New York City - For years, organizers of the Salute to Israel Parade have puzzled over a little mystery. While the annual parade attracts tens or hundreds of thousands of marchers and spectators — most of them American Jews — one group that might be expected to show up and salute has almost never shown up: Israelis. There are an estimated 400,000 Israelis living in the New York...

Crown Heights, NY - IN mid-April, a young black man was struck with a baton and sprayed with Mace by two white men, and ever since, tensions have run high in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Jews and blacks who live there eye one another warily, and police patrols and surveillance have intensified. But there is another split on these streets, between Jews and Jews, between neighborhood patrol...

Brooklyn, NY - A troubled carnival worker at Coney Island's Astroland, who told friends he was about to skip town, was shot in the head execution-style and dumped in front of a Brooklyn yeshiva, police and family said today. Michael Rizzo, 30, lay near death when a passerby spotted him facedown outside the Yeshiva of Flatbush on E. 10th St. in Midwood at 11:30 p.m. Friday. Rizzo died within...

Postville, IA - A company hired to provide labor for the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville has pulled out its approximately 150 workers due to safety concerns. Labor Ready, a Waterloo company that provides non-skilled labor on contract, had had workers at the meat processing plant for about 10 days when it pulled out in the middle of this week, said Stacey Burke of Labor Ready's parent...

New York City - The best bris invite ever was just sent out to a select group of media professionals with the subject line "High Profile Bris on Sunday — You're Invited," it beckons us to watch a mohel circumcise the infant son of Zina Sapir and Rotem Rosen, who are apparently real-estate magnates. Zina is the daughter of Trump Soho investor Tamir Sapir. Rotem is the "right hand man" of...

Manhattan, NY - A serious accident on the helix leading into the Lincoln Tunnel has forced officials to shut down the outbound lanes completely. Traffic quickly backed up after coming to a complete halt...

Norwich, NY - A teenager accused of vandalizing a Norwich synagogue with damages totaling over $200,000 was released to his mother after serving 30 days in a juvenile detention center for violating the terms of his first release. The 14-year old-youth and two other teenagers, both 13, are accused of third degree burglary in connection with the floor-by-floor destruction that took place April 6...

Brooklyn, NY - Over 1,000 Holocaust Survivors filled the halls of the Young Israel of Beth El for the Nachas Health Holocaust Remembrance Day yesterday Thursday, May 29th. The event marked the culmination of a successful partnership between Nachas and the Lazar Consulting Group. “On Saturday night, May 27, 1944, the first night of Shavous, my family arrived at the Auschwitz Concentration...

Portsmouth, UK - A man bombarded Jewish community leaders and institutions with sickening hate mail in the aftermath of the September terrorist attacks. But Ashraf Ali was only caught six years later when forensic experts matched his DNA to samples found on the letters. Ali sent a string of abusive letters to synagogues and the Jewish Chronicle newspaper showing people fleeing the twin...

Brooklyn, NY - Quality Health Care a Brooklyn based health care service provider, has issued the following press release in regards to a promotional item they have recently handed out at a Jewish event. It has been brought to our attentention that a promotional product that we have purchased from a supplier, after confirming from a Rav that it had a Hechsher, appears to be Treif. Anyone...

Cleveland, OH - Fred Taub alerted about a false meshulachiach who goes by the name of Rabbi David Elbar or Rabbi Ezra Haggai. Taub discover the fraud when the “rabbi” rang his doorbell asking for money for his daughter’s wedding. When Taub asked for some documentation, he was given a letter dated 2008 signed by Rabbi Doniel Schur. “Rabbi Schur died several years ago, so I knew...

New York - Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America - the nation's largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization - expressed its opposition to actions ordered by Governor David Paterson that will lead New York State government to recognize same gender marriages performed out of state, even though same gender marriage is illegal under New York law. Nathan J. Diament...

Swampscott, MA - For Bernard Newman, whose family has owned a Seaside Kosher Bakery for 43 years, the debate over upholding Jewish law has reached Talmudic proportions in recent days. Even though Newman has kept kosher all of his life, and has always used kosher ingredients in his bakery, the primary Jewish organization in the state that recognizes kosher establishments says that for now...

Williamsburgh, NY - A group of jewish leaders led by UJO organization CEO Rabbi David Niederman, are outraged about a billboard placed by H & M Company, and is posted along the BQE just outside of Williamsburg on the way to Borough Park. At issue is that the H&M had previously placed immodest billboards, but after the outcry of the rabbis & community leaders , they changed the picture to a...

Jerusalem - Israel's Parliament, the Knesset has approved a bill banning the sending of unsolicited SMSs to mobile phones with fines of up to NIS200,000 (US$61,000) per infraction. The bill also forbids unsolicited phone calls of a commercial nature - as well as email spam. The new law comes into effect in six months time. Rather than following an "opt-out" model where recipients have to...