Ben Sales
By Ben Sales
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Opinion No Need for Directions to Rav Ovadia’s Funeral
(JTA) — I didn’t need to ask directions. Stepping out of the Central Bus Station, I saw them, men in hats and coats walking together slowly, a steady stream moving east along one of Jerusalem’s central thoroughfares to the funeral of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. At 5 p.m., an hour before the funeral, the streets were already…
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Breaking News English Speakers Grab Bigger Role in Israel Politics — Halting Hebrew and All
In the eight years since Rabbi Avrohom Leventhal moved from Baltimore to this central Israeli city of 80,000, he has trained as a technical writer, taken over a local charity and become president of his synagogue. Now Leventhal is hoping to add city councilman to his resume. Leventhal loves Beit Shemesh, but none of his…
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News Jerusalem Biennale Festival Aims To Showcase World of Jewish Arts
(JTA) — The reader opened with a recitation of Psalm 48 followed by a contemporary poem before yielding the floor to five male dancers, all wearing the standard haredi Orthodox uniform of black pants and white button-down shirt. One had bushy earlocks but no yarmulke. So began the inaugural Jerusalem Biennale, a six-week contemporary art…
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Breaking News Israelis Jostle for Gas Masks as Syria Tensions Rise
(JTA) — Daniela Hayoum arrived at a Tel Aviv post office at 7 a.m. and took a number. The line of people waiting for gas masks was long and Hayoum stepped away to run errands. She returned in the afternoon to find hundreds of Israelis crowding under a hot sun on the building’s wide steps,…
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Breaking News Egyptian Jewish Leader Magda Haroun Backs Push Against Islamists
(JTA) — When Magda Haroun was out on the streets during the unrest now rocking Egypt’s capital, she saw someone standing over the body of a dead soldier. “Not even a Jew would do this,” she heard him say. Haroun, the president of the Egyptian Jewish community, doesn’t enjoy hearing anti-Semitic slurs on the street….
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Breaking News Israeli Family That Fought Ultra-Orthodox Radicals Forced To Leave Beit Shemesh
(JTA) — Two years ago, Hadassa Margolese became a symbol of resistance to haredi Orthodox domination after she allowed her 8-year-old daughter, Na’ama, to tell an Israeli reporter how religious men had spit on her as she walked to school. The report made headlines around the world and cast Margolese into the spotlight as a…
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The Schmooze Dr. Oz Goes to Israel
(JTA) — Dr. Mehmet Oz sat down to talk with JTA on the Tel Aviv coast last week, but what he really wanted to do was go to the beach. Oz, the surgeon and well-known TV personality, was in Israel for the first time and had a packed itinerary. He traversed the country from the…
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Breaking News Double Dynasty Win in Israel Chief Rabbinate Vote a Letdown for Critics
(JTA) — In a city with a seemingly infinite number of kosher restaurants, Jerusalem restaurateurs have a tough time obtaining certification from the country’s Chief Rabbinate. Proprietors of the city’s eateries have long complained of exorbitant fines, strict limits on what food they may buy and lax certification supervisors. But they had no choice: the…
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