17+ hour, 32+ min ago (564+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 785 ROME " A 15th-century Bible, which is considered one of the most spectacular examples of Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, went on display in Rome earlier this month as part of the Vatican's Holy Year celebrations. The two-volume Borso D'Este Bible, which is known for its opulent miniature paintings in gold and Afghan lapis lazuli, was unveiled in the Italian Senate, where it will remain on display until January 16. The Bible is usually kept in a safe at a library in Modena and is rarely seen in public. It was transported to Rome under heavy security, and its arrival in the Senate was televised, as workers hauled two big red crates from an unmarked van and then extracted the volumes, which were covered in bubble wrap. The Bible, commissioned by Duke Borso D'Este, was created between 1455 and 1461 by calligrapher…...

1+ day, 20+ hour ago (572+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 784 JTA " On Thanksgiving morning, as volunteers gathered at Congregation Shearith Israel for the synagogue's 11th annual "packathon," they also marked a new milestone: Their synagogue was opening a kosher food pantry on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Shearith Israel, an Orthodox congregation that is also known as the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, was established in 1654, making it the oldest congregation in the United States. The synagogue's Thanksgiving-morning volunteer event draws a large crowd each year in part because of its location along the Macy's parade route. But its Thanksgiving tradition stretches back centuries: In 1789, when George Washington announced the first national Thanksgiving, Shearith Israel's leader at the time, Gershom Mendes Seixas, held the country's first Jewish Thanksgiving service. With a history older than the founding of the United States, Louis Solomon, the president, or parnas, of…...

1+ day, 22+ hour ago (772+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 784 Pope Leo condemned violence in the name of religion on Friday at a landmark event with Christian leaders from across the Middle East, urging them to overcome centuries of heated divisions during his first overseas trip as leader of the Catholic Church. At a celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of a major Church council with senior clerics from countries including Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Israel, Leo called it a scandal that the world's 2.6 billion Christians were not more united. "Today, the whole of humanity, afflicted by violence and conflict, is crying out for reconciliation," Leo said at a ceremony in the Turkish town of Iznik, once known as Nicaea, where early churchmen created the Nicene Creed still used by most Christians today. "We must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence, or any form…...

3+ day, 8+ hour ago (660+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 783 Pope Leo XIV begins his first trip outside Italy as Catholic leader on Thursday with a visit to Turkey " where he is expected to make appeals for peace in the Middle East and urge unity among long-divided Christian churches " and then to Lebanon. His three-day itinerary in Turkey includes a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And his first address in Turkey is expected to focus on dialogue with Islam in a country where Christians account for a fraction of a percent of the 86 million inhabitants, most of them Muslim. Leo will be closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and visits sensitive cultural sites. He is expected to address the crises troubling the region and will deliver his speeches in his native English rather than the Italian he usually uses. Israel's yearlong ceasefire…...

4+ day, 2+ hour ago (1150+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 782 Leo is fulfilling a trip Pope Francis planned to make, to mark an important anniversary with the Orthodox church in Turkey. In Lebanon, he'll try to boost a long-suffering Christian community as well as Lebanese of all faiths who are still demanding justice over the 2020 Beirut port blast. Leo, who spent 12 years as superior of his Augustinian religious order and two decades as a missionary in Peru, says he loves to travel. And in recent weeks, he has shown both diplomatic and linguistic dexterity in answering questions on the fly from reporters. The trip is being covered closely by US media, with all major networks " ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, as well as CNN and the BBC " inside Leo's traveling pool, following his speeches, homilies and prayers at a crucial moment in negotiations to end Russia's…...

4+ day, 22+ hour ago (409+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 781 The Catholic aid organization Caritas Internationalis unveiled in Bethlehem Tuesday the "Vehicle of Hope" " a "popemobile" used by the late pope Francis, refitted as a mobile pediatric clinic for wounded children in Gaza. "It is my hope that this vehicle will continue to bring healing and compassion to children in conflict zones, particularly in Gaza," Pope Leo XIV wrote in a letter. "Its new mission reflects the love and solidarity embodied in Pope Francis's legacy." The Mitsubishi's chassis was reinforced to drive on damaged roads, along with upgraded suspension and high-resistance tires, said Caritas. "Inside, the clinic provides a medical workspace, including a triage and examination area equipped for trauma stabilization, post-amputation care and emergency pediatric treatment," according to the nonprofit. "Refrigeration units, compliant with WHO's vaccine-storage standards, allow safe transport of insulin, vaccines and pediatric…...

1+ week, 11+ hour ago (1421+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 779 JTA " Hannah Karpel-Pomerantz and her wife met as rabbinical school classmates in Jerusalem four years ago, bonding over their love of Jewish texts and rituals. This August, as they began their final two years of school, Hebrew Union College splashed the couple across its website in an essay celebrating their relationship. "HUC wanted to feature me and my wife as a love story " as something that makes the school look good," Karpel-Pomerantz said. "It signals that American progressive Jewish life has evolved to the point where LGBTQ inclusion is a no-brainer." A new national study in the United States suggests just how deeply that shift has taken hold: 51% of the rabbinical students surveyed identified as LGBTQ+. It's an eye-popping finding that provides the first empirical evidence for a phenomenon many in the non-Orthodox rabbinate have been…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (1010+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 777 Rossella Tercatin is The Times of Israel's archaeology and religions reporter. Two years since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and into the longest war in the country's history, many communities and groups across society, including the young, Jews who describe themselves as traditional, and Arabs, have become closer to their faith, a new survey released by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) on Wednesday has found. At the same time, among secular Jews, the largest community in Israel, one in five has reported that their belief in God has decreased, compared to only 6% who said it increased. The survey, which polled over 1,200 adult Israelis, also examined changes in political affiliation and found a notable shift toward the right among the Jewish population. "When a song about God written by a rabbi became the number one…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (717+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 777 Rossella Tercatin is The Times of Israel's archaeology and religions reporter. Avner Nado still remembers celebrating the Sigd holiday in Ethiopia. "People would come from distant communities to our synagogue in Ambober; many would stay and sleep there for three or four days," recalled Nado. "We went up a mountain to pray, which was the most imposing mountain [in the region]. It was like our Mount Sinai." Nado, 50, spoke with The Times of Israel on the sidelines of the Sigd ceremony held at the promenade in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood, before a spectacular view of the Old City. For decades, Ethiopian Jews in Israel have gathered in this spot every year to mark the festival, which falls 50 days after Yom Kippur, on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. To emphasize the connection with Yom…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (1020+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 775 NEW YORK " A Muslim leader at a New York City college interfaith event last week accosted the Jewish representative as a "Zionist" responsible for deaths in Gaza and led Muslim students out of the room. The college said it was aware of the incident and investigating. The event on Thursday brought together students from different faiths, including Muslims, Jews and Christian, at Manhattan's City College of New York, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) public system. The imam delivered a 15-minute speech extolling Islam, saying that Allah was responsible for students' grades and paychecks. "He is the ultimate decision-maker, and so Muslims, we are encouraged not to humiliate ourselves to anybody," the imam said, according to an audio recording of the meeting shared with The Times of Israel. "We sent you a prophet…...