Does series have legs? The 'Dolls' themselves on the boardwalk. lifetime television

A new reality show "Russian Dolls" has caused controversy in the Russian-American and Russian immigrant communities. Critics and community activists claim that the show reaffirms long-held, negative stereotypes about the Russian community. But supporters say that show shouldn't be compared to another reality TV show "Jersey Shore" because it focuses on intergenerational relations in Russian-speaking communities. For original click here more>

Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of the Jewish Week, talks about two very different events that continue to impact 'Black-Jewish' relations today. He comments on the twentieth anniversary of the riots in Crown Heights, Brooklyn as well as the rescue of Ethiopian Jews in the early '90s.

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Russian Jewish Americans want to grow closer to the rest of America's Jewish community. However, the lack of Jewish education and a hard-line conservative stance on Israel may create hurdles to initiating full integration into the larger Jewish American community.

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Cutbacks have led to the elimination of a national survey of the Jewish population in the U.S. in favor of local studies, and the lack of a uniform standard makes it impossible to get a clear picture of the total number of Jews in America.

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Is Hillary Clinton too sexy? Apparently that is what some haredi newspapers in Brooklyn thought recently when they removed an image of the Secretary of State from the iconic photo from the White House Situation Room taken on the night of the military operation to kill Osama bin Laden. The obliteration of Hillary – once by Photoshop and once by cropping – stirred a debate in media and religious circles about the practice of fervently Orthodox newspapers not to run pictures of women in their publications. more>

Tom Weibrecht, 54, a former capital projects manager, has sold his house and moved into a rented apartment, a move that "lots" of his friends in the Jewish community have made. He comes to Connect to Care from his Bedford apartment at least three times a week, "to keep busy, you have to keep focused."  more>

A nation aghast at the horror of last week's events in a Tucson parking lot understandably wants answers, and a nervous Jewish community has some special reasons for concern. more>

Anti-Semitic incidents made up the largest share of New York hate crimes reported in 2009, according to statistics just released by the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services. more>

The kosher division has been drastically reduced in recent years from 11 inspectors to just two. Imminent layoffs to reduce state payroll spending by $250 million will wipe out the remaining jobs.   more>

"Anti-Semitism has no place in our community, and we look forward to seeing those responsible apprehended and charged with hate crimes," said Ron Meier, New York regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. more>

Living in a country where only a tiny minority has been personally touched by the terrorist menace, we seem to want our security but to pay no price for it. more>

At 103, Adele Lerner is largely homebound and almost totally deaf, but a few times a week she dances around her studio apartment in Flushing, Queens – with the help of her home computer, and her walker as a partner.

VIDEO :: The Virtual Senior Center is an innovative demonstration project made possible by a public-private partnership between Selfhelp Community Services, Microsoft, the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) and Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT). more>

"I've been applying, on average, to 40 or 50 places a month," said Queens resident Arnou, who has been unemployed for close to two years. "Everybody I spoke with at the job fair is in the same situation." more>

A meeting between the small delegation of Bukharian Jews and members of the Jamaica Muslim Center took place as part of the second annual "Weekend of Twinning" between mosques and synagogues. The two groups learned from one another and discussed some of the issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. more>

The number of households coming to the pantries jumped to 15,000 last month. "We have seen nothing like it," said Met Council CEO and Executive Director William Rapfogel.

VIDEO :: News 12 Brooklyn reported on Masbia kosher soup kitchen in Borough Park Brooklyn. more>

For decades they were a fixture on New York's political landscape: names like Ed Koch and Abe Beame, Andrew Stein and Alan Hevesi, Harrison Goldin, Mark Green and Elizabeth Holtzman. Now that landscape is shifting. more>

The fight to combat anti-Semitism, a vital community priority, is undermined every time "anti-Semitism" becomes yet another cheap slogan used by those looking to settle political and ideological scores. more>

VIDEO :: An anthropology professor at UC Berkeley, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, reacts to the arrest of Brooklyn Rabbi Levy Rosenbaum for trafficking human organs. Seven years ago, she informed the FBI about his alleged dealings. more>

Though hopeful, the Chens, parents of a deeply affected special-needs child, know they are battling dauntingly long odds in their fight to win permanent residency status on the basis of their hardship plea. more>

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"We see people who are not used to thinking of themselves as needy finding themselves for the first time struggling to make ends meet. It's not just the severity of the need but the immediacy of the need." more>


Willie Rapfogel, CEO of Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, talks on economic crisis and need for help among the working and middle classes.

“Last month, when my 4-year-old daughter, Ellie, started at the public elementary school down the block and I looked around her freshly decorated classroom, it hit me just how diverse our neighborhood is,” the author said. “But I also feel a little wistful, particularly about the lack of Jewishness around us.” more>