Yearly Archives 2020

In 1945, “Rien où poser sa tête” was quietly published in Geneva, Switzerland. In the memoir, translated as “No Place to Lay One’s Head,” the author tells the story of her escape from the Nazis, how she smuggles herself into Switzerland. She writes about Kristallnacht, the Nazi occupation of… Read more »

Bella Wexler

Editor’s note: The March 8 Connections event has been postponed to the fall due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus. Bella Wexler, a junior at Catalina Foothills High School, will receive the Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award March 8. The Women’s Philanthropy advisory council created the award, which recognizes… Read more »

Harold J. Lisberg died February 14, 2020. Mr. Lisberg was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal for his service as a B24 pilot during World War II. He was predeceased by his wife, Elaine. Survivors include his sons William (Patti) of Minneapolis,… Read more »

Ronald S. David, M.D., 80, died Feb. 10, 2020. Dr. David was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. He obtained his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Stanford University, and after a stint in the Army, went on for specialty training in psychiatry at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center in New… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who drew strong support from Jewish progressives, has dropped her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Multiple media outlets reported Warren’s decision on Thursday in the wake of a disappointing primary campaign in which she failed to win a single state, including… Read more »

Edith Weingarten Fox, a Holocaust survivor who settled in Buffalo, New York, and moved to Tucson in her later years, died Feb. 16, 2020. Mrs. Fox was born in Czechoslovakia and was 13 when World War II started. She survived a Polish ghetto and the Auschwitz and Theresienstadt concentration… Read more »

Adam Hoffman isn’t your average American Jewish teen. The grandchild of Holocaust survivors on his mother’s side, he’s a sixth-generation Texan on his father’s side. An Orthodox native of Houston and graduate of Jewish day schools, Hoffman, 19, is now a freshman at Princeton University in New Jersey. What… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who ran a self-funded campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, dropped out of the race the day after disappointing Super Tuesday results. “I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Like the rest of the world, the Jewish world is reeling as the novel coronavirus spreads. We’ll be tracking the latest developments here. Have an idea or question? Reports of coronavirus in your community? Send us an email. A cluster of cases involves New York… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The American Israel Public Affairs Committee alerted the thousands of activists who attended its conference this week that a New York group in attendance had been in contact with someone who has the virus. “To our knowledge, no one who attended the conference has tested positive… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — For the past three years, Esther Possick and her son have avoided the hassle of hosting Passover at their Long Island home by traveling to kosher hotels in foreign locales. In 2017, they spent the holiday at a resort in Stresa, a resort town on… Read more »

This is an evolving story. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency will provide updates as they become available.   NEW YORK (JTA) — Three Jewish day schools have temporarily closed, while 600 congregants and two university students have been required to self-quarantine as a result of the coronavirus. Here’s what we know… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Two Yeshiva University students are in self-quarantine as a precaution after potential exposure to coronavirus. According to an all campus alert sent by the university on Tuesday, the second confirmed case of coronavirus in New York — a Westchester County attorney in his 50s — … Read more »

(JTA) — James Lipton, who hosted the “Inside the Actors Studio” on the Bravo channel for 23 seasons, has died. He was 93. Lipton interviewed about 275 actors, writers and directors. In the first season alone his guests included Paul Newman, Alec Baldwin, Neil Simon, Sally Field, Dennis Hopper… Read more »

Beaten and abused by her husband, Robina was just 25 when she set herself on fire, preferring death by suicide to the “dishonor” of leaving her spouse. In Iran, a woman considered to be dressed immodestly is forced, screaming, into a police car. In Pakistan, a girl tells her… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump will speak at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference for the second consecutive year. The venue for the March 14 appearance, the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, is owned by Sheldon Adelson, a major benefactor of the RJC and Republican campaigns, including Trump’s.… Read more »

(JTA) — The National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia filed for bankruptcy protection, saying it owes more than $30 million to bondholders. Much of the debt is from the construction of its building on Independence Mall, the museum said in its Chapter 11 filing, the Philadelphia Inquirer… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Election workers in Israel refused to touch the envelopes with special ballots cast by those in home quarantine over possible coronavirus exposure, leaving the counting to senior election officials. Members of the Central Elections Committee, including its director, will count the 4,076 special ballots on Wednesday… Read more »

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Three attackers assaulted a kippah-wearing Jewish man walking on a street in Brazil while yelling anti-Semitic slurs. They held down the 57-year-old victim, broke his teeth and tore his kippah with a pocketknife on Thursday in Jaguariuna, a city of 50,000 located in southeastern… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Most of the votes in Israel have been counted from Monday’s election, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has the most seats in the parliament, gaining four from the balloting in September to regain the top spot. But the right-wing bloc, while also picking up… Read more »