Новости за 21.12.2016

Ukrainian prosecutors have initiated a high level investigation into an attack and desecration of a synagogue near the burial ground of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in the town of Uman, Ukraine. A group of unidentified men, variously referred to as ultra-nationalists or provocateurs, stormed the synagogue before dawn on Wednesday. They reportedly assaulted two pilgrims with tear gas, splattered red paint to resemble blood over the walls, and threw a severed pig’s head on the floor. The pig’s head had a swastika carved into its forehead. Читать дальше...

With Christmas eve coinciding with the first night of Hanukkah for only the fifth time in 100 years, here are a dozen yuletide Hanukkah cocktails—one for each of the 8 candles plus the shamash, and an additional 3 for rounding out all 12 days of Christmas. To you and yours, a hearty L’chaim!

With Christmas eve coinciding with the first night of Hanukkah for only the fifth time in 100 years, here are a dozen yuletide Hanukkah cocktails—one for each of the 8 candles plus the shamas, and an additional 3 for rounding out all 12 days of Christmas. To you and yours, a hearty L’chaim!

I really don’t believe any of the Hanukkah stories about oil lasting for eight days. I think someone in a little village just really wanted jelly doughnuts one day, so they made up the whole thing. In any case, here we are in the 21st century with this undisputed fact: You can’t have Hanukkah without jelly doughnuts! And let’s just agree that there is no such thing as a “baked doughnut.” These babies are deep-fried and coated in sugar, just the way our ancestors intended.

For those drawn to desert sands, there is nothing like the Negev—Israel’s southern region, which stretches from Be’er Sheva in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort city of Eilat in the south. Between development towns, small Bedouin cities, and several kibbutzim (including Sde Boker, which became David Ben-Gurion’s retirement home), the Negev is a vast, arid expanse full of surprises.

Forget China and underwater drones, forget Russian hacks and leaks, because it’s all a sideshow: America’s big-ticket foreign-policy issue is still the Iran deal. Donald Trump has promised to rip it up on day one of his presidency, but that’s not going to happen because it means the freshly minted commander-in-chief may have America poised for conflict with the leading state sponsor of terror before the band even starts to warm up for the inaugural ball next month at the newly opened Trump International Hotel. Читать дальше...

Today, responding to the human catastrophe unfolding in Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Foreign Ministry to devise ways for the Jewish state to increase humanitarian aid to its neighbor’s victims. “We have already treated thousands of wounded from the tragedy in Syria,” Netanyahu said at a press meeting. “I want us to find ways of bringing women, children and also men, if they are non-combatants, from Aleppo for treatment in Israeli hospitals.”

On Sunday evening, about 200 people were greeted at Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History by the sound of a krar, an Ethiopian Jewish instrument that resembles a cross between a modern-day lyre and guitar. Attendees—everybody from New York’s elderly to younger Ethiopian Jews who have immigrated to the U.S. from Israel—appeared to have been mesmerized by the instrument’s sounds as they took to red-cushioned seats, ready for a night to remember.