Yearly Archives 2017

  (JTA) — Two days after delegates from more than 70 nations attended the Paris summit on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is clear that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was wrong to label the meeting “useless.” Admittedly the France-initiated event, which neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority attended, did… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Fraught record on issues of race and anti-Semitism? Check. Much-hyped meeting to get Benjamin Netanyahu’s hechsher? Check. Stirring speech at AIPAC to quiet the naysayers? Check. Jewish validators galore? Check. Administration top-loaded with Jewish staffers? Check. Welcome to Inauguration Day 2009. President-elect Barack Obama walked into… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Rabbi Marvin Hier has known Charles and Seryl Kushner — Jared Kushner’s parents and Donald Trump’s in-laws — for decades. The Hiers and the Kushners have gone to the same kosher for Passover resort, the Arizona Biltmore, over the years. The Kushner family, prominent real estate… Read more »

  OSWIECIM, Poland (JTA) — Long before he moved here to become the spokesman for the Auschwitz museum and lead its social media effort, Pawel Sawicki’s life was intricately connected to this sleepy town near Krakow. A Warsaw-area radio journalist, Sawicki used to visit Oswiecim as a boy on… Read more »

Lawrence Grossman (Courtesy of American Jewish Committee)

(JTA) — Foreign ministers of some 70 nations are expected to meet in Paris on Jan. 15, five days before the American presidential inauguration, for an international conference that is being advertised as dealing with the Middle East. No, this high-level gathering will not address the major crises bedeviling the… Read more »

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, current and former foreign ministry officials said Thursday that Sunday’s “peace” conference in Paris would do little but demonize Israel and push off the possibility of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu called the conference “rigged by the Palestinians under… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Many Israelis feel alienated by the marriage process in their country, fed up with the bureaucracy and strict religious requirements. Some seek to reform the haredi Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate while creating alternatives to its monopoly on marriage and other personal status issues in Israel. But haredi Rabbi Yisroel Meir… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Barack Obama got his kishkes back. The president, whose alleged aloofness was the signature flaw cited by his rivals, his critics and at times his friends, ended his presidency with an impassioned appeal for the preservation of democracy — his lower lip trembling, a tear streaking his… Read more »

(JTA) — Is terrorism softening European attitudes toward Israel? When a Palestinian terrorist used a car to ram and kill an Israeli soldier in eastern Jerusalem in 2014, the European Union urged “restraint” and, without condemning the attack, called it merely “further painful evidence of the need to undertake… Read more »

David Posner (Courtesy of JCC Association)

(JTA) — A bomb threat is never an inconsequential thing. But 16 in one day is inconceivable – at least it was until Monday. That’s when 16 Jewish community centers in nine states received calls threatening a bomb on site. While the bombs turned out to be hoaxes, the calls themselves were not. They were… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Before the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit organized local doctors to provide free care to Jews who lacked health insurance. The Detroit agency closed the doctors’ program after enactment of the health care law, also known… Read more »

Rabbi Marc Schneier (Courtesy of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding)

  (JTA) — As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., American Jews should reflect anew upon the epic struggle he led to free African-Americans from the shackles of bigotry and take pride in the singular role played by the Jewish community in support of King and… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — The FBI and Department of Homeland Security will be assisting local Jewish community centers in bolstering security after 16 JCCs received bomb threats on the same day. On Wednesday, officials from the FBI and Homeland Security will conduct a conference call with U.S. Jewish… Read more »

(JTA) — Jared Kushner, the Orthodox Jewish son-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump, will be named senior adviser to the president, Trump transition officials reportedly have confirmed. The official announcement is expected as early as Tuesday, The New York Times and several other major news outlets reported Monday. Citing people close… Read more »

(JTA) — The morning of her conversion, Diana Sewell was so nervous she “was running around like a headless chicken” in her Australia home. Meanwhile, some 9,000 miles away in Georgia, her rabbi was dealing with computer difficulties. Neither of those things put a stop to Sewell fulfilling a 60-something-year-old… Read more »

PLUM WINDOWS AND DOORS, owned by DESIREE WILLIAMS, in collaboration with HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, recently presented full replacement windows and a new patio door to Irma Bush, a longstanding Habitat for Humanity volunteer and beneficiary. Habitat for Humanity Tucson, in addition to building new homes for those who qualify,… Read more »

Songwriter MICHAEL COOPER, a native of Nogales, Ariz., recently had musical theater productions performed in New York, London and Paris. In October, the National Alliance of Musical Theatre showcased selections from his musicals “Luna Park,” “Sunfish” and “Love Always” in its Songwriter’s Cabaret series. “Luna Park” was one of… Read more »

Jessica Maia Frankenberg, daughter of Viviana and Nathan Frankenberg will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Jan. 21 at Congregation Bet Shalom. She is the granddaughter of Teresa and the late Henry Frankenberg of East Meadow, N.Y., and Arnoldo and the late Rosa Waysburt of Asuncion, Paraguay. Jessica attends… Read more »

L-R: Or Chadash sixth graders David Berk, Gabby Marsh (visitor), Talya Fleisher, Emma Ruben, Lily Goldberg, Jessica Witchey, Ethan Silvyn, Riley Silvyn. Center: Ava Silverman

Or Chadash Mitzvah Fair  On Sunday, Dec. 11, the sixth grade students at Congregation Or Chadash held the 10th annual Mitzvah Fair, which allows students to learn about and in turn help teach the concept of tzedakah (charity) in our community, says Rina Liebeskind, Or Chadash education director. The… Read more »

Alfred Irving Paley, 89, died Dec. 24, 2016. Born in Monticello, N.Y., Mr. Paley was a U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II. He graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn) with a degree in electrical engineering. He spent his… Read more »