Your Daily Spiel For July 19

Mark Zuckerberg FLICKR PHOTO
Mark Zuckerberg FLICKR PHOTO

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook, said in an interview published yesterday on The Recode website, that he would not automatically remove Holocaust-denying Facebook posts. Zuckerberg later clarified, “I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive, and I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that.. of course if a post crossed line into advocating for violence or hate…it would be removed.”

Dozens of Orthodox yeshiva students hold separate-gender services every day at a Western Wall prayer space specifically set aside for egalitarian, pluralistic worship. The area is known as Robinson’s Arch, south of the main prayer plaza, which since 2000 has allowed non-Orthodox services.

According to a recent study, individuals who have left the Orthodox community are more than four times as likely to have been molested as children than the general population. The two Orthodox Jewish researchers, Dr. David Rosmarin of Harvard and Dr. David Pelcovitz of Yeshiva University, surveyed more than 300 participants over a three-year period.

Jewish organizations in Canada and Israel are criticizing a proposed Israeli bill, which they say runs counter to democratic values and will damage Israel’s relationship with Diaspora communities. The legislation, known as the nation-state law, seeks to define the Jewish nature of Israel.