Ala. Group Offers Jews $50K Move-In Bonus

Remains were discovered last year in mass grave in the forest

(NEWSER) - The remains of some 60 Jews killed in 1941 by Romanian troops and discovered last year were buried yesterday in a Jewish cemetery in the country’s east. The bodies, including those of women and children, were found in November in a Romanian forest. The mass grave was added evidence of the country’s involvement in the Holocaust, a matter kept quiet for decades. Seven rabbis from the US, Britain, and Romania participated in the ceremony, the AP reports. More»

Synagogues, churches, mosques get ready for H1N1

(NEWSER) - Places of worship across the country are adjusting holy rituals to head off swine flu, CBS News reports. On the Jewish New Year, one Massachusetts synagogue is skipping handshakes and promoting the use of hand sanitizer—and, in a substantial break from tradition, allowing worshipers to not kiss the Torah. “I said, well if you have a problem with it, you can wave at the Torah, I think the Torah will understand," the rabbi says. More»

(NEWSER) - The hallelujahs are strained in US churches these days as donations plunge at the same time demand for aid is skyrocketing, reports the Wall Street Journal. Congregations across the nation are slashing budgets and even laying off staff, including pastors. Churches and synagogues usually weather downturns well, but not this time. "There has been significant tightening of budgets," said Rabbi Elliott Kleinman, spokesman for the Union for Reform Judaism, which represents some 900 congregations. "People have less money to give." More»

'I will not be boxed in,' says newly ordained Stanton

(NEWSER) - Last week Alysa Stanton was ordained as a rabbi at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati, one of the country's oldest synagogues, and a little history was made—the US had its first black female leader of a Jewish congregation. Stanton, born a Pentecostal Christian, converted in 1987, enduring hostility and isolation from both white Jews and other African Americans. "But my God is bigger," she tells the Guardian. "I will not be boxed in." More»

Would-be temple bombers 'eager to bring death to Jews': feds

(NEWSER) - A federal judge today ordered three New York men accused of plotting to blow up a synagogue and target military aircraft to be held without bail, the Journal News reports. “These were people who were eager to bring death to Jews,” said an assistant US attorney. The aspiring terrorists wanted to create “a fireball that would make the country gasp,” added another official. More»