of hundreds of Jews to the holy site on Tuesday, the sixth day of the Sukkot […]
By JTA
“No thanks” is the message American-Iranian Jews delivered to new Iranian government headed by President Hassan Rohani, after the regime sent the Iranian American Jewish Federation received an official invitation to meet with him in New York. The meeting also would have included Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif and the only Jewish Iranian Member of […]
Naim led federal agents to his computer and admitted to viewing and downloading child pornography for multiple years.
By Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)
Everyone is “Pro-Israel” today. Jewish federations bankroll “Zionist” Gaza sympathizers and “Zionist” boycotters of anything over the “Green Line.” Fundraisers find they have crossed the “red line.”
By Shalom Bear
On Sunday morning, the traditional Birkat Cohanim, Blessing of the Priests, was held in the Kotel courtyard. The Kotel was packed.
Does your Sukkah stand up to the challenge as the “best in the world.” The Jewish Agency will be the judge in its “Sukkathon 2013” competition.
By JTA
The third season of the television hit “Homeland” will discuss the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires. In the first episode, which is scheduled to air on Sept. 29, CIA agents agree during a meeting on a list of six terrorists who must be captured. A CIA agent presents one of the […]
If the Women of the Wall want equality with men, why don’t they try to perform the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall? Do tribal distinctions contradict “equality?” If so, who needs a Reform "rabbi?"
By JTA
A Belgian Education Ministry website compared Israel and Nazi Germany, a Jewish newspaper reported. The comparisons were made on the KlasCement.be website, a major teaching resource offered by the Education Ministry of the Flemish Region, one of three entities that make up the federal Belgian state, the Jewish monthly Joods Actueel reported Monday. The website […]
By JTA
A GOP official in Virginia refused to apologize for an antisemitic joke, although the party’s candidate for governor called it inappropriate. “I did not tell an antisemitic joke,” John Whitbeck, the Republican Party’s chairman in its 10th Congressional District, in northern Virginia, told the Free Beacon on Wednesday. “I told a joke I heard from […]
British David Cameron said that the horrors of the Holocaust should bring out outrage in people who are against facing the reality that the Assad regime is using chemical weapons in Syria. He told the Holocaust Education Trust’s annual dinner in London on Monday, “The evidence [is] before our eyes,” the London Jewish Chronicle reported. […]
16 year-old NCSY board member, Orly Ohayon, is in critical condition and her mother was killed when a car struck them on their way to shul erev Yom Kippur.
Monday could be Israel’s finest hour for human rights and blackest day for a Jewish state. The court struck down a Knesset bid to detain African illegals for three years, but there are more options.
Was it all the negative articles in which the other front-runner for Federal Reserve Chair, Janet L. Yellen, was compared to Lawrence Summers and Summers was found wanting? Was it that, plus the snarky articles pointing out that despite what some saw as Yellen's superior credentials, that Obama was intent on naming Summers to replace […]
A killer flood in Colorado submerged a synagogue and a rabbi’s home in Boulder County, and the Chabad synagogue rabbi is thankful that Torah scrolls were saved with the help of students from the nearby University of Colorado. “Thank G‑d, the students have been immensely helpful moving the Torahs and other sacred items to higher […]
“Auctioning” off the honor of being called to the Torah and for the privilege of reading the “Haftorah,” or “Maftir” section of the Prophets, is common in the Diaspora and also in many urban and more affluent communities in Israel, but it takes a lot to top an unidentified Moscow millionaire, or perhaps billionaire, who […]
By JTA
A group of teenagers “of African and North African origins” assaulted ten 13-year-old Jewish students at a public sports center in Paris from the Ner HaTorah Jewish school on Thursday, according to France’s Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism. There were no serious injuries. The attackers asked the Jews to stop “occupying the area,” the report […]
By JTA
Kosovo’s deputy foreign minister, citing his country’s record of ethnic Albanians protecting Jews during the Holocaust, urged American Jewish groups to press Israel for recognition of the country. In a meeting with Jewish officials in Washington, Petrit Selimi also noted that Kozovo's pro-American tilt made relations between the two countries a natural. “With such a […]
By JTA
Travelers will be asked to open the container with the etrog and unwrap it for inspection by experts.
Richard Allen of JCC Watch, evoking the character Johnny Friendly from the Marlon Brando movie, "On the Waterfront" said, "Nothing moves on the NYC Jewish waterfront without John Ruskay's approval."
The IDF is nothing if not innovative. For soldiers who are on the front lines during the Yom Kippur Fast, the army suggests they suck on popsicles to keep their strength without violating to laws of the fast.
Lawrence Summers, who was the first Jew to become president of Harvard University, will replace Ben Bernanke to head the Federal reserve, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported early Friday morning. It cited unnamed sources. Bernanke’s term expires in January, and Summers was competing with Janet Yellen, currently the vice chairman of the Fed, for the […]
By JTA
Spain’s ruling People’s Party recently submitted a proposed amendment to the education law that would make Holocaust studies obligatory for Spanish students. If passed, the proposed amendment would introduce the genocide of Jews by Nazi Germany into the curriculum “at various stages of basic education,” the Spanish news agency Europa Press reported Thursday. The proposed […]
Israel has one life support. It starts with Yom Kippur.
By JTA
Criminals who observe the Sabbath forgot that Torah also commands not to endanger others, but New York City narcotic agents have now made sure they can’t do so after arresting them on charges of multiple crimes, from illegal possession of narcotics to illegal possession of a weapon, according to CBS news. The drug ring was […]
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Harvard scholar and author Ben Urwand tries to destroy any impression that Hollywood fought the Nazi regime. His new book claims the opposite – that Jews in Hollywood actually collaborated with Hitler.
By JTA
Nearly 700 rabbis and other Jewish communal officials were briefed by a top White House aide on President Obama’s Syria plans. The call Tuesday with Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, was organized by the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center and the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly and attracted 691 callers from all religious streams, […]
By Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)
A Polish couple pleaded guilty to the desecration of a historic site for destroying a Holocaust-era Jewish hideout in the Warsaw apartment the couple was renting. The hideout was made into an official historic monument in 1999. A Holocaust hideout built by a Warsaw ghetto inmate was destroyed by a polish couple who pleaded guilty […]
‘Peace talks’ are an excuse to avoid THE issue - the Temple Mount – but the PA pushes it in media, warns of religious war. Housing Minister blesses at the site. Fatah terrorists warn of ‘violent Friday.”
Baltimore native Rabbi Avraham Leventhal, who moved to Beit Shemesh eight years ago after making aliyah, has tossed his hat in the political ring and is running for a seat on the city council. Elections will take place October 22. Another former American, Rabbi Dov Lipman, also was active in politics after making aliyah. He […]
By JTA
Two French soldiers who posed in front of a Paris synagogue a few weeks ago while making an anti-Semitic gesture will be sanctioned by the French army. The soldiers of the Alpine Hunters elite unit currently are the subject of an investigation, the French military’s spokesperson, Bruno Louisfert, told radio station RTL France Tuesday. He […]
By JTA
The newly elected president of the International Olympic Committee heads a German-based organization that helps companies to guarantee that their products do not contain anything from Israel. Thomas Bach, a German who was elected Tuesday at an IOC session in Buenos Aires, is chairman of Ghorfa, the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was […]
It's estimated that 13,000 Jews visited Ma'arat HaMachpelah (the Tomb of the Patriachs) today for tours and the evening Selichot prayers ahead of Yom Kippur. Among those that will be at this evening's Selichot prayers are the Chief Rabbis of Israel, city rabbis, MKs and government ministers. There have been reports of Arabs stoning buses […]
By Kosher Today
Israel’s national snack food is Bamba, made by Osem, in which Nestle has a major stake. Strauss Foods is partly owned by Pepsi. Now China wants to buy Israel Tnuva. Will McDonald’s buy out falafel stands?
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has appointed the first woman as one of the members of the State Committee for the Appointment of Rabbinical Court Judges. Dr. Rachel Levmore, director of the Project for the Prevention of Agunot and Get-Refusal of the International Young Israel Movement and the Jewish Agency, was named to the panel based […]
Team Obama came down hard on AIPAC to use its political muscle to convince members of congress to vote in favor of the U.S. strike on Syria.
Extremist Haredim were at again in Beit Shemesh, breaking into a construction site that they say contains old Jewish graves. The Haredim found the Arab guards even more violent.
By JTA
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny called for a recount in Moscow’s mayoral election after missing the runoff vote cutoff by one percentage point. He is asking for a recount. Incumbent Sergei Sobyanin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, garnered just over 51 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election to 27 percent for […]
Thompson brushed off suggestions that having D’Amato stumping for him tarnished his liberal credentials.
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Dr. Mazar estimates the treasure was abandoned during the Persian conquest of Jerusalem, in 614 CE.
By JTA
Adolf Hitler’s bodyguard, who claimed he knew nothing about the Nazi extermination of 6 million Jews. Has died at the age of 96. SS Staff Sgt. Rochus Misch was at Hitler’s side he and Eva Braun committed suicide before the Allies could capture them. Braun, who was his mistress until a quick marriage ceremony shortly […]
By JTA
‘What’s good for the Jews is good for the Muslims,” says a French Islamic website citing the closure of a city street for Jews through the High Holidays. It demands the same for Muslim street prayers.
By JTA
Plans for a memorial in Munich to 11 Israelis and a German police officer murdered at the 1972 Summer Olympics there were unveiled on Wednesday, the eve of Rosh HaShanah, at the Bavarian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. The planned hall of remembrance is slated to be built near the site that housed the […]
The Timna Valley copper mines in southern Israel are considered to date back to ancient Egypt, but Tel Aviv University archaeologists now reveal they actually are from the period of King Solomon.
There has been another improvement in the medical condition of Rav Ovadia Yosef, who is still in the ICU at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center. Rav Yosef spent Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat in prayers, accompanied by family members. Doctors will conduct a complete evaluation of his condition on Sunday, to weigh his discharge. He has […]
Judicial officials in Germany have investigated 49 former Nazi guards at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and said 30 of them should be prosecuted, while nine others have since died Another seven of the former guards are living outside of the country. Some of the guards are reportedly as old as 97. The justice agency in […]
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
Apples area mainstay of Rosh HaShanah, when Jews dip them in honey and bless it as sign of a sweet year, which this year should be very sweet if 15,000 tons apples can do the trick.
By JTA
More Jews give to non-Jewish causes than Jewish causes, and Jews overall are more generous givers than non-Jews, according to a new survey called Connected to Give. It found that 76 percent of American Jews reported a charitable contribution in 2012, compared to 63 percent among non-Jewish Americans. The median annual giving rate among Jews […]
By JTA
The New York Police Department several years investigated Kahane Chai, a militant Jewish group, for threats against Rabbi Shmuley Boteach but never told him, according to internal NYPD documents obtained by the Tablet website. The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) asked the NYPD’s intelligence division to monitor the group in the late 2000s after anti-Boteach […]
The Women of the Wall was so focused on Haredim that the girls forgot to ask Jordan for permission to pray in their own minyan. Now maybe the WoW will wake up to reality and pray on the Temple Mount.
On the eve of Rosh Hashana 5774, the population of the State of Israel stands at 8.081 million people.
August 21, 2026 
