Shorts: U.S.

Step could change Conservative stance on homosexuality

new york (jta) | Conservative rabbis passed a motion that could make it easier to push through a halachic change in the movement's approach to homosexuality.

Rabbis meeting in Mexico City at the annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly, the movement's rabbinic arm, voted to lower the threshold needed to enact a takanah, a term referring to a ruling that changes existing law.

One of four opinions on the movement's approach to homosexuality under consideration by the assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards likely would require a takanah.

That opinion favors liberalizing the movement's take on gays and lesbians and would lead to allowing gays to be ordained as rabbis.




California official asks pensions to snub Iran

sacramento (jta) | California's state controller called on the state's two largest pensions to check whether they have holdings in companies that would be subject to Iran-related sanctions.

Steve Westly, who is running for governor, made his appeal last week to the California Public Employees' Retirement System and California State Teachers' Retirement System.

Laws sanctioning companies that deal with Iran have been in place since 2000, but enforcement is likely to increase as the United States seeks to isolate the Islamic republic as it ignores calls to subject its nuclear program to international scrutiny.




Letters don't save Abramoff from prison time

washington (ap) | Former Jewish lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his business partner Adam Kidan were sentenced Wednesday, March 29 to five years and 10 months in federal prison — the minimum they faced for fraud related to their 2000 purchase of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet.

U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck also ordered the two to pay restitution of more than $21 million.

Before the hearing, more than 260 people — including rabbis, military officers and even a professional hockey referee — wrote letters on the men's behalf asking the judge for leniency.

The letters — many from Abramoff's Orthodox Jewish community — were strewn with references to his generosity, like the time the lobbyist gave $10,000 to a rabbi "overwhelmed by medical bills," according to the Washington Times.




Services held for bus-crash victims

new york (jta) | Funeral services were held this week for the American Jewish tourists who died in the March 22 bus crash in Chile.

The crash occurred on a B'nai B'rith trip when a bus plunged down a cliff, killing 12 tourists. Ten of the victims were from an adult community in Monroe Township, N.J. The other victims were from Stamford, Conn.




Immigrant group seeks humanitarian changes to policy

washington (jta) | The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society wants the Senate to include provisions in border protection policies that are "consistent with American humanitarian policies and effective against illegal migration."

In a statement issued this week, HIAS said the proposed legislation should provide an opportunity for hard-working immigrants already in the United States to come out of hiding and "regularize their status" if they can satisfy reasonable criteria.

The group also called for programs to make citizenship more available and to encourage the integration of newcomers into American society.




Treasury bans Hezbollah TV

washington (jta) | The U.S. Treasury placed Hezbollah's television affiliate on a terrorist watch list.

Naming al Manar and its radio affiliate, al Nour, as global terrorist entities freezes the companies' U.S. assets and bans U.S. companies from doing business with them.

"Any entity maintained by a terrorist group whether masquerading as a charity, a business or a media outlet is as culpable as the terrorist group itself," Stuart Levey, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement last week.




Group's Katrina relief tops $1 million

new orleans (jta) | The American Jewish Committee made the final donations from its Hurricane Katrina relief fund.

The $432,000 donated to eight synagogues and four churches in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi brings the total amount the group has given for Katrina relief to more than $1 million.




Guinness record for hummus plate

new york (ynetnews) | New York-based Sabra Foods recently broke a world record with its display of a plate of hummus about 11 1/2 feet in diameter.

Company president Yehudah Pearl said the publicity stunt was not an easy one: "Our chefs grinded the hummus for two days to prepare a sufficient amount," he said.