Some 90,000 people packed MetLife Stadium to celebrate the completion of the page-a-day Talmud cycle in the largest-ever Siyum HaShas. The gathering Wednesday evening, which was simulcast to some 60 U.S. cities and more than 20 countries elsewhere in the world, marked the completion of the 7-and-1/2-year cycle it takes to complete the Talmud (known…
New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman’s defeat in the Democratic primary on June 5 has presented the state’s 9th district Jewish voters with a choice, between a non-Jewish Democrat and his rival, a Jewish Republican. Democrats consider the district safe, meaning they do not feel it is in danger of falling into Republican hands and most…
Hebrew-language charter schools — long viewed by some critics as a Trojan horse for bringing religion into taxpayer-funded schools — gained a new level of acceptance when the Washington, D.C., school board recently approved the first Hebrew language school in the nation’s capital. “There is a compelling case for the advantages of bilingual teaching, and…
Seeking to cut pension costs, Jewish social service groups are using an obscure tax loophole to skirt federal rules that protect workers from being left out in the cold if their retirement plans collapse. Jewish organizations, including federations and hospitals, have filed for the special “church status” that strips workers and retirees of legal protections…
As Jews in some northern New Jersey communities made their way to synagogue last Shabbat, the scene was slightly different from the typical day of rest. Extra police cars were on patrol near synagogues. At Bnei Yeshurun in Teaneck, a new buzzer system had been installed. And at Ahavath Torah in Englewood, a phalanx of…
Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) has announced he will run against fellow Democrat Bill Pascrell in a newly redrawn New Jersey congressional district instead of challenging a Republican for a more GOP-friendly seat, he told colleagues. The veteran Jewish Democrat will now battle Pascrell in a June Democratic primary, one of several intramural fights around the…
A U.S. District Judge in New Jersey recently ruled that comedian Sunda Croonquist can continue making fun of her Jewish mother-in-law. Croonquist, the AP reports, a half-Swedish, half African-American woman who married a Jewish man, was sued two years ago by her in-laws who were offended by her jokes. And just in case things weren’t…
Folks in the leafy New York suburb of Englewood, N.J., are up in arms, according to news reports, over plans by the Libyan government to pitch a tent on a Libyan-owned property in their town. The pavilion is supposed to house strongman Muammar Gadhafi while he attends the opening of the United Nations General Assembly…
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