year in review
continued from page 86
JANUARY 2014
Menachem Stark,
shown with his
wife and seven
children, was
hailed after his
kidnapping and
murder as a
loving father and
generous giver
by his Chasidic
community in
Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Chasidic real estate developer Menachem Stark is kid-
napped, his lifeless body later found in a dumpster. The New York
Post provokes outrage among many Jews with a cover calling him a
slumlord and a headline asking, "Who didn't want him dead?" Months
later, a construction worker is arrested for the killing.
Ariel Sharon, the controversial warrior-turned-statesman who served
as Israel's prime minister from 2001 until 2006, when he was rendered
comatose by a stroke, dies at age 85.
JTA and MyJewishLearning, which includes the popular parenting
website Kveller.com, announce their intention to merge.
The Israeli government announces that it plans to invest more than
$1 billion over the next 20 years to strengthen the Jewish identity of
diaspora Jews, particularly young Jews, but the details remain fuzzy.
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel reaches an agreement with the
Rabbinical Council of America to automatically accept letters from
RCA members vouching for the Jewish status of Israeli immi-
grants. The agreement follows a temporary suspension by the Chief
Rabbinate in accepting such letters from at least one well-known
RCA member, Rabbi Avi Weiss of Riverdale, N.Y.
Two modern Orthodox high schools in New York stir controversy
with decisions to allow girls who wish to lay tefillin.
UJA-Federation of New York, the largest Jewish federation in North
America, names attorney Eric Goldstein as its new CEO and succes-
sor to longtime CEO John Ruskay.
Actress Scarlett Johansson comes under criticism for serving as
a spokeswoman for the Israeli company SodaStream, which has
facilities in the West Bank. Johansson, who is Jewish, stands by
SodaStream and resigns as a global ambassador for the British-based
charity Oxfam, saying she and Oxfam have "a fundamental differ-
ence of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions
movement."
The Israel Air Force is accused of attacking a warehouse of advanced
Russian-made S-300 missiles in the Syrian port city of Latakia. Israel
declines to comment on the attack.
A federal judge tosses out a $380 million sexual abuse lawsuit filed
against Yeshiva University by 34 former students of its high school
for boys. The suit alleged that the university ignored warnings of
assault by two faculty members between 1969 and 1989. In dismiss-
ing the lawsuit, Judge John Koeltl rules that the statute of limitations
has expired.
E
Ariel Sharon is pictured in Jerusalem
with the Temple Mount in the
background on July 24, 2000.
5
SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum announces
Scarlett Johansson as the company's first-ever
global brand ambassador on Jan. 10, 2014, in New
York City.
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Longtime California congressman Henry Waxman announces his
retirement. Waxman had represented California's 33rd District since
1975 and was considered the dean of Jewish lawmakers.
Jewish philanthropist and humanitarian Anne Heyman, founder of
the Agahozo-ShalomYouthVillage in Rwanda, dies during a horse-
riding competition in Palm Beach, Fla.
I iMU
PP
FEBRUARY 2014
The government of Spain approves a bill to facilitate the naturaliza-
tion of Sephardic Jews of Spanish descent.
Staff at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem go on strike as the
hospital, facing a huge deficit, teeters on the edge of bankruptcy and
fails to pay its workers.
continued on page 90
88
September 18 • 2014
JN
The entrance hall of Hadassah's new Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower. The tower has
cutting-edge facilities, but it opened during a time of financial crisis for the hospital.