A Dutch official said negotiations will be held with the Jewish community concerning a royal ceremony scheduled to take place on Yom Kippur. A farewell party for the recently abdicated Queen Beatrix is currently scheduled for Sept. 14, the Jewish Day of Atonement. A spokesperson for the royal house said discussions were underway to "find the best way to make the day happen,” the news site Spirit24 reported, but the date would not be changed because of scheduling constraints. Last week, the daily NRC …More

Brooklyn's Prospect Park has issued a communal memo asking the Jewish community not to dispose of chametz (leavened bread) in the park's lake. Observant Jews must remove all chametz from the home before the Passover holiday, and the park authorities believe some are doing so by tossing it into the lake, which harms the birds that live there. “For many years people have brought chametz to Prospect Park to throw into the lake to feed the waterfowl,” the memo explains. “While this is done with the …More

It was early one morning sometime before Yom Kippur when Reb Shmuel Munkes, a well-known Hasid, saw a peasant praying fervently in the shul. Reb Shmuel approached the peasant, who wasn’t usually seen in synagogue at this early hour, and asked him what had brought him to shul so early. "Rabbi," he said, "Yom Kippur is approaching. Everything is at stake. I'm praying that my cow should continue to give milk and my chickens should continue to lay eggs!" The rabbi turned to the peasant and exclaimed, …More

Beth Kissileff, JNS.org On Yom Kippur, Sept. 26, 2012, Sami Rahamim was with his father Reuven at Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park, Minn. On Feb. 4, 2013, 17-year-old Sami opened a roundtable discussion at the Minneapolis Police Department Special Operations Center meeting with President Barack Obama. In between? Reuven Rahamim was shot the day after Yom Kippur 2012 at the business he owned and created, Accent Signage Systems, and killed along with five others. The personal tragedy of experiencing the sudden …More

Australia’s prime minister is taking some flak, after calling for a national election to take place on Yom Kippur next September. PM Julia Gillard made the announcement yesterday, a move that would mean a shut out at the polls for the nation’s 100,000-strong Jewish community. Jewish leaders within Australia have taken varying sides on the debate, with some calling it an insensitivity and others labeling it a non-issue. Executive Council of Australian Jewry Director Peter Wertheim told reporters, …More

If the pundits are correct, the Czech Republic may become the first country other than Israel to elect a Jewish president. Jan Fischer, 62, an understated former prime minister who led a caretaker government following a coalition collapse in 2009, is neck and neck in the polls with another former government head as the nation holds its first round of presidential elections on Friday and Saturday. The two front-runners advance to a runoff, and political prognosticators are predicting that Fischer will reach the …More

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. Pnina Kohen Rossenblatt was thrilled when she was asked to organize Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin’s annual Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) ceremonies. But something was troubling Rossenblatt. The educator, who has lived on the kibbutz in northern Israel since 1986, knew that seven men killed in battle and buried in the community’s cemetery had relatives living on Kfar Ruppin or elsewhere in the country. A member from each …More

Some 1 million American Jews -- or one in 6 -- are actively seeking Jewish expression and engagement outside of synagogue life, according to a new study. The results of a study released by the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring break down the notion that American Jews either are affiliated with synagogues or have a Jewish identity that revolves around Jewish humor and food with little active connection to Jewish ritual and living. The Internet poll of 1,000 Jews was conducted between April 19 and May 3 by IPSOS …More

Yaakov Ahimeir points out the difference in reaction between insulted Arabs and Jews. [Hayom] After continuing vandalism on churches, Christian leaders appeal to Israeli authorities to take a harsher stance against violence. [AP] Israel invites the IAEA to inspect the Soreq Nuclear Research Center in order to “benefit all concerned in Israel.” [YNet] For the time being, Israeli court won’t grant an injunction forcing Google to block a film that ridicules Muhammad from being available in …More

Animal rights groups in Israel and Brooklyn are trying to put a stop to a pre-Yom Kippur custom observed primarily by ultra-religious Jews. According to the practice, on the day before Yom Kippur a chicken is waved over the heads of the repentant three times, symbolically transferring the sins from the person to the chicken. The chicken is then slaughtered and traditionally is given to the poor. The Brooklyn based group, End Chickens as Karparos, estimates that in Brooklyn alone, 50,000 animals are involved each …More

Last year, Tel Aviv launched an innovative and environmentally friendly bike share program, Tel-o-Fun. Since then, over one million rides have been taken on the green bikes and the initiative earned a prestigious Green Globe Award for its environmental efforts. However, a scuffle over renting bikes on Yom Kippur is now threatening the program. Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz warned that Tel Aviv’s decision to run the bike share on Yom Kippur is a "serious damage on the most holy day for the …More

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the United Nations General Assembly, his office announced. Netanyahu will travel to New York on September 27, just hours after Yom Kippur ends, and leave New York on September 30, arriving back in Israel on the eve of the Sukkot holiday. "In Tehran today, the representatives of 120 countries heard a blood libel against the State of Israel and were silent. This silence must stop. Therefore, I will go to the UN General Assembly and, in a clear voice, tell the …More