Religion & Jewish Life « AZ Jewish Post

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Religion & Jewish Life

Marion Achtentuch, 83, with her granddaughter, Shira Sheps, 25. (Shira Sheps)

Survivors’ grandchildren feeling an obligation to share Holocaust memories

Posted under Religion & Jewish Life on April 16th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

(JTA) — Shira Sheps remembers walking through an exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan and stumbling upon her grandmother’s long-ago school reports alongside family photos and her great-grandparents’ wedding invitation. Sheps, 25, had known that her grandmother shortly after Kristallnacht had left Furth, Germany, at age 9 on a Kindertransport to [...]

It's Seder time in Utah in the Passover in the Desert of Moab program. (Jeff Finkelstein)

On Passover, celebrating the Exodus in the desert — in Moab, Utah

Posted under Passover, Religion & Jewish Life on April 10th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

MOAB, Utah (JTA) — How do you open the door for Elijah when your Seder is outdoors in the middle of the Utah desert? That was one of the challenges facing the 260 people who came from all parts of the country to participate in the fifth annual Adventure Rabbi Passover retreat held last weekend [...]

BBYO embraces anti-bullying documentary, taking its message to Jewish teens

Posted under Arts and Culture, Religion & Jewish Life on April 10th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Emotional. Raw. Frustrating. That’s how Oz Fishman describes his reaction to “Bully,” a documentary that follows five students who face bullying daily. The movie also focuses on two victims of bullying who killed themselves. “I think every single person who wants to be a member of any community should see this film,” [...]

Artist Lori Loebelsohn paints what she calls 'life-cycle portraits.' (Courtesy Lori Loebelsohn)

Painting lives: Artist helps clients mark pivot points, from Bar Mitzvah dreams to a dying wish

Posted under Arts and Culture, Religion & Jewish Life on April 9th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Lori Loebelsohn enters other people’s lives at pivotal moments: a marriage, a milestone birthday, a Bar Mitzvah. Armed with a pen and a notebook, she discusses intimate details about the inner lives of those she has just met: their passions, their most significant memories, their dreams. She’s not a rabbi, nor [...]

In Las Vegas, Jewish federations take a gamble on engaging young Jews

Posted under Religion & Jewish Life on April 4th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

LAS VEGAS (JTA) — In this city of betting and sin, the Jewish Federations of North America took a gamble. Jewish federations from the United States and Canada collectively kicked in tens of thousands of dollars in subsidies to send 1,500 Jews aged 22 to 45 to the Venetian resort and casino in Las Vegas [...]

Djerba Jews spending some time at the El-Ghriba Synagogue on Tunisia's southern island. (upyneroz via CC)

Tunisia’s Jews keep wary eye on political developments

Posted under News, Religion & Jewish Life, World on April 3rd, 2012. Leave a Comment »

TUNIS (JTA) — Tucked on a quiet side street blocks from the Mediterranean Sea, the last kosher restaurant in the Tunisian capital is a thriving center of Jewish tradition in a country of 10 million with nearly an entirely Arab and Muslim population. Yet Jacob Lellouche, who has owned and operated Mamie Lily since it [...]

Richard Hyman, great-grandson of Titanic survivor Joseph Abraham Hyman, in front of the family business his great-grandfather started a year after the ship sank. (J.A. Hyman Titanics Ltd.)

Kosher deli in England a Titanic survivor’s legacy

Posted under News, Religion & Jewish Life, World on April 2nd, 2012. Leave a Comment »

Manchester, England is home to an estimated 20,000-30,000 Jews, roughly 40 percent of whom keep kosher. Three of the community’s six kosher butcher/delicatessen shops are run by Richard Hyman and his wife, Joanna. The 99-year-old family business, known to locals as “Titanics,” was born out of the most famous maritime disaster in history. Richard, 42, [...]

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach ata 2011 menorah lighting ceremony at Newark City Hall in New Jersey. (Robert Wiener, NJ Jewish News)

‘America’s rabbi’ seeks congressional seat

Posted under National, News, Religion & Jewish Life on March 26th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

(NJ Jewish News) — Known by some as “America’s rabbi,” he is a Lubavitcher rabbi, a television host, frequent talk-show guest, and the author of 27 books — among them such provocative titles as “Kosher Sex” and “Kosher Jesus.” As of March 12, Englewood, N.J., resident Shmuley Boteach can add another role to his long [...]

Seeking Kin: Kibbutz searches for descendants of Holocaust hero buried in its cemetery

Posted under Religion & Jewish Life on March 26th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. KIBBUTZ YAD MORDECHAI, Israel (JTA) — In a far-off corner of this quiet farm a handful of miles from the Gaza Strip as the rocket flies, down a dirt road that peels off from an old Arab well’s housing, Wladyslaw Kowalski rests with [...]

Peter Beinart, shown in a February 2009 address to the Center for American Progress, stirred controversy this week with his call for a boycott of goods made in Israeli settlements. (Center for American Progress via Creative Commons)

Peter Beinart calls for a ‘Zionist BDS,’ but he’s not finding many takers

Posted under Israel, National, News, Religion & Jewish Life on March 20th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Should Jews shun other Jews? And should they shun Jews who call on Jews to shun other Jews? Peter Beinart’s call in Monday’s New York Times for a boycott of goods manufactured in West Bank settlements reignited a debate not just about what works and doesn’t when it comes to advancing a [...]