Decline and Fall of the Jewish Deli

But for some, religious awakening looks a lot like exit strategy

(NEWSER) - Cuba's Jewish community is growing for the first time in decades, the Wall Street Journal reports. The country's Jewish population dwindled to 1,000 by the late 1980s but has now hit 1,500. Hundreds of other Cuban Jews have recently emigrated, landing in Israel, Canada, and the US. Many are rediscovering long-hidden Jewish roots, but the lure for some converts is a ticket off the island. More»

Court rarely reflects country's faith mix well

(NEWSER) - If Elena Kagan is confirmed, the Supreme Court will have six Catholics, three Jews, and, for the first time in history, not a single Protestant. That might not seem as important as it used to, but Ed Kilgore of FiveThirtyEight decided to take a quick look at the court's historic religious makeup. At present, Catholics, who make up only about a quarter of the population, are certainly overrepresented. More»

Ark of the Covenant may have been in Zimbabwe all along

(NEWSER) - An African tribe's claim to be descended from Jews who fled the Holy Land 2,500 years ago has been backed up by DNA testing. The Lemba, who live in South Africa and Zimbabwe, are largely Christian or Muslim, but they practice many Jewish traditions, including wearing skullcaps, eschewing pork, and placing the Star of David on their tombstones, the BBC reports. More»

If you watch White Christmas , be considerate: also watch Munich

(NEWSER) - "Just because anyone with half a brain celebrates Christmas," Paul Rudnick writes in that bastion of traditional Christianity, the New Yorker , that's no reason to alienate your yarmulke-wearing friends. Some tips:

• Calling Jesus "Our Savior" might seem gauche. Just call him "the Jew that got away."
• Gifting for a mixed couple made easy: The Christian wife gets a candle, the Jewish husband "a lovely framed portrait of his parents, rending their clothes and sobbing."

Iranian president's family is about as Muslim as can be

(NEWSER) - The bombshell claim that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's family is Jewish is false. The assertion was based on the fact that the family changed its last name from Sabourjian shortly before the Iranian leader's birth, and the "fact" that Sabourjian means "weaver of the sabour," which the Telegraph said was the Iranian name for the Jewish tallit shawl. In fact, Iranian Jews call the shawl tzitzit, and many Iranian Muslims have the last name Sabourjian, the Guardian reports. More»