Section: Jewish Telegraphic Agency (USA)
Uman synagogue vandalized with pig head bearing swastika
(JTA) – Unknown individuals broke into a synagogue in the Ukrainian city of Uman, sprayed red paint on the walls and left behind a pig’s head with a swastika carved into its forehead. The attack occurred on Tuesday night, DS News reported. The synagogue is part of the Ohel complex, built near the gravesite of the Breslover movement’s...
How Hanukkah sufganiyot became a national treat in the Netherlands
A stall selling oliebollen in Amsterdam in 2015. (Kate Hopkins/Flickr) AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Though they are considered a caloric hazard in Israel, sufganiyot are a rare Hanukkah treat for many Jews in Europe. When the holiday arrives, some Jewish communities in Russia, Ukraine and beyond arrange special community bakes. This keeps schools and...
‘Death to Jews’ sprayed on Ukraine synagogue
(JTA) — Unidentified individuals wrote “death to the Jews” on the main synagogue of a city in Ukraine that earlier this month saw the rededication of an earlier Jewish house of worship. The hateful graffiti was discovered last week on the façade of the Central Synagogue in Chernivtsi, a city located 255 miles southwest of Kiev, a leader of the...
UNESCO awards Moscow Jewish museum with tolerance prize
(JTA) — UNESCO, the United Nations agency which has faced accusations of passing anti-Jewish resolutions, awarded Moscow’s main Jewish museum with an award for its promotion of tolerance. The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, a $50 million state-of-the-art institution that opened in 2012, received UNESCO’s Madanjeet Singh Prize for...
U.S. votes against UN resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism
(JTA) — The United States voted against a United Nations resolution that condemned the glorification of Nazism. The resolution titled “Combating glorification of Nazism, Neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” was passed by the U.N. Human...
Moscow chief rabbi: Trump ‘good news’ for US ties with Russia, Israel
(JTA) — The chief rabbi of Moscow said he expects U.S. relations with Russia and Israel to improve under President-elect Donald Trump. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who is also the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, made the projection Tuesday during an interview in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, which for the first time was hosting...
Human Rights Watch founder: Trump encouraging European anti-Semites
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — A founder of Human Rights Watch warned that Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president is encouraging anti-Semitism in Europe. Aryeh Neier, an American Jew who was born in Nazi Germany, addressed the issue on Sunday at a talk about philanthropy and anti-Semitism during an event organized by the Dutch...
Bones unearthed during contested dig at former Jewish cemetery in Ukraine
Meylakh Sheykhet at the digging site in the Old Jewish Cemetery of Lviv, Ukraine, Nov. 7, 2016. (Cnaan Liphshiz) LVIV, Ukraine (JTA) — City workers in a Ukraine city suspended their digging at a former Jewish cemetery amid controversy over the unearthing of human remains at the site. Pieces of skull and limbs were among the bones discovered last...
Bones unearthed during contested dig at Ukrainian former Jewish cemetery
Meylakh Sheykhet at the digging site in the Old Jewish Cemetery of Lviv, Ukraine on Nov. 7, 2016 (Photo: JTA / Cnaan Liphshiz) LVIV, Ukraine (JTA) — City workers in this western city suspended their digging at a former Jewish cemetery amid controversy over the unearthing of human remains at the site. The discovery of bones, including pieces of...
UN committees vote on 10 resolutions against Israel in one day
(JTA) — Committees of the United Nations General Assembly were scheduled to vote on 10 resolutions against Israel in one day. Along with the Israel votes on Tuesday, the committees were due to take up three other resolutions — on Syria, Iran and Crimea. At least two of the resolutions involving Israel reportedly ignored Jewish ties to the Temple...
