Posts By Jigsaw Digital

(Jewish Ideas Daily) — Although the Jewish encounter with modernity emerged out of a complex interplay of social, economic, and intellectual currents, Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86) is acknowledged as its godfather. The small-town Jewish boy who became a leading Enlightenment philosopher in Berlin not only embodied the synthesis of observant… Read more »

AVENTURA, Fla. (JTA) — Anyone committed to financial support of Jewish causes likely has grappled with the questions of where to give, what to give, how to give and, of course, why to give. As the end of the year approaches and organizations seek those last of our 2012… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA)  — Those who view American-Israeli relations through a dualistic “are you pro-Israel or anti-Israel” lens must be confused. In one week, the United States stands virtually alone with Israel against the Palestinians’ upgrade of their status at the United Nations, then immediately condemns Israel’s settlement expansion. Similarly,… Read more »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Jerusalem, Aug. 1, 2012. In 2013, Netanyahu will have to deal with a new U.S. defense secretary on sensitive issues like Iran. Some pro-Israel officials have objected to the rumored top pick, Chuck Hagel. (U.S. Embassy, Tel Aviv)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Will we fall of the fiscal cliff? Plunge into war with Iran? Dive into contentious confirmation battles? One thing’s for certain: There will be plenty of action in Washington that the Jewish community will be watching closely over 2013. Here are some likely focal points: Fiscal… Read more »

A political ad for the Shas party portrays the secular Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party and until recently Israel's foreign minister, as an Orthodox Jew. "Only a strong Shas will prevent assimilation," the ad says. (Ben Sales)

HAIFA (JTA) — The debate was not televised. The participants did not sit on a stage in front of an auditorium under bright lights. Nor were Israel’s major candidates present. Instead, five representatives of Israeli political parties sat at a folding table in a classroom of perhaps 100 students… Read more »

Sen. John Kerry, pictured here addressing troops in Afghanistan in 2011, was nominated for U.S. secretary of state on Dec. 21, 2012. (U.S. Embassy, Kabul, Afghanistan)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — On a wintry day at a small Iowa shul in November of 2003, John Kerry got all verklempt. The man whose opponents had taken to depicting as aloof and patrician, whose campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination had been all but written off by that… Read more »

RAANANA, Israel (JTA) — From the outside, it looks like any other warehouse: imposing, gray and rectangular, with trucks idling outside and hundreds of crates stacked in the driveway. Inside, the largely empty main room, however, is a vegetable sorting machine and several large boxes of produce: carrots, pomelos… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It has become something of a White House Chanukah tradition. For the second time, the Obama White House used a menorah from a hurricane-hit region to mark the holiday. This Chanukah, Rabbi David Bauman brought to the White House one of two 90-year-old menorahs that survived… Read more »

Cranes at the Hula Valley in late autumn. (Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency)

Some of the lesser known ‘tourists’ that visit Israel by the millions each year, are the 300 species of birds, which use Israel as a rest-stop as they migrate en route from Africa, Asia and Europe. For international bird watchers attending the Second International Hula Valley Bird Festival in… Read more »

Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis will serve as Britain's next chief rabbi. (John Rifkin)

LONDON (JTA) — Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has big shoes to fill. Appointed this week as the 11th British chief rabbi, he will succeed Jonathan Sacks, an internationally renowned author and public intellectual who speaks frequently on moral, philosophical and theological affairs. The widespread assumption among British Jews has long… Read more »

Brighton, UK – During the violence between Gaza and Southern Israel last month, I was shocked that some of my friends were posting images on Facebook that supported the disproportionate force Israel used against Gazans. When I asked why, they all believed that Palestinians wanted to wipe out Israel.… Read more »

Sen. Chuck Hagel introduces Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey at the Forum on the Law of the Sea Convention in Washington, D.C., May 9, 2012. (Glenn Fawcett/DoD Photo)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The expected nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel as the next defense secretary has sparked an outcry from segments of the pro-Israel community. Media reports in recent days have said that Hagel, a Republican who represented Nebraska from 1997-2009 in the U.S. Senate, is President Obama’s… Read more »

President Obama talks on the phone with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas aboard Air Force One, July 9, 2010. (Pete Souza/White House).

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Is history about to repeat itself? President Obama’s first three years in office saw some serious tussling with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the peace process and settlements. Now, with Obama beginning his second term and Netanyahu looking pretty certain to win next month’s Israeli… Read more »

President Obama attends the Sandy Hook interfaith vigil at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 16, 2012. ((Pete Souza/White House)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In the wake of the shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., Jewish groups are looking to build alliances and back legislation to strengthen gun control laws. Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said that his group is assembling a coalition… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Like many other mothers, Patti Weiss Levy’s heart broke when she heard about last Friday’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The longtime Connecticut resident lives an hour away from Newtown, so she assumed she wouldn’t know anyone involved. But as details… Read more »

Noah Pozner, 6, was among the child victims of the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that claimed six adults.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (JTA) — It was a eulogy for a life that had only just begun. Veronique Pozner remembered her son Noah as a rambunctious, video-game loving “little man,” a boy with a perpetual smile and twinkly blue eyes who dreamed of becoming a doctor, a soldier and manager… Read more »

The Silverman family's kindness yard at night in Winterhaven (Gila Silverman)

I live in a neighborhood known for its Christmas festival. Several years ago, I wrote an essay for this paper, describing our decision to build a giant dreidel for the festival, and reflecting on the experience of living here. That essay ended with this thought: Sometimes a giant dreidel… Read more »

This is the speech President Barack Obama should have given in the wake of the mass shooting on Friday morning at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. The shooter killed 28 people, 20 of them children between the ages of 5 and 10. This speech begins the same way… Read more »

(Jewish Ideas Daily) — Hamas was quick to declare victory in the latest conflict with Israel. A closer look at the price it paid in terms of personnel and equipment shows that its bravado was false. But the fact that Israel was able to destroy so many installations, weapons teams, smuggling… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — With public acceptance of same-sex marriage growing, liberal Jewish groups are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down the Defense of Marriage Act that they have long opposed. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases related to same-sex marriage: an appeal of a… Read more »