Last week, Jill Miller Zimon, a writer from Pepper Pike, Ohio, attended her daughter’s school band concert. Four bands and orchestras performed. “All four played `Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah,”‘ said Zimon, laughing. “I thought I was going to tear my hair out.” Zimon, who’s Jewish, doesn’t think that would have happened a few decades ago. One…

San Antonio – Nearly two-thirds of the families living at a polygamist group’s ranch – targeted in a high-profile raid last spring – had children who were abused or neglected, Texas child welfare officials said in a report released Tuesday. The Department of Family and Protective Services concluded there was evidence that 12 girls, ages…

Vatican City – Galileo Galilei is going from heretic to hero. The Vatican is recasting the most famous victim of its Inquisition as a man of faith, just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope and the U.N.-designated International Year of Astronomy next year. Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Italian astronomer…

WARSAW, – Poland’s president has celebrated the start of Hanukkah with Warsaw’s Jewish community – the first time a Polish head of state has attended a religious service in a synagogue. The Jewish community is describing Lech Kaczynski’s visit Sunday as a historic step. Kaczynski entered Warsaw’s century-old Nozyk synagogue just after sundown. The congregation…

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