By MARCY OSTER NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – An organization that objects to a  some group’s pre-Yom Kippur ritual that involves swinging live chickens is renewing its legal effort to stop the rite in New York City, citing the coronavirus pandemic. Kapparot involves swinging a live chicken over one’s head three times and reciting a prayer to transfer sins to the […]

By Joseph Wolkin World Israel News In New York, Joshua Lafazan, 26, is already one of Long Island’s most vocal politicians. He’s been serving the public since he joined the Syosset Board of Education before even graduating high school. Lafazan continues to work his way up the political ladder. In November 2017, he was elected as the legislator of the […]

Joel E. Simon, received the 2020 Chesed Shel Emes award from the Hebrew Free Burial Association at a zoom bunch on June 14. The breakfast had been originally scheduled for March 29 at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale “The Bayit” but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hebrew Free Burial Association (HFBA) devotes its resources to performing chesed shel […]

BY SHIRA HANAU NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit the New York region in March, the Orthodox community was on edge. A surge in anti-Semitic incidents targeting visibly Orthodox Jews climaxed with an attack in which a man was killed by a machete at a Chanukah party in December. Then the virus hit, forcing the […]

By SHIRA HANAU NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – It closed with dancing and it reopened with dancing. The main Chabad synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn reopened to a large crowd Monday, June 22, more than three months after it shut down amid mounting restrictions meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The raucous service was documented in […]

By SHIRA HANAU NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – A top Justice Department official recently sent a letter to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio that claims the mayor has enforced uneven social distancing rules that “favor certain secular gatherings and disfavor religious gatherings.” The letter, which was shared Tuesday. June 23, by Agudath Israel, an organization representing haredi Orthodox […]

By BEN SALES NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – When Jewish camp directors explained their reasons for canceling camp this summer, state and local prohibitions were typically at the top of the list. We can’t even think about opening camp, they would say, because the government won’t let us. Now that’s changing. States across the country have told day camps, overnight camps […]

BY MARCY OSTER NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – A school in the Chasidic village of Kiryas Joel in New York was ordered to close after it was found operating with hundreds of students in its building. Orange County said in a statement that officials visiting the school “found what appeared to be hundreds of students inside, not wearing personal protective […]

(Chabad.org/News via JNS) – Chest rising and falling, machines beeping, the hospital room is eerily calm. Nurses flitter in and out, staying just as long as they need to before turning their attention to the next patient. They have so much to do and so little time to do it. The easy chair beside the hospital bed is empty, as are […]

By MARCY OSTER NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – The suspect in a stabbing attack at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, N.Y., that left an elderly man dead has been deemed not mentally fit to stand trial by a federal judge. The recent ruling released found that Grafton Thomas currently can not assist in his own defense because he is suffering […]