Ritual focus risks losing the big picture

A couple of years ago I was having dinner with one of my closest friends, who has since passed away. She was not, strictly speaking, ritually observant although she was an extraordinarily charitable person and deeply concerned with the welfare of others. It was the last serious conversation we had - which might be why it remains etched in my mind.

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Prayer that makes past present

Last year, I took part in a remarkable ceremony at the Rose Garden in Oxford, beneath which lies the medieval Jewish cemetery, abandoned in 1290 when the entire Jewish community of England was abruptly expelled by Edward I. We had gathered to unveil a plaque to commemorate the site and recite Kaddish for those buried there.

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Israel’s ‘Soviet’ prayer police

Last month, Israeli police arrested worshippers at the entrance to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The worshippers had committed a heinous crime: they had tried to pass through the gates leading from the plaza to the Wall itself wearing tallitot.

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Thousands join debate on dangers of internet

A conference to discuss steering young strictly Orthodox Jews away from online dangers is expected to attract up to 6,000 people.

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Satmars told to demolish shul in family home

A planning inspector has ruled that a Satmar synagogue built in a family home in Stamford Hill must be demolished.

Satmar leaders must also pay Hackney Council the costs of a public inquiry into the planning violation because the appeal was "unreasonable".

The Bethune Road property had been extended and converted without planning permission.

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How do you get a new nose? Use your head

It may not have been a nose job in the traditional sense, but the story behind 109-year-old Meir Korner's new nose is quite remarkable.

Surgeons in his home city of Haifa were forced to amputate because of a tumour - and immediately rebuilt it using skin from his own forehead.

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