This is an entirely true story, but it is based on an old lie. It was almost the end of winter in 1911, when a 13-year-old boy disappeared outside of Kiev. A week went by with no news of Andrei Yushchinsky. Then, eight days after his disappearance, his corpse was found in a cave. He had been brutally murdered, his body mutilated. Word of the shocking crime spread quickly. Locals were appalled to learn that there were over 40 pickaxe wounds to his body and head. Shock soon turned to rage. Cue the lies. "The …More

“He’s in Israel, and will stand trial here.” Thus begins the meeting on May 23, 1960, when Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, informed his cabinet that Adolf Eichmann had been caught. The quote is taken from a transcript just released Monday by Israel’s state archive, some 53 years after the capture of the most wanted Nazi criminal of the time. Eichmann’s arrest and subsequent trial became a pivotal moment in Holocaust history, as both the Jewish and non-Jewish …More

In the trial of Brooklyn counselor Nechemya Weberman, a mother took the stand yesterday to testify about how United Talmudical Academy administrators pressured her into sending her daughter for counseling, and paying Weberman $12,800 in advance. [Gothamist] Leadership of New York Jewish congregation B'nai Jushurun has shocked members by sending out an e-mail in support of Palestine's upgraded UN status. [The New York Times] Dr. Erica Brown takes a page from the talmud in interpreting the behavior of parent Nick …More

A hotelier in California was found guilty of discriminating against Jews. Tehmina Adaya, a Pakistan-born Muslim, disrupted a Friends of the IDF event held at the Hotel Shangri-La in July 2010. The event had been previously approved by managing staff at the site, but was abruptly stopped by Adaya, who inherited the hotel from her father in 2006. The businesswoman ordered the FIDF banner be taken down and pamphlets be put away, yelling, “Get these [expletive] Jews out of my pool.” The Santa Monica …More

David Krakauer’s clarinet performance opened the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival this weekend. The festival is set to continue until May 31. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] The Memory Center at Miami Jewish Health Systems is chosen as one of the 37 sites to conduct a new clinical trial for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. [Enhanced Online News] The Morris Morgenstern Foundation will loan an original letter written by George Washington to the National Museum of American Jewish History. [Market …More

Israeli researchers with Vaxil BioTherapeutics have formulated a therapeutic cancer vaccine that is currently entering Phase III clinical trials at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. While currently only designed to treat multiple myeloma, if successful, the drug could be altered to treat 90 percent of cancers. “In cancer, the body knows something is not quite right but the immune system doesn’t know how to protect itself against the tumor like it does against an infection or virus. …More

Margarethe von Trotta’s production of “Hannah Arendt” landed in Israel on Sunday to shoot scenes in Jerusalem depicting the Eichmann trial. The German director began shooting the film about the Jewish political theorist two days after the 105th anniversary of Arendt’s birth in Germany. Starting November 6, a team of Israelis, Americans and Germans will shoot in Jerusalem to reconstruct the trial as Arendt might have experienced it. While living in exile in America, Arendt was tasked by the …More

One of the most difficult tragedies Brooklyn has had to face in recent years, especially for the Jewish community, was the death of Leiby Kletzky, an 8 year old boy who was kidnapped, drugged, murdered, and dismembered. The court found Levi Aron fit to stand trial; Aron is the prime suspect in this horrific crime. Although he is claiming that he hears voices and his defense lawyers said they will bring in their own psychiatrists to determine if an insanity plea will be made. His lawyers said to the press that …More