Some thought that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would strike a conciliatory note when he spoke during Friday prayers at Tehran University today. Not so.

Khamenei: “Media belonging to the Zionists” is to blame.

JTA reports that Khamenei “denied that the country’s recent elections were fixed, called on protesters to stop and blamed the ‘Zionist’ media.” [...]

The news is pouring in through Twitter and the Web, despite the Iranian authorities’ efforts to shut down cell phone networks and the Internet.
A new set of photos from inside Iran can be found here.
Warning: Adult content.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a member of Congress from the Chicago area, spoke at a press conference outside of Incarnation Church on Sunday. He is flanked by Rev. Alexander Collins, left, of Redeemed Life Church in Mounds View, and Rep. Keith Ellison. (Photo: Mordecai Specktor)

Hundreds of people filled the pews of Incarnation Church in south Minneapolis [...]

I dreamed about Tony Kushner the night before last. My repeated inquiries to the Guthrie Theater publicist about arranging a Jewish World interview with the renowned playwright finally bore fruit — albeit in dreamland. I was sitting with Kushner at a cafe table on a downtown Minneapolis street. He thoughtfully brought me a gift — [...]

The American Jewish World published an editorial on April 24, “Obama and the rise of the Jew-haters,” which looked at the Department of Homeland Security’s report titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” 
The AJW editorial stated:
… the [DHS] report mentions the April 4 shooting death of three police officers in [...]

By MORDECAI SPECKTOR
It was not the publicity the Lubavitchers were looking for.
Rabbi Manis Friedman, an esteemed Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi from St. Paul, became the focus of controversy last week stemming from his short article in the recent issue of Moment magazine.
In the magazine’s “Ask the Rabbis” column, Friedman, and rabbis from other Jewish streams, responded to [...]

Rabbi Gershom Sizomu relates story of Uganda’s Abayudaya community
By TAMAR FENTON
When Israeli commandos stormed the airport terminal in Entebbe, Uganda, on July 4, 1976, they and the 260 passengers of the hijacked aircraft were probably unaware that a small Ugandan Jewish community had gathered in their village 175 miles away to pray for the safety [...]

After raising money and awareness of the genocide in Darfur over the past four years, eighth graders at the Talmud Torah of St. Paul are graduating to the next level of global advocacy

By ERIN ELLIOTT / Community News Editor
When the Talmud Torah of St. Paul’s eighth grade graduating class leaves the school, they will take with [...]

A three-part sculpture by Minneapolis artist Perci Chester titled “Gyr Family Cycle” will be installed in the new Edina Promenade Park, a one-and-a-half mile paved pedestrian and bike pathway system located southeast of 70th Street and France Avenue. An opening ceremony will take place 1 p.m. Saturday, June 20 at the park, where Chester’s work will [...]

As this edition of the American Jewish World goes to press, it seems like there is an inordinate amount of bad news in the pages. There are reports of Jews behaving badly — uttering racist, profane and inhumane comments that do not reflect the high ideals of our prophetic tradition, to say the least.
So we [...]