David B. Ruderman, director of the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has won a National Jewish Book Award for "Early Modern Jewry: A New Cultural History," published by Princeton University Press. Ruderman, who also teaches Modern Jewish History at UPenn, won in the category of History. The 2010 awards, announced Tuesday, are given out annually...

Phyllis Berman never had any qualms about eating meat when she was growing up, as long as it was kosher. That changed in recent years as the Mount Airy resident learned that animals killed for kosher meat, while slaughtered according to ancient traditions, most likely were raised in just as dirty, cramped and unnatural conditions as those used for conventional...