Yearly Archives 2010

 By Ben Harris TEL AVIV (JTA) — Gidi Grunberg at 16 fell in love with a boy at his Orthodox high school near Tel Aviv.  Consumed by guilt, he transferred to a high school that was more strictly religious, hopeful that with more rigorous Torah study his attraction to… Read more »

 By Lisa Keys/Feb. 10, 2010  NEW YORK (Tablet) — Utopia Bagels in Queens is known for its bacon-flecked egg bagel. In Manhattan, the restaurant JoeDoe boasts a sandwich called the “Conflicted Jew” — a concoction made with bacon, challah and chopped liver. During Chanukah, the Web site YumSugar suggested… Read more »

By Ron Kampeas/Jan. 5, 2010  WASHINGTON (JTA) — A new poll suggests that American Jews are more conflicted about the challenges of immigration than their communal leaders — but that’s to be expected, the Jewish leaders say.  The poll, commissioned by the pro-enforcement Center for Immigration Studies, shows that… Read more »

CARTAGENA, Colombia (JTA) -- Luis Alberto Prieto Vargas appears to be a Jew. He wears a kipah, he introduces himself as Jewish and two years ago Vargas, a Christian by birth, underwent a conversion ceremony to Judaism following several years of religious study. But Vargas’ conversion hit a key… Read more »

BIELSKO-BIALA, Poland (JTA) -- Outside the elegant theater in the city of Bielsko Biala in southern Poland, a billboard advertises an upcoming play. Stark letters spell out the title: "Zyd" -- Jew. The lettering looks almost menacing, like scrawled graffiti, and I am a little taken aback. But then… Read more »

PHILADELPHIA (Jewish Exponent/JTA) — Isaac Bashevis Singer didn’t care much for the 1983 Barbra Streisand-starring film adaptation of his short story “Yentel the Yeshiva Boy.” The late Nobel Prize-winning author couldn’t picture a serious Talmud student breaking into song.  Many Jewish moviegoers, however, loved the Singer-Streisand pairing, which is… Read more »

By Joel Chasnoff NEW YORK (JTA) — In honor of Israel’s 62nd birthday, I’ll forgo the expected Op-Ed about Israeli government corruption, the Bibi-Obama drama, or the Israeli Rabbinate’s stranglehold on marriage and divorce. Instead, I offer this love letter to Israel: “Top 10 tiny details about Israel that… Read more »

ERICA BEE, Special to the AJP When will the phrase, “Never Again” actually represent the truth? In 1945, the Holocaust ended and after the death of approximately six million Jews, we vowed, “Never Again.” We vowed we would never again stand idly by and watch human beings be treated so… Read more »

Ester Lautenberg

“It was wonderful therapy” to begin writing books the year after Mitchell died, says Leutenberg, whose daughter Kathy Khalsa, a psychiatric occupational therapist, had approached her about a collaboration. Khalsa wanted to create a workbook with reproducible handouts that would be fun to use, and would help people open… Read more »

Vadim Gluzman

Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman will perform with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra next month. Named NPR’s #1 New Classical Music Face of 2008 for his recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Gluzman will perform the concerto with the TSO and conductor George Hanson on Thursday and Friday, February 11 and 12… Read more »

    Many rabbis tell jokes during their sermons, but Rabbi Bob Alper makes his living primarily as a stand-up comic. And he still conducts High Holiday services at Temple Micah in Philadelphia “so I don’t have to listen to other rabbis preach, because I’m funnier,” he says.  … Read more »