Britannia Radio

FEATURED STORIES Bar mitzvahs trim down amid recession Beyond the Torah portion and synagogue service, shown here in September 2009, "the rest is just a child's birthday party," a Long Island caterer says. (Godutchbaby / Creative Commons) With the weak economy forcing lifestyle changes large and small, one of the mainstays of American Jewish life -- the bar-mitzvah party -- is undergoing some recession-era adaptation.Read more » Trust remains an issue in Obama-Bibi relationship Though improved since the bumps this summer, the Obama and Netanyahu administrations still have some work to do when it comes to smoothing out the U.S.-Israel relationship.Read more » Op-Ed: What Israelis need to know about intermarriage in North America The CEO of InterfaithFamily.com writes that helping Israelis to learn not to think and talk about intermarriage as the equivalent of assimilation will contribute to increased Jewish identity and connection among intermarried families -- something that is of vital interest to the Jewish communities of both North America and Israel. Read more »

EDITORS' PICKS N.Y. TIMES: Googling HIAS + $1 million Google co-founder Sergey Brin has given a $1 million gift to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, one of the groups that helped his family when they left the Soviet Union 30 years ago. JERUSALEM POST: Sharansky's manifesto Israeli Jewry and Diaspora Jewry have each viewed the other as if it were an unfortunate younger brother in danger of sinking into oblivion at any moment. And, truth to be told, neither attitude was entirely wrong, writes Natan Sharansky in the Jerusalem Post. Jews across America Losing love for Israel. Quibbling over the deli capital of America. Returning to the dance floor after a bout of meningitis. Phillies Phanatics. And other stories of American Jewry. NEWSWEEK: Peres says he and Bibi peace in a pod Shimon Peres tells Newsweek that Benjamin Netanyahu is no longer a "rightist." CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Jewish voice signing off The Chicago Tribune reports on the final broadcast of the "Jewish Community Hour," Bernie Finkel's weekly radio show. BREAKING NEWS Israel will establish a task force to respond to the Goldstone report and its repercussions. Iran could agree to send some of its nuclear fuel out of the country for processing, its foreign minister said. A team of inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog reportedly visited a nuclear facility in Iran. Jeffry Picower, a billionaire philanthropist with ties to Bernard Madoff who supported many Jewish causes, was found dead in a swimming pool at his mansion in Palm Beach, Fla. Israel already has investigated some accusations included in the Goldstone report "because we are a democratic country," Benjamin Netanyahu said. The United States, Russia and France agreed to maintain a united front on a proposal to enrich Iranian uranium, the White House said. The Temple Mount opened to worshipers and tourists a day after violent rioting at the site. The leader of J Street said his movement is "fighting for the heart and soul of the American Jewish community," as the group's inaugural conference opened in Washington. Israelis and Palestinians each must do more toward renewing peace talks, Hillary Rodham Clinton advised President Obama. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has given a $1 million gift to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles is facing lawsuits for giving patients heavy overdoses of radiation. The main radical national movements of the European Union formed a political alliance. Israel's foreign minister asked the U.N. secretary-general to not allow the Goldstone report to move forward in the United Nations. Top Democratic and Republican foreign affairs leaders in the U.S. Congress are calling on the Obama administration to quash the Goldstone report. A Jewish school in Russia was cited for excluding students whose mothers are not Jewish. Two Israeli soldiers who disrupted their swearing-in ceremony to protest the potential removal of West Bank settlements were expelled from their unit. Four Israelis with swine flu have died in two days. An Israeli military commander was suspended after beating a soldier in his brigade. A group of descendants from an ancient Chinese Jewish community moved to Israel. Jewish leaders in Sydney called for a high school textbook on religion to be withdrawn because of "offensive" claims that could "fuel anti-Semitism." The White House's top outreach official urged Jewish and Arab leaders to change their communities' "hearts and minds" about President Obama's peace push. A Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli security guard at a checkpoint north of Jerusalem. J Street is absorbing Brit Tzedek v'Shalom's chapters and rabbinic wing. Arab and right-wing Israeli lawmakers argued over a bill that would revoke government funding for institutions that mark the Nakba. A project to restore about 1,500 Jewish cemeteries was launched in Ukraine. The U.S. Congress extended a visa program for religious workers for three years. New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan was appointed the new moderator of Jewish affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A U.S. rabbinical group is calling on the Israeli government to investigate alleged Israeli abuses during the Gaza war. An interdenominational group of rabbis from Los Angeles left for Israel. Vandals defaced a Jewish cemetery in Ottawa. Lebanese chefs broke the Guinness record for the world's largest plate of hummus.