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Shop owner offers Holocaust soap

MONTREAL —A Jewish shop owner is generating controversy for trying to sell a bar of soap allegedly made from the remains of Holocaust victims. Abraham Botines, who founded the curiosity shop Botines on the city’s trendy St. Laurent Boulevard in 1967, claims he bought the bar of soap from a retired Canadian soldier who found it in a concentration camp.

Botines’ son Ivan, who co-owns the store, said its ingredients are a mystery. “I can only tell you what [Abraham] told me, which is it was probably made from human fat or grease,” he told CTV News. The beige bar of soap stamped with a swastika, is alleged to be from Poland circa 1940.

But the authenticity of the claim was questioned. “We have never found any evidence that soap was made from the remains of murdered Jews,” Frank Chalk, a history professor at Montreal’s Concordia University said. “It’s an urban myth.”

First ‘green’ Jewish cemetery opens

SAN FRANCISCO — The first “green” Jewish cemetery in the United States has been dedicated. Gan Yarok, Hebrew for “green garden,” is a Jewish section of the Forever Fernwood Natural Burial Ground in Mill Valley, CA, just north of San Francisco. No concrete liners or embalming fluid will be used. Bodies may be buried either in plain wooden boxes, wicker baskets or just in shrouds. No pesticides or other chemicals are used on the grounds, and graves are marked by simple carved boulders instead of concrete or bronze markers. Gan Yarok includes Orthodox, Conservative and community areas, each with its own regulations.

Judge: No Easter Mass for Jewish girl

A court in Chicago has ruled that a father may not take his Jewish daughter to Catholic Mass on Easter. Joseph Reyes grabbed headlines when he took his daughter to church and had her baptized despite a temporary restraining order filed by his estranged wife that bars him from exposing their daughter to anything but the Jewish faith.

During a divorce hearing, Reyes asked Cook County Court Judge Renee Goldfarb if he could take his daughter, Ela, to Catholic Mass on Easter Sunday. The judge denied his request, citing the restraining order. Reyes converted to Judaism when he married his wife, Rebecca, and according to her promised to raise their daughter in the Jewish faith. But after the couple filed for divorce he baptized Ela without his wife’s knowledge.

Boston Jews drops arts center plan

BOSTON — Boston’s Jewish community has abandoned a plan to build an $80 million arts and cultural center due to a lack of funding and the current economy. The idea for the center was based on research that showed that Jewish arts and cultural programs would attract many Jews who are not otherwise engaged in Jewish organizations. New Center will continue to host its programs in venues throughout the city.