Rep. Michael McCaul leaves the Capitol, April 27, 2018. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Michael McCaul wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to know he has his back when it comes to Israel’s demand that Iran leaves Syria for good. “If it’s not good enough for Israel, it’s not good enough for me,” said McCaul, the Texas Republican who… Read more »
Vegetarian Mushroom Moussaka (Linda Pugliese)
(The Nosher via JTA) – Greek Jews are no strangers to moussaka, the rich casserole traditionally made from eggplant and lamb and thickly layered with bechamel. But because kosher laws prohibit the consumption of milk and meat together, Jewish versions of the dish tend to either skip the bechamel… Read more »
A crane works to remove a large chunk of stone dislodged from the Western Wall in Jerusalem at the mixed-gender prayer section, July 25, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The heavy stone that fell out of the Western Wall and came crashing down on a platform set aside for egalitarian prayer has been removed for examination and restoration, but the conversation about the reason for its sudden sky dive — including hints of divine intervention… Read more »
The kids at the St. Louis camp spend most of their time playing soccer or doing arts and crafts. (Courtesy of St. Louis JCRC)
(JTA) — When he signed up to be a counselor at a Jewish-run summer camp for refugee children, Isaac Eastlund expected to confront trauma. Instead, when he would come up to his campers, a couple months or years removed from fleeing Afghanistan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo,… Read more »
Israel's nation-state law prompted liberal criticism, while defenders called it a statement of the obvious. (Photo by May Golan/Flickr; illustration by Charles Dunst/JTA)
(JTA) – On July 19, Israel’s right-wing coalition government passed, by a narrow 62-55 margin, its controversial nation-state law, which declared Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people.” Scores of liberal critics denounced the measure as an unnecessary and racist provocation, while defenders called it a statement of… Read more »
(Chelsea Football Club)
Pitch for Hope competition calls on youth in UK, US, and Israel to propose creative ideas for curbing racism and anti-Semitism in sports NEW YORK — Chelsea Football Club and The World Jewish Congress on July 9 launched the international Pitch for Hope competition, the first stage of a three-pronged joint… Read more »
From an inspiring family reunion to a jaw-dropping “shanda,” the documentary “Three Identical Strangers” offers plot twists and emotional turns that top anything Hollywood has to offer this summer. The New York-area triplets, who discovered by chance in 1980 that they had been placed for adoption with three different… Read more »
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his platform would not remove content denying the Holocaust, but that the content would be less likely to show up in someone’s news feed. The Lawfare Project filed takedown notices this week against Facebook posts denying the Holocaust and containing anti-Semitic material,… Read more »
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, greets his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres in Moscow, 2012. (Office of the President of Russia)
(JTA) — While American politicians and pundits fumed at President Donald Trump’s performance at his much-anticipated meeting last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, lost in the clamor was one small but crucial moment: Israel emerged from Helsinki a winner. Trump said that he and Putin had reached a “really good conclusion” for… Read more »
Richard Spencer at a press conference at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, Oct. 19, 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — On Sunday, Aug. 12, Unite the Right, the agglomeration of far-right groups that organized the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, rally last year, hopes to meet there again on its anniversary. Likely missing from the 2018 rally, if courts allow it to take place: armed individuals and groups, by… Read more »
Food critic Jonathan Gold on a SiriusXM show in Los Angeles, May 3, 2018. (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Jonathan Gold was more than a food writer. Every obituary will tell you that, and so would he. “Food is a way to look at the world,” he told me once. “I mean, everybody eats.” Gold, who died July 21 at the age of 57 from… Read more »
Editor’s note: The dates for the classes at Miller-Golf Links Library have been changed to Aug. 2, 9, and 16. Temple Emanu-El is heading into its 19th year of holding free Taste of Judaism classes. Taste of Judaism is a three-class introduction to the basics of Jewish spirituality, values,… Read more »
Benzion Shemtov Many times we wonder: What is happening with the tranquility of this world? Where has it gone? Do peace and harmony reside in the spiritual realms while our world is destined to live with hardships and troubles? The fifth Chabad Rebbe lived in the early 1900s. One of his… Read more »
PJ Library invites kids up to age 8 to join the “Dive into Reading This Summer” program, which runs through July 31. Kids need to read nine books and complete nine activities from the PJ Library calendar, such as “eat some challah” and “compliment someone.” Print a calendar at… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is holding drives for school and toiletry supplies through Aug. 31 as part of “Making a Difference Every Day: The Homer Davis Project,” benefiting students at Homer Davis Elementary School in the Flowing Wells School District. The school supply wish list includes facial… Read more »
Yellowstone National Park, June 2018.
The drive from Bozeman, Montana to Yellowstone National Park is literally through Paradise — Paradise Valley, that is. The Absaroka Mountain Range rises nearly 6,000 feet above the Yellowstone River as it weaves its way through Montana and Wyoming for over 670 miles. The sky is a deep blue… Read more »
Neev Eden at his bar mitzvah on June 28 in Israel.
According to Jewish law, children are not obligated to observe the Torah’s commandments until they reach the “age of accountability.” At the age of 13, a boy will study with a mentor and then participate in a service where he reads from the Torah in Hebrew and delivers a… Read more »
Dorothy “Dotte” Sayre, 90, died June 30, 2018. Mrs. Sayre was born and raised in Chicago. She attended the National College of Education and taught pre-K and kindergarten. She and her husband, Julian, moved to Tucson in 1959. Mrs. Sayre was an active volunteer in the Tucson Jewish community,… Read more »
Eugene “Gene” J. Hameroff, 96, died June 24, 2018. Mr. Hameroff was born to immigrant parents, Abraham and Sarah Hameroff, in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon graduating from Ohio State University, he married Terri, and began working in advertising. He opened his own advertising agency in 1955 and grew it into… Read more »
ALLEN D. EL, a rising senior at The Gregory School, was chosen from among 250 people to serve as one of two American Legion of Arizona Boys State primary delegates to American Legion Boys Nation in Washington, D.C., later this month. In D.C., acting as Boys Nation senators, the… Read more »
