White House officials reach out to Jewish groups to answer questions on Hagel. [CNN] Israel is experiencing some uncharacteristic weather. [Algemeiner] An Austrian Jewish leader says anti-Semitism is growing. [ABC] Bulgaria has fired its chief investigator in the Burgas bombing case. [Times of Israel] The wife of a Hamas MP says it is a woman's duty to encourage her children to kill themselves in the name of jihad. [Times of Israel] Jewish weddings are seen as a tourism booster in Spain. [Haaretz] Howie …More

Say it isn’t so! It looks like Edon Pinchot, the 14-year-old boy wonder who’s been wowing us all summer, has reached the end of his “America’s Got Talent” run. We first became fans of Edon last June, when he took to the AGT stage wearing a yarmulke and a smile. We’ve been watching the musical phenom ever since, and can’t get enough of his amazing covers to tunes like “Good Life” and “Titanium.” For a while, America couldn’t get enough, …More

Edon Pinchot sailed through the semifinals on “America’s Got Talent” last night. The 14-year-old phenom returned to the screen with a rendition of “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction. Donning his signature kippah for the performance, Edon wowed judges Sharon Osbourne, Howard Stern and Howie Mandel (all Jewish too, by the way). Stern was the harshest critic, saying he was “bored” at points. He did admit, however, that Edon’s likely to get plenty of votes …More

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

The Republican Jewish Coalition sends two of its top officials to Israel to rally for expatriate votes. [JTA] The Simon Wiesenthal Center submits the Argentinean Jewish settlement of Moises Ville for inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [JTA] Do Jews control the media? [The Algemeiner] PCUSA can lead to the end of Jewish-Presbyterian dialogue. [The Jewish Journal] Two Iranians planned to attack Israeli, US, British or Saudi targets inside Kenya. [Boston.com] A joint poll finds that the majority of …More

“Did you get a standing ovation at your bar mitzvah?” That’s the only question “America’s Got Talent” judge Howie Mandel had for America’s Jewish sweetheart Edon Pinchot after he blew the crowd away last night. After last week's rendition of "Without You," the “Jewish Justin Bieber” performed his version of “Titanium,” another hit by fellow Jew (but not yarmulke-bearing) David Guetta. Needless to say, he stunned everyone. And we can finally say …More