Yeshiva University is Refusing to Recognize an LGBTQ Club, So Students Filed a Lawsuit

Yeshiva University is Refusing to Recognize an LGBTQ Club, So Students Filed a Lawsuit

This week, students at Yeshiva University in New York filed a lawsuit against their institution, because the university has refused to formally recognize an LGBTQ club. For over two years, students have been trying to formally create a gay-straight alliance club at the university, a private Modern Orthodox Jewish research school in New York. The school has reportedly received funds from New York State and by refusing to recognize the LGBTQ student club, students claim it has violated their human rights.

Joining The Takeaway to discuss this is Simone Somekh, correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and author of an Italian novel called Wide Angle.

Click here to listen to the segment.

LGBTQ students sue Yeshiva University for discrimination

LGBTQ students sue Yeshiva University for discrimination

NEW YORK (JTA) — A group of students and alumni is suing Yeshiva University for discrimination, claiming that the university violated New York City’s human rights law when it refused to recognize an LGBTQ student club.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in New York County Supreme Court.

Over the last few years, the students repeatedly lobbied the university’s administration to formally recognize a Gay-Straight Alliance club. The university, a prominent Modern Orthodox institution, has grappled with how to reconcile a traditional interpretation of Jewish law, which does not allow homosexual relations, with its engagement with the secular world. Continue reading here.

Italy granted her a pension for Holocaust survivors. Then it asked for the money back.

Italy granted her a pension for Holocaust survivors. Then it asked for the money back.

(JTA) — In 2012, Messauda Fadlun received a letter from the Italian government asking her to return all the money she had been receiving as part of a restitution program for those racially persecuted by the fascist regime during World War II.

Fadlun, an Italian-Libyan Jew, and her family were shocked.

“We thought there had been a mistake,” said Ariel Finzi, Fadlun’s son, who is the rabbi of Naples. “Worst case, we presumed the government would stop paying for the pension, but not that we would have to return the money.”

They were wrong: It was just the beginning of a long legal fight with the Italian government, which claimed she had not been eligible to receive the pension, despite granting it earlier. Fadlun died in 2018, and now her 98-year-old husband, Alberto Finzi, is expected to pay the sum of 76,000 euros (about $92,000). Continue reading here.

Giornalismo e fact-checking, un appuntamento con Simone Somekh

NEW YORK, 1 febbraio 2021—Lunedì 8 febbraio alle 19:00, in diretta sulla pagina Facebook dell’Unione Giovani Ebrei Italiani (UGEI), Simone Somekh terrà un workshop di un’ora sul tema del fact-checking nell’era digitale. Modera Daphne Zelnick.

Giornalista a New York e autore del romanzo Grandangolo, Simone Somekh parlerà di fake news, acchiappaclick, deepfake e altri metodi di disinformazione utilizzati sul web, ed introdurrà alcuni strumenti utilizzati nelle redazioni giornalistiche per la verifica di fatti, foto e video.

Per seguire la diretta, collegarsi a questo link.

In libreria “Fase 1”, raccolta di testimonianze sulla pandemia

NEW YORK, 4 gennaio 2021—È uscito nelle librerie italiane “Fase 1”, volume bilingue che raccoglie memorie e testimonianze sul Covid-19 edito da Acquario Libri.

Nel libro, più di 60 scrittori, artisti e intellettuali italiani hanno catturato ciascuno in poche parole l’istante in cui tutto è cambiato e la pandemia ha preso il sopravvento sulle nostre vite. La raccolta include anche la testimonianza dello scrittore e giornalista Simone Somekh, che ha narrato la sua esperienza a New York.

“Fase 1”, pubblicato sia in italiano che in inglese, è acquistabile nelle migliori librerie italiane o sul sito internet di Acquario Libri.