US & World News

The 11 people who were murdered at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha on Oct. 27, all beloved members of the community, have been described as “kind,” “compassionate” and “faithful” by those who knew them. They ranged in age from 54 to 97 and include a couple who married at Tree of Life in 1956, and two brothers with developmental disabilities who had been fixtures at the synagogue since they were children.

Jews guard Shabbat. We observe it, in ways ranging from halachic to self care-centric. We kindle its lights, we make it beautiful, and we keep it holy. And this week, the American Jewish Committee (AJC), a Jewish advocacy group, is encouraging us to “#showupforshabbat.”

Vice President Mike Pence was joined by a Jews for Jesus ‘rabbi’ who prayed for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting at a Republican campaign rally in Michigan on Monday.

Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, spiritual leader of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, was on the bimah leading Shabbat services when Robert Bowers opened fire on his congregation. Myers survived the attack, but recognized, “I am not okay.”

The Valley’s Jewish community is mourning the mass shooting at Tree of Life *Or L’Simcha synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 27, where 11 people were killed and six injured. Local community leaders and rabbis are sharing their thoughts, as well as announcing vigils for the dead, injured and the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. This page will be updated as more information come in.

Eleven people are dead, and six injured — including four police officers — following a mass shooting by a suspected anti-Semite at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha’s building on the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues in the heart of Squirrel Hill.

A 2,000-year-old antiquities city near Afula were damaged by two antique robbers with a backhoe loader, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery.

The #MeToo movement has served as a powerful vehicle for women around the world to share their stories of sexual harassment, assault and abuse. But #MeToo’s reach into everyday life, politics and pop culture has left some men wondering, “What, if anything, can I do?”

After a year of swirling emotions, accusations, charges, mea culpas, convictions and vocal defenses, the #MeToo movement has created a cultural eruption that some say is unfair, while others say, “It’s about time.”

A Jewish prayer book belonging to Marilyn Monroe has been put up for sale by a New York auction house.

Thousands of students returned to the Westwood campus of University of California, Los Angeles, on Sept. 27 for the first day of classes. But third-year student Justin Feldman, 20, a political science and Middle Eastern studies double major, wasn’t there.

A vandal who left an anti-Israel message last month at an Olney, Maryland, synagogue has been arrested.

The brother and sister of 23-year-old Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alowa were detained on Sunday as a massive manhunt for the terrorist who shot two Israelis to death at an industrial park continues.

A Jewish Community Center in Fairfax, Virginia, was vandalized with 19 spray-painted swastikas early Saturday morning.

The Democratic candidate for Florida lieutenant governor, Chris King, claimed that he lost his campaign to be president of Harvard University’s undergraduate council, part of the student government election, because he was “nailed to the cross” by the Jewish-majority student newspaper.

Kenneth L. Marcus, the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, has reopened a years-old case of alleged discrimination against Jewish students at Rutgers University.

Due to rising anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom, 40 percent of British Jews have considered leaving the country, up from 31 percent in 2017. With 90 percent of British Jews citing issues associated with the Labour Party, many of them acknowledged considering or taking concrete measures to emigrate.

Whether or not the Trump administration’s announcement on Rosh Hashanah that it was closing the Palestine Liberation Organization’s mission in Washington, D.C., its de facto embassy, was orchestrated for dramatic effect, it was certainly perceived as symbolic of the administration’s recent actions underlining its defense and support of Israel and consequent rebuke of the PLO.

Ahead of the second round of American sanctions on Iran in November since the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Friday that those measures will drastically change the way any business is done with the regime.

Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has chosen former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl to fill the Senate seat held by the late John McCain.

U.S. President Donald Trump implied on Wednesday that he is willing to talk with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the U.N. General Assembly meeting later this month.

oseanne Barr is moving to Israel, the American-Jewish comedienne and actress announced on Sunday via Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s podcast.

A group of Israeli farmers arrived at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague on Monday to file a war crimes’ complaint against top Hamas officials for arson kite terrorism along the Gaza border.

Jews across the Valley, state, nation and even the world continue to mourn the death of United States Sen. John McCain, a longtime friend of Israel, who died of brain cancer on Aug. 25. A funeral service will be held at the Washington National Cathedral on Sept. 1, where he will be eulogized by former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. He will be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Sept. 2.