Judaism

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Pope Visits Holy Sites of Judaism, Islam

Benedict meets with leading Muslim cleric after visit to Dome of the Rock

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI began the second day of his Holy Land tour at one of the most contentious sites in the Arab-Israeli conflict: the Dome of the Rock, where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, and the adjacent Western Wall. The pontiff urged both sides to engage in...

Kosher Tequila? Passover Choices Widen

(Newser) - The kosher alcohol scene has long been dominated by sweet Manishevitz, but that old standby is getting a run for its money as premium wines, and even hard liquor, are crossing the kosher barrier. Making kosher product has many restrictions, but entrepreneurs seem to think Jewish tipplers are in the...

Pope Must Hide Cross at Jerusalem Site: Rabbi

'I wouldn't go into a church wearing Jewish symbols,' Rabinovitch says

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem next month as a show of mutual understanding and sensitivity between Catholicism and Judaism—but a request from a prominent rabbi almost ensures he’ll offend someone, Time reports. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said the pontiff should remove the cross...

8 Offbeat Library Collections
 8 Offbeat Library Collections 
Mar 7, 2009 3:20 AM CST

8 Offbeat Library Collections

Hidden treasures abound in local libraries across the country

(Newser) - Your local library may be home to an odd or wonderful specialized stash of artifacts. The Smithsonian compiles a list of the nation’s most unusual library collections:
  • The Cleveland Public Library sports perhaps the world’s largest collection of chess- and checkers-related material, with more than 30,000 items
...

LiLo Takes Up Judaism for Sam
 LiLo Takes Up Judaism for Sam 
Mar 3, 2009 9:05 AM CST

LiLo Takes Up Judaism for Sam

Catholic actress wants to convert

(Newser) - Lindsay Lohan apparently thinks her relationship with Samantha Ronson is strong enough to warrant a change in religion, the New York Post reports. The pair recently attended Ronson’s half-brother’s bar mitzvah, and Lohan, raised Catholic, now wants to convert to Judaism. LiLo’s dad? Not convinced: “She’...

Madoff Bust Stokes Anti-Semitism in Palm Beach

(Newser) - Bernard Madoff’s alleged mega-fraud and the large number of Jewish investors he apparently snookered is stoking anti-Semitic feeling in tony Palm Beach, ABC News reports. “It is a terrible thing to say, but some of the WASPs are delighted, they take great pleasure in this,” said an...

Pope to Reinstate Bishop Who Denies Holocaust

Hardliner rejected Vatican reforms for being too tolerant of other faiths

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI is planning to welcome four rebel bishops excommunicated by his predecessor back to the Catholic Church, reports the Times of London. The ultra-conservative bishops reject the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council. One of them, Richard Williamson, openly endorses the anti-semitic tract Protocols of the Elders ...

Oy, Caramba! Cubans Turn to Judaism
Oy, Caramba!
Cubans Turn
to Judaism
Jan 14, 2009 8:25 AM CST

Oy, Caramba! Cubans Turn to Judaism

But for some, religious awakening looks a lot like exit strategy

(Newser) - Cuba's Jewish community is growing for the first time in decades, the Wall Street Journal reports. The country's Jewish population dwindled to 1,000 by the late 1980s but has now hit 1,500. Hundreds of other Cuban Jews have recently emigrated, landing in Israel, Canada, and the US. Many...

The Upside of the Madoff Mishegoss
The Upside of the Madoff Mishegoss
OPINION
Jan 13, 2009 11:42 AM CST

The Upside of the Madoff Mishegoss

Thank Bernie for reminding us that Jews shouldn't be WASPs

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff, the professionally dishonest, gelt-grubbing financier, seems to conform to some of the worst stereotypes about Jews and money, writes Joseph Epstein in Newsweek. While Madoff appears to have made a particular specialty of swindling fellow Jews, he is actually less anti-Semite than "truly equal-opportunity son of a...

No Time For Faith? Try a Podcast

Practitioners of all stripes distill religious teaching for on-the-go Americans

(Newser) - Overscheduled Americans are fueling a boom in devotional books and media that mete out bite-sized doses of faith, the Los Angeles Times reports. An editor at a Christian book house calls its One Minute Bible “a ready-made, quick little devotion they can do every day.” But it’s...

Murdered Brooklyn Rabbi, Wife to Be Buried in Israel

'Crying' son marked 2nd birthday yesterday

(Newser) - The Brooklyn-raised rabbi and his wife who were murdered in the Mumbai attacks will be buried in the Holy Land, the Daily News reports. Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, had wrapped the bodies of slain hostages in prayer shawls before being shot himself. The couple’s orphaned son marked his second birthday...

The 11th Commandment: 'Thou Shalt Not Forge'

Unscrupulous scholars fake history to make a buck

(Newser) - Fraudulent biblical artifacts come a dime a dozen, but reputable archaeologists are turning out to be far less common, Nina Burleigh writes in the Los Angeles Times. The latest example involves an Israeli collector who claimed to have relics from the time of Christ. Declaring the items forgeries, authorities prosecuted...

Riots in N. Israeli City Mar Yom Kippur

Jews set upon Arab for driving his car, igniting violence

(Newser) - The Israeli city of Acre descended into rioting today after a group of Jewish youths attacked an Arab man who was driving on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. The young men allegedly shouted anti-Muslim epithets at the driver before several younger Arabs came to his defense. As news...

Holy Season for Two Faiths Intersects in Jerusalem

Jewish new year coincides with Muslim month of Ramadan in city special to both

(Newser) - This year’s intersection of Jewish new-year holidays and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan—a rarity due to Islam’s changing calendar—is felt particularly keenly in Jerusalem, a sacred city for both religions, Ethan Bronner notes in the New York Times. Night has become “a kind of...

France Plotzes as Sarko Jr Weds Jewish Heiress

Nuptials spark anti-Semitic debate

(Newser) - Jean Sarkozy, the 22-year-old son of France's president, married his childhood sweetheart last night in a ceremony so under wraps that guests were informed via text message. A possible reason for the secrecy? His bride, the heiress to a huge electronics company, is Jewish—and the marriage has set off...

Israeli Divorce Spurs Debate Over Who Is Jewish

(Newser) - A divorce ruling in Israel has thrown thousands of Jewish conversions into question and sparked a debate over who is really Jewish, the Washington Post reports. Ultra-Orthodox rabbis, who frame one side of the dispute, refused to let a Jewish convert divorce last year, saying she was never married because...

'Jewish Clause' in Will Launches Lawsuits

Can a man disinherit his offspring for marrying outside faith?

(Newser) - A Chicago courtroom is the site of a nasty tangle over a Jewish patriarch’s wishes for his family, the Chicago Tribune reports. A wealthy dentist, upset to discover that a grandson was taking a gentile to the junior prom, left a provision in his will disowning any of his...

Paper Runs Obama's Western Wall Prayer

Dem wants to be guarded against 'pride and despair'

(Newser) - The prayer Barack Obama put in Jerusalem’s Western Wall yesterday was removed by a Jewish seminary student and published in a local newspaper, the AP reports. It read, “Lord—Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me...

Ancient Text Casts Doubt on Resurrection

In tablet, scholar sees risen messiah as pre-Jesus theme

(Newser) - A new interpretation of a tablet written in 1st century BC questions the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Times of London reports. One biblical scholar says the text conveys the story of an angel telling a dying Jew, killed by Romans 4 years before Christ's birth, that he...

Candidates Exploit Muslim-Jewish Divide
 Candidates Exploit
 Muslim-Jewish Divide 
OPINION
Jun 26, 2008 6:05 PM CDT

Candidates Exploit Muslim-Jewish Divide

McCain and Obama insulting Muslims to gain favor with Jewish voters

(Newser) - The presidential candidates are ignoring—even insulting—American Muslims in the hope of grabbing the Jewish vote, write Salam Al-Marayati and Steven B. Jacobs in the Los Angles Times. McCain and Obama have on several occasions snubbed Muslims, who seem to be the victims of modern McCarthyism—just substitute terrorism...

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