Rabbi Avi Shafran Contributing Columnist When, as a teenager, I first read about the Code of Hammurabi, the ancient set of social laws dating from the time of our forefather Avraham, I was greatly troubled. Elements of the code, instituted by a king of the First Babylonian Dynasty, bear clear similarities to various of the [ Read More...]

Sudanese media accuses Israel of attacking convoy JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Air Force allegedly attacked weapons convoys traveling from Sudan to the Gaza Strip, the Sudanese media reported. The two convoys reportedly were smuggling Iranian weapons to Gaza earlier this month when they were hit by war planes. At least two people were killed and [ Read More...]

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Hundreds participated in a rally in the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Shemesh against gender segregation and violence against women by haredi Orthodox extremists. The rally Tuesday evening was held near a national religious girls school which has been at the center of the controversy. It is the school attended by 8-year-old American immigrant [ Read More...]

Iran threatens to cut off Mideast oil (JTA) — Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz if its oil exports are subjected to foreign sanctions, the Islamic Republic’s official news agency reported. “If they impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Straits of Hormuz,” IRNA quoted [ Read More...]

SCHWARTZ, Janie, age 60, died on December 21, 2011; 25 Kislev, 5772. ROBINSON, Jack B., age 89, died on December 21, 2011; 25 Kislev, 5772. RUBENSTEIN, Dr. Eli, age 89, died on December 27, 2011; 1 Tevet, 5772. SCHWARTZ, Jacqueline Helen Lipsky

This world lost a beautiful wife, mother and friend on December 15, 2011. Jacqueline (Jackie) Schwartz of Wyoming, Ohio, age 68, died peacefully following a courageous battle with breast cancer. Jackie was born on June 28, 1943 and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was a devoted daughter to the late Aaron and Ruth Lipsky. She [ Read More...]

By Ruth Ellen Gruber Jewish Telegraphic Agency PRAGUE (JTA) — On the first night of Chanukah, I stood in the splendid reception hall of the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Prague as the ambassador himself lit the first candle in an imposing gilded menorah and chanted the blessings over the flames. Since it was the first [ Read More...]

By Uriel Heilman Jewish Telegraphic Agency TAOS, N.M. (JTA) — One of the most wonderful things about skiing is the sense of seclusion, the incomparable quietude and serenity of standing atop a 12,000-foot peak surveying miles and miles of snow-covered emptiness. Somehow the prosaic concerns of the everyday world don’t seem to reach there. So [ Read More...]

By Uriel Heilman Jewish Telegraphic Agency NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (JTA) — The metaphors abound. To Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the next president of the Union for Reform Judaism, it’s a gas station. To Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the outgoing president, it’s an anchor. To Stephen Sacks, the incoming chairman of Reform’s board, it’s a supermarket. They’re all [ Read More...]

Congress conditions Palestinian aid on dropping statehood bid WASHINGTON (JTA) — A newly passed congressional appropriations bill maintains the level of assistance for Israel while conditioning funds for the Palestinians on them dropping their statehood recognition bid. An omnibus appropriations bill passed last week and awaiting President Obama’s signature funds assistance to Israel at $3.075 [ Read More...]