By RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) – Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, told a Rosh Hashanah event packed with U.S. officials that Israel would enforce two red lines in the civil war in neighboring Syria: The transfer of major weapons to Hezbollah and the establishment of a permanent Iranian beach head in the country. Enforcing Its Red Lines “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin […]

By BEN SALES NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – Rabbi Adam Starr was returning from an emergency trip to Houston, where he had helped a colleague clean up his synagogue after Harvey swept through that city, when his phone began to buzz. Jews from Florida had begun contacting Starr’s Atlanta synagogue seeking a safe haven from Hurricane Irma. So on Tuesday, […]

By JOSEFIN DOLSTEN NEW YORK CITY (JTA)  – The Jewish community in Houston has seen “devastating” damage from Hurricane Harvey and could take years to recover, a federation official said. “Recovery like this — it is a disaster larger than Katrina in terms of the amount of water that fell — we’re going to have short- and long-term recovery plans, but […]

By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL NEW YORK CITY (JTA)  – It was a day before Hurricane Harvey was due to make landfall, and Rabbi Shira Stern knew she was headed for Texas. As a director of Disaster Spiritual Care for the American Red Cross, she knew there would be people who would have other needs beyond shelter, beyond medical care, beyond a hot […]

By RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) – An array of Jewish groups and lawmakers attacked as immoral President Donald Trump’s decision to end an Obama-era program granting protections to illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Constitutionality Questioned The Trump administration said Monday, Sept. 4, that it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program […]

NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, has pledged up to $36 million to rebuild Texas in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath. Dell announced the donation on Friday, Sept. 1, to the Rebulid Texas Fund, established by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Dell grew up in […]

NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – The State Department will fill the post of special envoy for the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism following the urging of lawmakers and Jewish groups, but will do away with or combine dozens of other diplomatic positions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made the announcement in a recent letter sent to Sen. Bob Corker, […]

The Jewish Federations of North America have opened an emergency relief fund to help support communities and individuals in Houston, San Antonio, Galveston, Corpus Christi and other areas that have been hammered by Hurricane Harvey. Hurricane Harvey, the category 4 storm that bombarded the Gulf Coast on Saturday, Aug. 26, continues to dump rain in large areas of central Texas. […]

By JACOB KAMARAS/JNS.ORG As a member of Houston’s Jewish community writing about a devastating flood for the third time since May 2015, I’m at a loss for words. Sitting in the comforts of my third-floor apartment, where I’m fortunate enough to view the unprecedented waters of Hurricane Harvey as a spectator, it feels trite to be putting on my “journalist’s […]

By BEN HARRIS WHITE PINE, Tenn. (JTA) – The thing that truly pushed us over the top, that led us to undertake an epic 48-hour, 1,500-mile road trip at the height of the farming season, was The New York Times. The paper’s special section on the 2017 solar eclipse landed on our doorstep a week ago Saturday, and after reading the lead […]