Things don’t just disappear, I thought to myself, when I learned in 2010 that the Torah my grandmother carried out of war-ravaged Poland wasn’t in the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem, where it was supposed to be. I’m a person who misplaces things frequently, and so I have to tell myself this often. It is this…
Several Dutch rabbis criticized a rabbinical court’s recognition of non-Jews who observe Torah laws. The court’s recognition took place at an oath-taking ceremony attended by several dozen Noahides, a term referring to non-Jews who observe the seven categories of religious laws specified in the Torah as part of God’s covenant with Noah after the flood….
A former hotel security guard was sentenced to four years in prison for defacing a Memphis Jewish school’s Torah scroll and prayer books. Justin Shawn Baker, 25, was sentenced Tuesday in Madison County Circuit Court, according to the Jackson Sun. Baker pleaded guilty earlier this month, admitting in court to violating the civil rights of…
Britain’s umbrella body of Orthodox communities is condemning a London Orthodox synagogue that allows women to hold Torah scrolls. Earlier this year, Golders Green United Synagogue began giving women an opportunity to handle the Torah scroll on Shabbat mornings and festivals, and the change has been well received by members of the community, according to…
A former hotel security guard pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge for defacing a Jewish school’s Torah scroll and prayer books. Justin Baker, 25, of Jackson, Tenn., pleaded guilty Monday to civil rights intimidation for violating the civil rights of students of the Margolin Hebrew Academy’s Cooper Yeshiva High School of Memphis, as…
I didn’t learn the story of the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, until college, in a Bible as Literature class at Barnard. This might not have been so odd except that, one, I have 12 years of day school and yeshiva under my belt, and, two, she’s my namesake, so you would think I…
A Kiev rabbi has won a protracted legal battle against a Ukrainian governmental agency for his synagogue’s ownership of 18 Torah scrolls. The Kiev Economic Court of Appeals ruled last week that Rabbi Moshe Azman’s Central Synagogue in Kiev may keep the scrolls as its possession. Ukraine’s State Archive Service had transferred the scrolls to…
A collective shudder ran through rows of worshipers at Congregation Beth Israel in Asheville, N.C., during the recent Kol Nidre service. Congregants watched in horror as two Torahs toppled out of the ark and hit the bimah with a loud clattering of silver ornaments. Another Torah was caught as it fell. Within moments, those seated…
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