Israel will allow additional Ethiopians to petition for aliyah under the special circumstances afforded the Falash Mura. Without specifying a number, Israel’s Cabinet decided Sunday that the petitioners must meet three key criteria: They must be listed on a 1999 census of the Falash Mura in Ethiopia; have been living for at least a year… More ▸
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who has raised tens of millions of dollars for Israel from American evangelicals, is denying a report suggesting that some of the money was used by Christians to missionize Jews. The Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported Monday that Eckstein’s organization, the Chicago-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, gave $10,000 in 2007 to… More ▸
Don’t expect Howard Rieger to spend his last year on the job quacking. Rieger, the president and CEO of the United Jewish Communities, told JTA this summer that he plans to play the heavy during the next dozen months as he works hard to make sure that the relationship between the UJC and the network… More ▸
John McCain used his closing speech at the Republican National Convention to unveil his game plan for claiming the mantle of real change: Shore up support among conservatives by touting traditional GOP positions while appealing to undecided voters by criticizing his party’s actual performance and promising to work across party lines. In the process, McCain… More ▸
One by one, until they numbered more than a thousand, they clambered up the bobbing rope and twine that God-fearing sailors centuries ago dubbed Jacob’s Ladder. It was Italy, May 1947. A bottomless sea lay below, a dark night sky above. The Jewish refugees finally were leaving Europe and the ashes of the Holocaust. They… More ▸
A fierce feud over immigration to Israel appears to be ending, as two organizations involved in promoting aliyah have agreed to work together. The deal involves the Jewish Agency for Israel, the quasi-governmental organization that traditionally has overseen aliyah, and Nefesh B’Nefesh, a nonprofit group that has used cash incentives to help encourage 16,000 people… More ▸
The Reform movement’s rabbinical group endorsed the Conservative movement’s ethical kosher initiative. The Board of Trustees of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform movement’s rabbinical association, resolved last month to explore ways to cooperate with the initiative, known as Hekhsher Tzedek. The conference urged producers of kosher meat to adhere to the highest… More ▸
With his Kadima Party just weeks away from electing a new leader, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making a concerted last-ditch effort to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. Olmert has drawn up a detailed peace offer and presented it to U.S. and Palestinian leaders. After being shown the plan last week, U.S…. More ▸
The Jewish Agency has agreed to an official collaboration on North American aliyah with Nefesh B’Nefesh. The organizations announced Sunday that under an agreement signed a week ago, Nefesh B’Nefesh will have primary responsibility for marketing and promotion, while the Jewish Agency will remain responsible for determining aliyah eligibility with other authorities in Israel and… More ▸
Leaders of the Conservative movement’s ethical kashrut certification program are taking their campaign to the next level. They are inviting Conservative rabbis to sign onto the Hekhsher Tzedek initiative, meeting with at least one Orthodox kosher certification agency and making initial overtures to selected kosher food producers that might seek the new certification. “We are… More ▸
