News at a Glance

NEW YORK (JTA) -- E-mail between staff members of England's Prince Charles call his office's attitude toward Israel into question.

Likely sent by accident to Israel's ambassador to England, Zvi Heivetz, the e-mail has created a stir in Britain.

The e-mail messages between two of the prince's aides, which were printed in Britain's Jewish Chronicle, stated that there was "no chance ever" of the prince accepting an invitation to visit Israel.

According to the Times of London, no member of the royal family has made a state visit to Israel.

The Israeli Embassy in London recently had invited the prince's private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, and his deputy, Clive Alderton, to Israel as guests of the Knesset.

Peat reportedly had initially expressed open enthusiasm about the trip, but later on, it seemed to have cooled.

The Israeli Embassy reportedly told the Times that it had no idea how the messages actually wound up reaching The Jewish Chronicle.

Florida Mohel Airlifted to Alaska

NEW YORK (JTA) -- A mohel flew from Florida to Alaska to perform a brit milah.

Alon Razla, a Lubavitch businessman and mohel affiliated with the Florida-based Brit Yosef Yitzchak organization, performed the ritual circumcision on the 8-day-old son of an Israeli couple living in Anchorage.

There are no mohels in Alaska, according to Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, co-director of the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska.

Greenberg said that there have been about 10 ritual circumcisions in the past 15 years in Alaska, all performed by volunteer mohels sent by Brit Yosef Yitzchak.

Survey Says: It's All About Mom in December

NEW YORK (JTA) -- In a Christian-Jewish intermarriage, the woman's religion is apparently key to the family's religious behavior.

That's a major finding of the annual "December dilemma" survey released this week by InterfaithFamily.com, an organization dedicated to helping intermarried couples make Jewish choices.

The survey focused on heterosexual intermarried families committed to raising their children as Jews.

It found that within this group, those where the woman is Christian participate in more Christmas activities than do those where she is Jewish.

Thirty-one percent of intermarried couples where the woman is Jewish celebrate Christmas in their own home, compared to 53 percent of couples where the woman is not Jewish.

In families where the woman is Jewish, 27 percent put up a Christmas tree at home, compared to 51 percent where the woman is not Jewish.

When it comes to celebrating Chanukah, however, there is virtually no difference: Almost all the intermarried families celebrate Chanukah at home, and about half observe the holiday at the homes of relatives.

The survey attracted 860 responses.

The results were culled from the 285 respondents who were in interfaith relationships and raising Jewish children.