Seth Galena and Hindy Poupko, at his right shoulder, celebrate the birth of their son Akiva at his bris, June 15, 2014. (Piha Studio) NEW YORK (JTA) – Even before their daughter, Ayelet Galena, was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow disease called dyskeratosis congenita around her first birthday, parents Hindy Poupko and Seth Galena knew they wanted to have more children. But once the diagnosis arrived, the couple had a dilemma: There… Read more »
Misha Gurbachov, deputy director of the Jewish Community of Chisinau, and Limmud Maldova co-organizer Julia Seinman in Chisinau, May 23, 2014. (George Omen/Limmud FSU( CHISINAU, Moldova (JTA) — Standing opposite the house at Romana Street 13 in the Moldovan capital, a group of tourists is struggling to hear Irina Shihova’s account of the horrors that transpired here more than a century ago, but her voice is drowned out by a pop song playing… Read more »
A "Bot-Mitzvah" depicted on the TV show "Futurama." (Via Hulu) NEW YORK (JTA) — Robots can hold a conversation, but should they count in a minyan? A chatbot at Britain’s University of Reading was heralded this week as passing the Turing test, showing a conversational ability that managed to fool people into thinking it was human. Using the fictional… Read more »
Left to right, Mariano Schlez and Paola Salem, with Damian Beker and Maxi Klein, organized efforts to bring together Jewish Soccer fans at the World Cup's seven sites in Brazil. (Courtesy Paola Salem) (JTA) – When Argentina plays its opening-round matches in the World Cup, Mariano Schlez of Buenos Aires will be screaming his support from the stands. But taking in his home country’s matches in Brazil isn’t all that will be occupying Schlez for the first fortnight of the monthlong soccer… Read more »
ABERDEEN, Md. (JTA) – Standing on a hill on a glorious Sunday morning, Mark and Ron Shapiro are kvelling as they watch Caden Shapiro – son of Mark and grandson of Ron – pitching in a baseball tournament in this city near Baltimore after having been shelved for nearly… Read more »
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (JTA) – The Bais Menachem Youth Development program in this northeastern Pennsylvania city is no typical Chabad yeshiva. The students wear flip-flops and T-shirts, not the typical black-and-white of Hasidic seminaries. In addition to Jewish law and Bible study, the curriculum includes improv nights, poetry slams and… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Which way will Presbyterians go this time? That’s a question Jewish groups and their Presbyterian allies are nervously asking as they work to head off divestment efforts within the church targeting Israel. The fear is the efforts could pass this time after a narrow defeat two… Read more »
Ian Kinsler is thriving in Detroit after being traded from the Texas Rangers. (Hillel Kutler, JTA) The rarity arose in the initial meeting of first-year Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus and his second baseman Ian Kinsler, newly traded from the Texas Rangers: a Jewish player reporting to a Jewish manager. Ausmus was “raised the same way I was,” Kinsler learned, with one Jewish parent and… Read more »
What does my mother-in-law have to do with my married life, columnist Edmon J. Rodman recalls foolishly asking soon after he was married 32 years ago. (Edmon J. Rodman) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In the Ten Commandments, the Torah tells us to “Honor your father and your mother,” but on mothers-in-law, it’s mum. That is until we come to the two-day holiday of Shavuot and read the Book of Ruth, which records the relationship between Ruth and her… Read more »
Equestrian show jumper and Olympic hopeful Danielle Goldstein practicing her routine in central Israel, May 12, 2014. (Ben Sales) YAGUR, Israel (JTA) — The crowd was sparse and admission was free. Pop music from 10 years ago blared from loudspeakers. A few families sat on bleachers near the athletes, who hopped over a low fence when it was time to compete. The Israeli Equestrian Championships wasn’t the most… Read more »
Shooters shoot. (R to L: Les Hajnal, Lea Rosenfeld, Doris Wise Montrose, etc.)
(Anthony Weiss/JTA) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — It’s a sunny morning in Southern California and Lea Rosenfeld, a soft-spoken, bespectacled woman who looks like a Jewish grandmother, squares her feet, faces her target and squeezes off five shots with a handgun. All of them miss. “I never even held a gun in… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks with Pope Francis during their meeting at the Vatican, Dec. 2, 2013. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90) ROME (JTA) – With a rabbi and a Muslim sheik as his travel companions, Pope Francis is heading to the Middle East with what he hopes will be a powerful message of interfaith respect. It will be the first time that leaders of other faiths are part of an… Read more »
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras speaks in a synagogue in Thessaloniki in March 2013, the first visit by a sitting prime minister to a Greek shul in more than a century. (Gavin Rabinowitz) ATHENS, Greece (JTA) — When the Anti-Defamation League published its global anti-Semitism survey last week, Greece, the cradle of democracy, captured the ignominious title of most anti-Semitic country in Europe. With 69 percent of Greeks espousing anti-Semitic views, according to the survey, Greece was on par with Saudi Arabia,… Read more »
Josh Zeid: "There’s no better place, if you’re a young player, to be than the Houston Astros." (Hillel Kuttler) BALTIMORE (JTA) – For Houston Astros pitcher Josh Zeid, a recent game against the Baltimore Orioles provided a microcosm of his up-and-down tenure in organized baseball and with the club over the past several months. Entering a 2-2 game in the seventh inning, with two runners on and two… Read more »
A U.S. Army transport plane flies over the pyramids in Egypt in 1943. (Keystone/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — On the outskirts of Cairo, on a blistering hot afternoon in May 1942, British Army chaplain Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz ordered the driver of his military transport truck to pull over for a group of uniformed women who were hitchhiking. “We want to go as far as… Read more »
Miriam Goldfisher, director of a kosher supervision class for women, studying Jewish dietary laws in preparation for the Israeli Chief Rabbinate exam on the topic. JERUSALEM (JTA) — In a step that further expands the opportunities for women to serve as recognized authorities in Jewish law, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate for the first time is allowing women to serve as kosher supervisors. Nine women took the Chief Rabbinate’s kosher supervision exam last week in… Read more »
Ike Davis, on overcoming his hitting woes, says, "You've just got to put your head down and grind." (Hillel Kuttler) BALTIMORE (JTA) — Ike Davis was upbeat despite the rain pelting the Camden Yards turf and his struggles at the plate. The new Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman was playing catch with teammate Josh Harrison when music from the loudspeakers sent him into a dancing whir. Harrison couldn’t stop giggling.… Read more »
(JTA) — Sure, the news from the city of Detroit seems endlessly grim: bankruptcy, crime and so for But the metro area, whose northwest suburbs host a panoply of Jewish amenities, is the most affordable place in the United States to raise a “committed Jewish family,” at least according… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — When the 92nd Street Y announced last week that it had hired a new executive director, Crain’s New York Business went with an eye-catching headline. “It’s a goy! 92nd St. Y picks first non-Jewish chief.” The announcement that Henry Timms would lead the famed Upper… Read more »
Michael Rovinsky: "The truth is I hate crying kids and I can't stand the sight of blood." NEW YORK (JTA) — Who knew? It turns out that mohels not only have one of the most peculiar professions in the Jewish world, but they’re funny, eccentric and self-promotional in odd ways, too. Circumcision activists pro and con can debate the efficacy of circumcision for everything from health… Read more »
