Howie Mandel’s family hired someone with an extra special talent for their daughter’s bat mitzvah. DJ? Nope. Emcee? Nah. Photographer? Getting close. Butt sketch artist? Bingo. Howie explained on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" how his wife hired an eccentric artisan for their daughter’s bat mitzvah. He looked overly excited to share the news, saying, “It was a bat mitzvah, so we had a butt sketch artist!” He went on to joke about it being a Sephardic Jewish tradition. Mandel also joked …More

Former Mossad agent Zvi Aharoni, 91, passed away over the weekend. [Israel Hayom] Madonna brings in 4,000 tourists to Israel for the premiere of her new concert tour, MDNA. [Haaretz] Jewish soldiers help restore Silver Lake Cemetery with the Hebrew Free Burial Association. [The Huffington Post] Tunsian Jews celebrate the religious holiday of Shavuot. [Tunisialive] The Bulgarian economic crisis creates a “new poor” in the Jewish community. [The Jerusalem Post] US Jewish groups call on Israel to …More

The Knesset is considering implementing new regulations that will block access to adult websites nationwide unless individuals personally ask to disable filters. [The Times of Israel] Organizers of an online Mideast peace movement are launching the Internet’s first university for Israelis and Arabs across the Middle East in September. [The Times of Israel] Gideon Saar, Israel’s minister of education, says a draft of haredi soldiers could shorten military duty of all soldiers by six months. [The …More

A bat mitzvah celebration in Krakow's Tempel Synagogue is believed to be the first of a locally born Jewish girl. Estera Derkowska celebrated becoming a bat mitzvah with a Havdalah ceremony on Saturday before nearly 200 worshipers at the Reform synagogue. Krakow’s local Orthodox rabbi, Boaz Pash, and Reform rabbi, Tanya Segal, both participated in the ceremony. “There have been other bat mitzvahs in Krakow, but this is the first one ever for a local Krakovian girl,” said Jonathan Ornstein, …More