Jews and Judaism
In Hasidic Enclaves, Failing Yeshivas Flush With Public Money
The groups all emphatically said Hasidic schools operate independently of each other, not as a network. They denied some of The Times’s findings, including that the schools do not provide an adequate education and that teachers regularly use corporal punishment. They also noted that the schools receive far less taxpayer money per pupil than public […]
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Below an Israeli City, a Musical Harmony Belies the Tensions Above Ground
RAMLA, Israel — In a subterranean reservoir, underneath the Israeli city of Ramla, the stone walls echo with an Arab-Jewish harmony at odds with the frictions of the world above. Visitors to the medieval site, built by Muslim rulers 1,233 years ago, enter hearing the words of Jewish liturgical poetry and Arab folk songs, each […]
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A Traveling Jewish Deli Exhibit Tells an American Tale in Pickles and Pastrami
LOS ANGELES — The colors are fading, but the photograph of the Carnegie Deli from 2008 still calls up a world of heaping pastrami sandwiches, pungent smells of brine and smoke, and tourists lined out the door onto Seventh Avenue in New York. A few steps away, a kosher carving knife, a pushcart, a pickle […]
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Preserving the Music of Morocco’s Sephardic Jews
TANGIER, Morocco — They sang to put their babies to sleep, or in the kitchen preparing Purim cakes. They sang in courtyards at night when the men were at synagogue for evening prayer, songs of love, loss, religion and war. Today, most of those women, members of Morocco’s dwindling Jewish population, are gone. But they […]
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Synagogue Sues Florida, Saying Abortion Restrictions Violate Religious Freedoms
Religion, particularly the influence of Christian conservatives, has been at the heart of the anti-abortion movement and the push to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling legalizing abortion throughout the United States. But a lawsuit filed last week by a South Florida synagogue challenges new legislation in the state banning most abortions after 15 […]
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Deep in Vatican Archives, Scholar Discovers ‘Flabbergasting’ Secrets
VATICAN CITY — David Kertzer put down his cappuccino, put on his backpack and went digging for more Vatican secrets. “There’s an aspect of treasure hunting,” said Mr. Kertzer, a 74-year-old historian. Moments later he cut through a crowd lined up to see Pope Francis, showed his credentials to the Swiss Guards and entered the […]
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What Happened When a Conservative Jewish Group Invited DeSantis to Speak
The Tikvah Fund, a conservative Jewish organization, was all set to host a conference in June at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, when months of planning were suddenly derailed by its last-minute addition of a speaker who might have once been uncontroversial: the Republican governor of Florida. The fund had invited Gov. […]
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Israel Plans Zip Line for Ancient Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — A picturesque ridge in Jerusalem, steeped in ancient history, is a favorite with visitors who come to snap panoramic photographs of the domes and spires of the Old City across a wooded valley below. Many believe that the ridge is the site of the Hill of Evil Counsel, where, according to Christian tradition, […]
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A Site Holy to Jews and Muslims Returns as the Nexus of Conflict
JERUSALEM — Clashes broke out Friday for the seventh time in eight days at the holiest site in Jerusalem, foregrounding how the site — sacred to both Jews and Muslims — has become the newest focus of a monthlong spasm in tensions across Israel and the occupied territories. The skirmishes between Palestinians and Israeli police […]
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