By BEN SALES, MARCY OSTER NEW YORK CITY (JTA) — More than 50 Jewish community centers nationwide have received e-mailed bomb threats since Saturday, Feb. 22. None of the threats have been found to be credible, though local law enforcement agencies have been notified. Officials do not know who sent the threats. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned from officials […]

By MARC BRODSKY NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – President Donald Trump, citing the “incredible job” that Michael Milken has done in funding cancer research over the past three decades, has pardoned the 1980s junk bond king. Milken, who also gives to Jewish philanthropic endeavors in health and human services as well as Israeli causes, was among 11 acts of clemency […]

By RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) — The umbrella body that sets consensus on issues for American Jewish public policy adopted stances on guns and on unions that are at odds with the Trump administration. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, meeting here  recently for its annual conference, adopted six new public policy positions through a months-long process involving consensus building […]

By MARCY OSTER JERUSALEM (JTA) –Hundreds of Israelis gathered at the Western Wall on Sunday, Feb. 15, after a prominent rabbi in Israel called for a mass prayer for those infected by the coronavirus. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed, and the Association of Communitiy Rabbis, organized the service in Jerusalem’s Old City . The prayer service also […]

By DOV LIPMAN (JNS) – The Israeli government’s recent approval of a plan to allow nearly 400 Ethiopian Jews from the Falash Mura sect to immigrate to Israel has touched off political controversy in the country. Not Jewish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move, which aims to reunite the Falash Mura with family members already living in Israel, was […]

(JNS) – As fears of the growing coronavirus endemic increase worldwide, Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, has developed a groundbreaking way to treat potential patients without risking the health of hospital staff and other patients. Using a Vici telemedicine system, designed by virtual health-care company Intouch Health, the robot-like apparatus can be controlled by doctors and nurses to enter […]

By MARCY OSTER NEW YORK CITY (JTA) — Joseph Gluck received a $20,000 reward for his role in apprehending the suspected Monsey synagogue stabber. But it didn’t come from two Jewish groups that had offered the award for information leading to an arrest. Gluck told News 12 Brooklyn that after consulting with his rabbi, he decided to reject the money […]

(JNS) – A recently restored synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt, just hosted the country’s biggest Jewish prayer service in decades. About 180 diaspora Jews who have Egyptian roots traveled to Egypt to participate in Shabbat services celebrating the newly renovated 14th-century Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, reported The Jerusalem Post. The weekend was organized by the Nebi Daniel Association, which is dedicated to the […]

(JNS) – Foreigners who recently traveled to countries in Asia where the coronavirus has spread will be barred from entering Israel, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri  has announced . Deri said that guidelines by Israel’s Ministry of Health and general concerns about the possibility of an outbreak in Israel was behind the move, according to a report by i24 New. The new […]