Protestors rally Sept. 9 on Capitol Hill in support of possible U.S. military action in Syria. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Pro-Israel officials rolled their eyes this week in response to the opposing spins about their support for President Barack Obama’s drive to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for his purported use of chemical weapons against his own people. Some suggested that once again, the tail was… Read more »
DERBENT, Russia (JTA) — Accustomed to the sound of gunfire at night, neighbors of Rabbi Ovadia Isakov were not particularly startled when a shot rang out on Pushkin Street on July 25. But unlike the volleys that partygoers often fire heavenward in this lawless corner of the Russian Caucasus,… Read more »
Nate Freiman, a rookie first baseman for the Oakland Athletics, is trying to help his team make the playoffs. (Hille Kuttler) BALTIMORE (JTA) – Last September, first baseman Nate Freiman was doing his best to help Israel secure a spot in the World Baseball Classic. Despite some super hitting from the towering slugger, the team fell short. Fast forward a year. Freiman, 25, now finds himself in another playoff chase.… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — For years, Rina Deych was treated like she was crazy. Fighting the Yom Kippur ritual of kapparot, she was told things had always been this way and if she kept up the battle, she would only incite anti-Semitism. Year after year, people would kindly suggest… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta, let’s begin by stating for the record: No, the Leo Frank case was not the impetus for the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. It is true that the organization, now… Read more »
“A good village, built of stone, containing about 300 Arabs and 100 Druze, situated on hill-top, with gardens and extensive vineyards.” This is how two lieutenants of the British Army, Claude Conder and Herbert Kitchener, described Beit Jann in their “Survey of Western Palestine” (1881). Today, this village in… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — Nine months ago, Natalia Demidova crouched on the second floor of her Staten Island home and watched her neighbor’s SUV race a 10-foot wave down the street. The wave crashed through Demidova’s quiet residential block in the South Beach neighborhood and flooded her home with… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Manya Monson was laid off in 2010, she knew she wouldn’t receive unemployment benefits, but she figured she could manage. Then a few weeks later she found out she was pregnant. “It made things very tough at that point,” Monson said. Had she been… Read more »
Maksim Kats, shown in Moscow in 2012, says the campaign of Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny is about making big changes in the political life of Russia. (Maksim Kats) MOSCOW (JTA) — On the rooftop of a Soviet-era apartment block, a young man straps into climbing gear and rappels down the side as a small gathering of city workers and police officers watch from below. On the way down, the climber stops at a balcony and tears loose… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — Sukkot is a wonderful time of year to incorporate seasonal ingredients into your cooking. One of my most important rules for cooking and eating is to use what is best and freshest in the market — fish, vegetables, fruit and meat. The better your ingredients,… Read more »
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In open opposition to Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), which tells us on Sukkot “there is nothing new under the sun,” I decided to build a solar sukkah this fall. To energize my plan, I went to the 99 Cent Store to buy some solar yard lights to… Read more »
Ethiopian Jews kiss the ground upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport as part of Operation Wings of Dove, which ended the Ethiopian immigration to Israel, Aug. 28, 2013. (Miriam Alster/Flash 90/JTA) LOD, Israel (JTA) — The airplane landed on the tarmac, “Ethiopia” emblazoned in red on its side. A few government officials trickled down the airplane’s steps. They were followed by groups of Ethiopian Jews descending to the runway, some falling to their knees and kissing the ground. Inside the… Read more »
KRASNAIYA SLOBODA, Azerbaijan (JTA) — Even at 70, Yedidia Yehuda can negotiate a narrow mountain path in northern Azerbaijan with a confidence easily mistaken for carelessness. “You take care not to fall yourself and don’t worry about me,” he tells a visitor following him toward a small town on… Read more »
President Barack Obama speaking at the White House with members of Congress about the situation in Syria, Sept. 3, 2013. (Photo by Dennis Brack/Getty Images/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jewish groups backing President Obama’s call to strike Syria militarily are citing moral outrage and U.S. national security as primary considerations, but concern for Israel — however muted — also looms large in their thinking. A lingering sensitivity over misrepresentations of the role of the pro-Israel… Read more »
Ruth Messinger NEW YORK (JTA) — Each year when I sit in synagogue during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I’m struck by the complex stories we read about biblical women and by the wisdom these stories offer about ensuring the dignity of women and girls today. The past year was one… Read more »
Israelis flocking to a southern Tel Aviv post office to receive free gas masks -- a scene being played out throughout Israel amid fears of an attack by Syria. (Ben Sales) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Daniela Hayoum arrived at a Tel Aviv post office at 7 a.m. and took a number. The line of people waiting for gas masks was long and Hayoum stepped away to run errands. She returned in the afternoon to find hundreds of Israelis crowding under… Read more »
"Free Spirit: Growing Up On the Road and Off the Grid" (Hyperion Books) OAKLAND, Calif. (JTA) — I know now that my family tree is adorned with rabbis and Hebrew novelists, Yiddish auctioneers and shtetl folk healers. But as a kid, I didn’t know a thing about it. I didn’t even know I was Jewish. My mother, Claudia, pulled up her roots… Read more »
Rosh Hashanah is traditionally a time for rabbis to weigh in about the Jewish and American issues closest to their heart — and many also devote one of their High Holiday sermons to Israel. It’s an opportunity to speak to a sanctuary packed full of people, most of whom… Read more »
There’s a funny thing about anniversaries — just as we look back with nostalgia on the way things were, too, do we inevitably reflect on how things have changed in the intervening years. So it is as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs… Read more »
David Harris-Gershon in his forthcoming memoir "What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?" shares his psychological journey following the 2002 Jerusalem terrorist attack that severely injured his wife. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) NEW YORK (JTA) — David Harris-Gershon, author of the forthcoming memoir “What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?,” is frank about the contradictions in his personality. An admitted “natural introvert,” Harris-Gershon describes himself as “surprisingly good” at public speaking. In 2013,… Read more »
