Yearly Archives 2013

If the Great Jewish Novel is lurking inside you but you can’t get it out (or get it published), there are people who want to help. Now is the time to end the procrastination and excuses — and banish your Jewish writer’s block. The first and best stop is… Read more »

Samantha Orzech in ‘The Laramie Project’ at Pima Community College (Courtesy Pima Community College Center for the Arts)

Pima Community College Theatre Arts will present “The Laramie Project” by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theatre Project, directed by Nancy Davis Booth, Nov. 14-24. In 1998 University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, who was gay, was kidnapped, beaten and left to die tied to a fence… Read more »

Handmaker Youth Leadership Team will participate in two community service projects with residents at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, this month and next. On Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m., youth participants and residents will pack care packages for clients of Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network. A speaker will… Read more »

Karnit Flug was named successor to Stanley Fischer, right, as governor of the Bank of Israel. (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)

JAFFA, Israel (JTA) — Andromeda Hill is a beachfront complex of luxury apartments connected by tree-lined pathways that features such amenities as a spa and business center. Five minutes down the road is Ajami, a low-income neighborhood profiled in the 2009 film of the same name that remains one… Read more »

Nathan Lewin, left, and his daughter Alyza created headaches for major Jewish groups by persevering with a so-far unsuccessful lawsuit to get the State Department to recognize Jerusalem-born Americans as born in Israel. (Washington Week)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — On Sept. 27, the conservative political blogger Ken Berwitz was enraged — not by Democratic malfeasance, his favored bugbear, but by the policies of an Oklahoma-based chain of craft stores. Berwitz was bothered not only that Hobby Lobby was keeping Hanukkah tchotchkes off its shelves, but that… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Susan Katz Miller’s Episcopalian mother and Jewish father married in the 1960s, they did exactly what most religious leaders advised intermarried couples to do: They chose one religion and stuck to it. Katz Miller’s mother put her religious tradition aside, learning to make matzah… Read more »

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. BALTIMORE (JTA) — For Carla Greenspan, the news was upsetting: A relative by marriage of the man who saved her mother’s life during the Holocaust was spurning an award from Yad Vashem. “It’s a sad legacy for… Read more »

HARTFORD, Conn. (JTA) — My wife stared at me as if I were from another planet. “What do you mean you don’t know if you can come to my cousin’s wedding?” she demanded indignantly. She hadn’t seen her relatives in years and was looking forward to a weekend getaway… Read more »

KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — The explosion that ripped through Vadim Rabinovich’s luxury SUV in central Kiev was strong enough to send a shock wave from the parking lot up to his third-floor office in the heart of the Ukrainian capital. “It was a shock for a day or two,”… Read more »

This month in Geneva, at the first negotiations over its nuclear program since the election of President Hassan Rouhani, Iran took an unprecedented step: It negotiated. For the first time, Tehran presented an actual vision of the endgame for the talks with six world powers, and how to get… Read more »

Raymond-Raoul Lambert, seen in his Strasbourg office in the 1930s, founded the Committee for Assistance to Refugees. (Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum)

(JTA) — His hearing isn’t what it used to be, but Georges Loinger still remembers Adolf Hitler’s voice emanating from the radio at his Strasbourg home. Growing up in the heavily Germanic Alsace region of eastern France, Loinger and his family tuned in regularly to broadcasts of Hitler’s speeches.… Read more »

Jerry Silverman, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, at the 2012 General Assembly in Baltimore, Md. (JFNA)

NEW YORK (JTA) – This time, it’s not going to be just talking. There’s going to be listening and debating — and, eventually, action. That’s what Jerry Silverman, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, says will distinguish this year’s General Assembly, which is slated for Nov. 10-12… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — It looks like a futuristic salon hair dryer. Connected to a computer by a bright orange strip, the half-cube with rounded corners sits comfortably atop the head, a coil of wires resting on the skull. As a doctor stands at the computer, the patient gets comfortable.… Read more »

Torah Day School, an Orthodox school in Phoenix, is located in a Conservative synagogue, Beth El Congregation. (Courtesy Torah Day School)

(JTA) — Marla Topp of Temple Judea Mizpah in Skokie, Ill., doesn’t need survey data to tell her that Reform Judaism is in decline and Orthodox Judaism is growing. She has to look no further than her own synagogue. A couple of months ago, the temple began renting out… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Bernard Madoff. An unscrupulous contractor. Art that disappeared or was destroyed by fire — it’s not clear which. Bad, bad bookkeepers. And did we mention Bernard Madoff? These were among the causes of “material diversion” of assets — tax-speak for lost funds or property totaling $250,000… Read more »

Israelis demonstrating against the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, Oct. 28, 2013. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s peace talks with the Palestinians remain mostly shrouded in secrecy, but one thing is certain: The Palestinian prisoner release that paved the way for their resumption is increasing tensions in Israel’s governing coalition. Israel completed the second stage of the four-part release on Tuesday, setting… Read more »

Nov. 4-8, 2013, BBYO teens will lead peers worldwide in Speak UP Week, an international initiative that explores Israel education, awareness and advocacy through formal, informal and experiential lenses. Leading up to Speak UP Week, BBYO invites the Jewish community to share their personal connections to Israel through a… Read more »

Barbara K. Shore, Ph.D., 92, died Oct. 23, 2013. Raised in Pittsburgh, Dr. Shore earned a BS in social work at Carnegie Tech (now CMU), graduating summa cum laude, and an MS in social work from the University of Pittsburgh. She married Jack Shore in 1942 and they left… Read more »

Rabbi Sergio Bergman campaigning for the PRO party, which came in first in Argentine elections Sunday.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — When he takes the oath of office in December as a new member of Argentina’s lower house of parliament, Rabbi Sergio Bergman will eschew the Christian Bible used by other legislators in favor of the Five Books of Moses. Bergman, whose PRO party won 34.5… Read more »

(Jenni Steinberg Pagano)

Want an interesting home that doesn’t look like you called a catalog company and ordered one of everything? Shop thrift stores! You can find very high-end items for low-end prices. You can make your house look like you’ve been all over the world or have inherited the collections of… Read more »