JUF News Express

The Chicago Center for Jewish Genetic Disorders is offering a special 20% discount on designer jeans as customers learn how genes affect their jeans' fit. The April 22 event, kicking off a series of similar happenings, willt ake place at DNA 2050, a men's and women's jeans boutique (900 N. Michigan Ave.), and includes raffle prizes to Chicago’s top restaurants and stores, goody-bags, refreshments and more. For those unable to make the April 22 event, the speacial sale will continue throughout the weekend at 20 different locations in the city and suburbs. See a list of participating stores or buy tickets online. 15% of the proceeds will go toward the Center, which offers genetic screening programs, counseling and information.

The first images from the upcoming episode of The Simpsons, in which the animated family visits Israel, were released this week after six months of buzz over the special show to be aired in the United States on March 28, reports Ha'aretz.

The episode, titled "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed," includes scenes of Homer and Bart at the Western Wall with their Israeli tour guide, who will be voiced by British comedian Sascha Baron Cohen, of Borat and Bruno fame.

"This is an episode that people from all three religions will be equally offended by," said Simpsons producer Al Jean.

Joel A. Weinstein, a funeral director to the Chicago-area Jewish community for more than 50 years, in the late 1950s used his many contacts to start a congregation for his faith in north suburban Lincolnwood, reports Chicago Tribune.

Weinstein, 84, died Sunday, March 14, at Hospice of Palm Beach in Florida after a stroke, said his wife, Lois. He was a resident of Lincolnwood and Glenview before moving to Boynton Beach, Fla.

The rededication of an Old City synagogue took place without incident, reports the JTA.

More than 3,000 Israeli police were deployed in Jerusalem on Monday for fear that the rededication of the restored Hurva Synagogue, located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, would spark Arab rioting.

Rabbis Yona Metzger, the chief rabbi of Israel, and Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, together placed the mezuzah on the synagogue door post.

The synagogue’s new white dome blends in with the city’s ancient monuments holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews, reports The New York Times. Because of the topography, seen from certain points around the city, it rises above the Islamic shrines of the compound revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, and by Jews as the Temple Mount, including Al Aksa Mosque.

Bob's Newsstand at 4906 Oakton St. is a treasure trove of vintage newspapers and magazines, for as the owner says, "it's a place where print still lives," reports Mike Isaacs in the Skokie Review.

Bob's Newsstand sells thousands of posters and flags from almost every country. Owner Bob Katzman, a self-published author, has penned several candid books (for sale at the store) that tell of his fascinating background and unique insights along life's rocky journey.

The store is the result of a lifetime of searching for old periodicals all over the world, he said.

"It's been like a treasure hunt for me," Katzman said. "It's the hunt, not the getting that's been so fun. It's the hunt that matters. I think part of it is being Jewish -- it's the quest to know -- but it's more than that because you want others to know, too.

Jewish Brigade veterans and members of the public packed a Tel Aviv University auditorium for a special screening of Chuck Olin’s award-winning documentary In Their Own Hands. A subtle blend of Schindler’s List and The Dirty Dozen, Olin’s film tells the thrilling story of the Jewish Brigade – the all-Jewish fighting force that helped to fight and defeat Hitler’s armies on the battlegrounds of Europe.

In Their Own Hands took Chicago filmmaker Chuck Olin over three years to complete. In the mid-1990s, Olin and his team came to Israel in search of those who had fought with the Brigade and videotaped these veterans talking about their experiences. The resulting documentary combines historical footage and videotaped oral testimony to tell a passionate and powerful story of Jewish resilience and bravery.

"As well as showing what the Brigade did during the war, it also reveals something about the role they played afterwards, with Holocaust survivors," says screening Hadassa Kingstone, adding that some of the most important aspects of the Brigade’s postwar activities are not widely known, even among Israeli Jews.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Wednesday it is no longer selling gasoline to Iran, the latest oil company to make such a move during threats of tougher sanctions against the Islamic republic, reports The Wall Street Journal. Shell's move comes as a number of Western oil companies have decided to stop trading with Iran as international pressure bites deeper into its oil and gas industry. Traders Vitol Holding BV and Glencore International AG, historically key fuel-oil suppliers to Iran, recently decided to halt sales of gasoline to the country.

Meanwhile, Ingersoll-Rand PLC said it has prohibited its subsidiaries from selling products to customers in Iran. Caterpillar Inc., Huntsman Corp., General Electric Co. and the German conglomerate Siemens AG have made similar moves over the past year.