From cutting-edge geothermal power deep underground to wind turbines and solar panels capturing energy from the sky above, foreign investors are pouring money into Israel’s growing clean tech sector. And it’s not just Jews. “Every day I get calls from people asking for opportunities to invest in clean technologies in Israel,” said Michael Granoff, president… More ▸
The public relations firm trying to restore the image of the embattled kosher meat producer Agriprocessors is wrestling with a controversy of its own after being accused of impersonating online a leading critic of the company. The New York-based agency, 5WPR, is accused of making a fraudulent posting to several Web sites in the name… More ▸
Israel and the Diaspora must act to help the dwindling Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union, Ehud Olmert said. The Israeli Cabinet heard briefings Sunday about Jews living in the former Soviet Union, which according to the prime minister now number approximately 880,000 and have an 80 percent intermarriage rate. Olmert also said they… More ▸
The UJA-Federation of New York will spend $1.5 million over three years on programs for young Israeli children and parents at risk. The program is part of an initiative being launched this week to improve literacy and school readiness in Israel for children from birth to 3 years old. It is geared to needy populations… More ▸
Many Israelis support Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s plan to fund programs to strengthen Jewish education in the Diaspora, a survey found. Some 46.1 percent of Israelis say they back Olmert’s new policy to support the strengthening of Jewish education, culture and heritage in the Diaspora, according to the third annual “Survey of Contemporary Israeli Attitudes… More ▸
JTA garnered three first-place awards from the American Jewish Press Association at its annual meeting this week in Washington, including in the investigative reporting category for the fifth straight year. JTA, which won a total of four 2007 Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism, also took top honors in the photography category and… More ▸
Comparing the challenge of overcoming his agency’s financial woes with the ancient Israelites’ struggle to enter the Promised Land, the chairman of the Jewish Agency’s budget committee tried to sound an upbeat note. “We can do it,” Shoel Silver told the agency’s board of governors Tuesday. Nobody said it would be easy. The Jewish Agency… More ▸
A deal between the two overseas arms of the North American federation system over how to split the money they receive from the federations apparently has fallen through over a disagreement over which should fund World ORT. The Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee have been negotiating since November over… More ▸
Israel, facing reductions in immigration, must review its ties to the Diaspora, Ehud Olmert said. “For the first time since the destruction of the Second Temple, a majority of the world’s Jews live in Israel. We must understand that it is possible that the period of massive immigration to Israel is nearing an end,” the… More ▸
A Modern Orthodox social justice group launched a boycott of the kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors. Uri L’tzedek, an initiative started by students at the liberal Orthodox rabbinical seminary Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York City, set Monday as the date it would stop patronizing Agriprocessors if the company did not agree to abide by certain ethical… More ▸
