The Religious Zionists of America (RZA) brought 1,200 people to its fourth annual Leadership Shabbaton and Convention, on Shabbat at Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence. more

The battle for the hearts and minds of college students and the future of the Jewish nation is currently being waged across college campuses not only in the U.S. but now in Israel as well. more

A new study conducted at Columbia University, based on the genetic sequencing of 128 Ashkenazi Jews, shows that modern Ashkenazi Jews descend from a small group of about 350 individuals who lived between 600 and 800 years ago. more

Eric Wietschner and brothers Daniel and David Soffer are yeshiva high school students from Woodmere and avid sports fans. They were also ballpersons at the U.S. Open, creating a kiddush Hashem by respectfully maintaining their religious standards at the world-class event staged in Flushing Meadows last week. more

Rabbi Hershel Billet discussed how to appropriately encourage a recalcitrant spouse to deliver a get, and voiced support for the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA), at a parlor meeting in Woodmere on motzei Shabbat. more

With the expansion of kosher megastores in heavily Jewish neighborhoods throughout metropolitan New York coinciding with the demise of small haimishe bakeries, butchers and grocery stores, at least one small kosher shop is swimming against the tide on Long Island’s South Shore. more

Temple University has become the latest focal point for groups concerned about the spreading wave of campus antisemitism and academic-based Holocaust minimizing. more

For most third graders, the school year began this week with the hustle and bustle of new teachers, fresh notebooks, and crisply ironed uniforms. But the third grader in Gaza whose photo appeared in the New York Times on Aug. 30 wore a different kind of uniform: a headband with “jihad” slogans and military-style camouflage pants, while carrying a Kalashnikov rifle and marching alongside adult members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group. more

The Rev. Al Sharpton is getting the right kind of grief. This time it’s not from conservatives for being a race hustler who exploits every white-on-black killing to raise money for his civil rights group National Action Network or to boost his miserable ratings on MSNBC. This time Sharpton is being criticized by other blacks — liberal blacks — who didn’t like the tough sermon he preached at Michael Brown’s funeral on Monday. more

Michael Brown was buried last week. Some criticize the family for asking Al Sharpton to speak at Michael Brown’s funeral. That’s wrong; the Brown family is enduring a pain that no parent should endure and should not be criticized for any choice they make to ease their pain. more