http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php en mforr@alteryourview.com Copyright 2009 2009-11-07T05:00:43+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/two_jailed_for_torah_theft_in_texas/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/two_jailed_for_torah_theft_in_texas/#When:05:00:43Z Two men were arrested for allegedly stealing a Torah scroll from a Texas synagogue. Derrick Randall Nelms, 19, and James William Wilsford, 23, were taken into custody Oct. 30 by authorities in Sherman, according to KXII, a local CBS-affiliated television station. The Torah scroll, valued at $40,000, remains missing from Temple Beth Emeth, a Reform synagogue in Sherman.… News - National 2009-11-07T05:00:43+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/j_street_confab_shows_generational_divide_on_israel/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/j_street_confab_shows_generational_divide_on_israel/#When:05:00:00Z After all the arguing in recent weeks over J Street, one thing was clear at the inaugural conference of the self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group: Even among the 1,500 delegates who attended the parley, there are crucial disagreements over what’s best for Middle East peace. On some issues, judging from interviews with conference delegates and assessments by J Street… News - National 2009-11-06T05:00:00+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/a_new_kristallnacht_in_the_making/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/a_new_kristallnacht_in_the_making/#When:20:00:31Z On November 9, 1938, a massive nation-wide anti-Jewish pogrom took place during peacetime across the entire territory of the Third Reich. The pretext for this orgy of violence against German Jews was the shooting in Paris two days earlier of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish-Jewish refugee. The state-organized pogrom, instigated by… News - National 2009-11-05T20:00:31+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/despite_progress_obama_hesitant_about_netanyahu_meeting/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/despite_progress_obama_hesitant_about_netanyahu_meeting/#When:05:00:17Z With President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to appear at the same convention of Jewish activists, and their governments nearing a deal on the thorny settlements issue, it would seem like a great time for a sit-down. But there’s a problem: the reluctance of the Palestinians—and by extension the Arab world—to climb on board for… News - National 2009-11-05T05:00:17+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/hillel_responds_to_hate_by_uniting_campus_communities/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/hillel_responds_to_hate_by_uniting_campus_communities/#When:15:06:34Z Stanford University’s Jewish community celebrated the first night of Sukkot eating the traditional festive meal inside the sukkah they put up every year. The next morning, on Oct. 3, a student walked into the sukkah to discover that it had been vandalized: Someone had spray-painted large phalluses on the entrance flaps. Campus police were called and the graffiti… News - National 2009-11-03T15:06:34+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/adl_survey_anti-semitism_at_low_point/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/adl_survey_anti-semitism_at_low_point/#When:17:49:07Z The level of anti-Semitism in the United States has tied a historic low point, according to an Anti-Defamation League poll. The survey, which was released Thursday, found that 12 precent of Americans hold anti-Semitic views, down from 15 percent in 2007 and matching the 12 percent figure recorded in 1998. The highest number on record was 29 percent… News - National 2009-11-02T17:49:07+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/reform_biennial_to_focus_on_israeli_arabs_interfaith_dialogue/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/reform_biennial_to_focus_on_israeli_arabs_interfaith_dialogue/#When:18:00:26Z A newly restructured and slimmed down Union for Reform Judaism will focus on interfaith relations and the rights of Israeli Arabs at its biennial convention Nov. 4-8 in Toronto. Addresses by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, both urging greater interfaith dialogue as a condition for Middle East peace, will bookend a packed… News - National 2009-11-01T18:00:26+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/birthright_funders_look_to_upbeat_study_to_boost_fund_raising/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/birthright_funders_look_to_upbeat_study_to_boost_fund_raising/#When:18:05:24Z Birthright Israel is hinging a major fund-raising push on a new study that says the program, which sends young Jews on free 10-day trips to Israel, has a major impact on Jewish continuity. The study, released Monday by Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, found that those who participated on Birthright trips are more likely to… News - National 2009-10-31T18:05:24+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/the_jewish_communitys_two_big_gets_--_obama_and_brin/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/the_jewish_communitys_two_big_gets_--_obama_and_brin/#When:18:04:48Z The relative calm that annually settles in over the Jewish nonprofit world during the High Holidays season ended with a bang this week, as the Jewish communal world landed two big gets. President Obama agreed to speak next month at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America to be held in Washington—his first speech as… News - National 2009-10-30T18:04:48+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/obama_to_speak_at_g.a/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/obama_to_speak_at_g.a/#When:05:00:51Z President Obama will address next month’s General Assembly of UJC/Jewish Federations of North America. The speech, set to take place Nov. 9, will be his first as U.S. president to a broad Jewish audience. Some Israeli figures and some leaders of the organized Jewish community have complained that Obama has not done enough to explain his positions on… News - National 2009-10-29T05:00:51+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/congress_extends_visa_program_for_religious_workers/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/congress_extends_visa_program_for_religious_workers/#When:15:39:40Z The U.S. Congress extended a visa program for religious workers for three years. The Religious Worker Visa Program, which is particularly important to small Jewish communities in remote areas, makes available up to 5,000 permanent immigrant visas each year for religious workers in various denominations. The small Jewish communities often find it difficult to fill positions and rely… News - National 2009-10-28T15:39:40+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/l.a._hospital_under_fire_for_radiation_overdoses/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/l.a._hospital_under_fire_for_radiation_overdoses/#When:14:25:11Z Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles is facing lawsuits for giving patients heavy overdoses of radiation. The hospital, the Jewish community’s flagship symbol and charity, administered eight times the normal dose of radiation to 206 mostly elderly patients during computed tomography brain perfusion scans used to diagnose strokes. The overdoses went undetected for 18 months. Hospital spokesmen have… News - National 2009-10-27T14:25:11+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/new_coalition_aims_to_make_social_justice_a_community_priority/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/new_coalition_aims_to_make_social_justice_a_community_priority/#When:16:45:55Z When Nancy Kaufman attended a national conference on Judaism and social justice in Chicago in 2005, she looked around the room and said to herself, “Wow, there are 250 [Jewish] social activists here—there used to be only 10 of us. There’s a field here.” Kaufman, the executive director of the Greater Boston Jewish Communal Relations Council of Greater… News - National 2009-10-26T16:45:55+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/u.s._senate_approves_security_grant_funding_increase/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/u.s._senate_approves_security_grant_funding_increase/#When:05:00:02Z The U.S. Senate approved an increase in funding for the protection of religious organizations. The conference report for 2010 passed Tuesday includes $19 million in funding for a grant program to improve security for non-profits and religious institutions. The funds allocated for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program represent a $4 million increase from present levels. Jewish groups, including… News - National 2009-10-25T05:00:02+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/bar_mitzvahs_trim_down_amid_recession/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/bar_mitzvahs_trim_down_amid_recession/#When:05:00:40Z With the weak economy forcing lifestyle changes large and small, one of the mainstays of American Jewish life—the bar-mitzvah party—is undergoing some recession-era adaptation. While few seem to be doing away with the traditional celebration, many families are scrapping themed parties, trimming guest lists and in some cases holding joint or group bar-mitzvah parties. “The creative aspect of… News - National 2009-10-24T05:00:40+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/u.s._appetite_for_israeli_food_grows/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/u.s._appetite_for_israeli_food_grows/#When:19:49:41Z When the staff at Hummus Place hauled the oven into the kitchen of the Israeli-owned chain’s flagship branch and switched it on, no one was quite sure it would work. After all, the baking equipment had been collecting dust in a storage room for five years. A few minutes later, the first of hundreds of piping-hot pitas began… News - National 2009-10-23T19:49:41+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/attacks_on_j_street_as_parley_approaches/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/attacks_on_j_street_as_parley_approaches/#When:21:43:29Z Days before the inaugural conference of the left-wing pro-Israel group J Street, critics’ attacks on the organization are having an effect. At least 10 members of Congress in recent days have removed their names from the conference’s 160-person congressional host committee, many after inquiries from a writer at a prominent conservative magazine. J Street canceled a poetry session… News - National 2009-10-22T21:43:29+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/jewish-muslim_harmony_broader_than_you_think/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/jewish-muslim_harmony_broader_than_you_think/#When:20:00:00Z I watched in horror, shock and disgust along with much of America as the likes of Libyan President Muammar Kadafi and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad descended on New York to spread their anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and anti-American vitriol throughout the halls of the UN and on our news talk shows. The likes of these characters and others are… News - National 2009-10-22T20:00:00+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/jewish_activists_on_darfur_laud_new_u.s._policy/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/jewish_activists_on_darfur_laud_new_u.s._policy/#When:15:29:43Z Jewish activists concerned with Darfur are giving high marks to the new U.S. policy toward Sudan, but some are cautioning that the real test is how the strategy is implemented. The policy announced Monday by the Obama administration includes incentives if the government of Sudan acts to improve the situation on the ground and advance peace, and increased… News - National 2009-10-21T15:29:43+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/wexler_leaves_congress_washington_wondering_why/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/national_news/wexler_leaves_congress_washington_wondering_why/#When:15:03:34Z The “fire-breathing liberal” has sucked the air out of the room. A soft-spoken retirement announcement by the usually outspoken U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) has left Democrats, Republicans, Jews and non-Jews expressing reactions that ranged from baffled to… baffled. “We were stunned,” said one source close to the congressional leadership. Figures in the pro-Israel community expressed similar sentiments.… News - National 2009-10-20T15:03:34+00:00