New German rabbis

New German Rabbis

BERLIN — The first two graduates of a new Orthodox seminary in Berlin were ordained June 2 as rabbis in a ceremony broadcast live on German TV from Munich’s new synagogue. Zsolt Balla, 30, and Avraham Radbill, 25, graduated from the Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin and are the first Orthodox rabbis to be ordained in Germany in more than 70 years.

Court OKs Pensions

BERLIN — A German court ruled last week that two men forced to work for the Nazis during World War II are entitled to a pension. The precedent-setting ruling could affect thousands of survivors who could finally get German social security payments, Gideon Taylor, executive vice-president of the Claims Conference, said. It will particularly affect survivors who applied for German social security pensions and were rejected, unable to show they had worked for remuneration.
Taylor said more than 90 per cent of 70,000 ghetto labourers who applied in the past were rejected. Those deemed eligible may receive up to $214 per month, plus back payments based on when they first applied. The court accepted the argument of the two survivors of ghettos in Poland that they qualified because they were compensated for work in the form of food and other amenities.

2 Jews Died on Flight

NEW YORK — Two Jews were aboard Air France Flight 447, Chabad.org reported. French businessman Serge Anidjar was travelling home from a business trip to Brazil. No information was available about a second Jew on board. The flight from Brazil to France went missing June 1 over the Atlantic Ocean after leaving Rio de Janeiro.

Cash For Security

NEW YORK — The two Bronx shuls targeted in a planned terror attack were each awarded $25,000 (US) by New York Governor David Paterson May 31 to beef up security with alarms and surveillance equipment. Four men were arrested May 20 for planting what they thought were bombs outside the Orthodox Jewish Center of Riverdale and the nearby Reform Riverdale Temple in an FBI sting operation, but the FBI had sold the men non-functioning explosives. The money will come from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Academic Union Votes For Boycott – Again

LONDON — Britain’s main academic union voted overwhelmingly to boycott Israeli universities and colleges.
The University and College Union passed the boycott resolution at its annual meeting last week. It’s the fourth year in a row that the union has passed a resolution condemning Israel and supporting the boycott of Israeli academics and academic institutions.
The key resolution calls on UCU branches to discuss boycotting Israel, and commits the union to organize a pro-boycott conference for other trade unions to attend.  The vote was then declared invalid after union attorneys said that a boycott of that kind could trigger legal action against the union. Union General Secretary Sally Hunt said she “formally and personally commended” the union for holding the debate, the Guardian reported.
The Anti-Defamation League called the move “a shameful exercise to demonize Israel and Israeli academics.”