Manhattan, NY - At one table there were kosher jelly beans and lists of jobs. At another there were Tabasco sauce and real estate deals touted as even hotter than the sauce. The idea, at the jobs and relocation fair on the West Side of Manhattan, was to lure Orthodox Jews from New York City to towns and other cities where emerging Orthodox communities are eager to reinforce their numbers, as...

Australia - Rabbi Avraham Gutnick, who took up a temporary appointment as rabbi of Adelaide Hebrew Congregation (AHC) two years ago, is leaving South Australia after his contract ends this month. A synagogue spokesperson said Rabbi Gutnick had played a key role in healing wounds created by a long-running dispute between AHC and its former spiritual leader, Rabbi Yossi Engel. Within weeks of...

New York - Capt. Kamaljit Singh Kalsi hopes to be the fourth generation of his family to serve in the military. But the U.S. Army recruit's plans to go on active duty in July are now on hold. An Army policy from the 1980s would mean he would have to shave his beard and remove the turban he wears for religious reasons. Kalsi and another Sikh man with the same concerns are at the center of a...

Israel - Social workers and psychologists could soon become an integral part of the country's religious legal system, with the goal of streamlining and improving the divorce process. Under a proposal by Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog, which has been approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and but still needs to be legislated, a unit will be established in all...

New York, NY - They fought hard to defeat Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on smoking in restaurants, and when they lost that battle in 2003, Staten Island's restaurant and tavern owners, bruised and battered, disbanded their trade association. But the borough's restaurateurs are making noise again. More than three dozen owners recently met with top officials from the Department of Health and...

Israel - A small group of haredi protesters wearing yellow stars demonstrated outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech at Bar-Ilan University on Sunday night. The protesters, who included small children, hoisted signs of US President Barack Obama in a keffiyeh. The slogans on the signs emphasized the president's middle name, Hussein, and warned of the dangers of a Palestinian...

Washington - The White House is welcoming Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu's call for the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu said in Jerusalem that he would support a Palestinian state as long it is demilitarized and guarantees Israel's security. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Sunday that US President Barack Obama welcomes the Israeli Reactions speech and is committed to...

Washington - Congress is set to approve $350 million in emergency funding to help state and local governments deal with swine flu cases, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said today. Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand requested last month that the money be set aside for the Department of Health and Human Services, Schumer said. The money would go toward preparing for and responding to outbreaks of...

Washington - As President Obama hailed new legislation to regulate tobacco, his spokesman ducked a question on whether Obama still sneaks a cigarette now and then. "I think the President would likely tell you, as I think anybody would that has smoked or been addicted to smoking, that it is a lifelong struggle," said press secretary Robert Gibbs. Gibbs acknowledged the President still chews...

Jerusalem - "I support the idea of regional peace that is being led by Obama," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday in his long-anticipated foreign policy address at Bar-Ilan University. "Peace has always been our objective," Netanyahu began. "Our prophets always envisioned peace; we bless each other with Shalom; our prayers end in peace." The prime minister said that he was...

Brooklyn, NY - For uncommonly large Orthodox Jewish families, they are a lifeline: vouchers from the city for after-school care, redeemable at a yeshiva of their choice. “If I didn’t have it, my head would spin,” said Idy Herskowitz, a mother of 11 from Brooklyn who qualified for vouchers and enrolls five of her children in an after-school program. “It gives me time to take care of my...

Tehran - Riot cops riding motorcycles charge directly into a massive crowd that is packed into a street. Moments later, the video cuts to one of the bikes engulfed in flames. The video then shows one of the officers, bruised and exhausted, being helped through the crowd by a half dozen or so Iranians. It's unclear when this all took place -- the video was uploaded today, but it may very well...

Maryland - Muslim women and others who wear face coverings for religious purposes can be required to remove the garb to enter courthouses, Maryland's attorney general has determined in a legal opinion, raising concerns among civil liberties advocates about how the practice will be carried out. The opinion addresses a sensitive issue that has sparked debate and outcry in recent years, including...

Jerusalem - Religiously devout Jews barred by rabbis from surfing the Internet may now "Koogle" it on a new "kosher" search engine, the site manager said today. Yossi Altman said Koogle, a play on the names of a Jewish noodle pudding and the ubiquitous Google, appears to meet the standards of Orthodox rabbis, who restrict use of the Web to ensure followers avoid viewing sexually explicit...

Monroe, NY - The shooting and killing of a guard at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, following closely as it does the shooting and killing of a doctor who performed abortions at his clinic in Wichita, are scary reminders that deadly threats from extremists do not always originate outside our borders. They also are not surprising. Reports from the Department of Homeland Security and...