Alexis Sokoloff holds the Torah at her Bat Mitzvah ceremony (Courtesy Gwen Sokolof) Fourteen-year-old Alexis Sokoloff smiles as she recalls her Bat Mitzvah on June 9. “I wasn’t nervous at all,” she told the AJP. “I really love learning Hebrew.” Sokoloff was born with Down syndrome, but with the support of her parents, Gwen and Mitchell Sokoloff, and her younger sister, Rebecka,… Read more »
The Tucsonans on the first Birthright Israel trip sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona had heard rave reviews from friends who’d been on one of Birthright’s free, 10-day trips to Israel — and they were at least a bit skeptical. But this group came back believers. “Everyone… Read more »
(L-R) Tucsonans Donna Moser, Audrey Brooks, Marlyne Freedman and Deanna Evenchik at the Birthright Israel Mega Event at Haifa Naval Base July 12 The faces of our grandparents are with me in early July as I leave for the Jewish Federations of North America Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission to Odessa and Israel with my sister, Donna Moser. Grandpa Nathan and Grandma Sadie came to the United States in 1899 from Odessa;… Read more »
Suzi Hileman Jared Lee Loughner will spend life in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to 19 charges stemming from the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded 13, including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. “Thank God that he pled guilty and there won’t be a trial,” said… Read more »
Sheldon Adelson's backing of Republican candidates and pro-Israel causes have garnered widespread media attention this campaign. (Oliver Fitoussi/Flash90/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Call it the Adelson conundrum: What happens when the guy who acts as if he owns the room really does? In March at TribeFest, the annual gathering of young adults organized by the Jewish Federations of North America at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, Sheldon… Read more »
(Jewish Ideas Daily) — This week, the Deferral of Military Service for Yeshiva Students Law, better known as the Tal Law, expires. This law is the latest enactment of the so-called “status quo arrangement,” which frames the uneasy relationship between Israel’s Haredi and secular populations. As such, the expiration… Read more »
A candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., Aug. 6, 2012. (Courtesy of Overpass Light Brigade) (JTA) – Almost as soon as she heard the news about a deadly shooting at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee, Elana Kahn-Oren’s phone started ringing. As director of the Jewish Community Relations Council at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Kahn-Oren fielded call after call from concerned area Jews asking what… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. State Department’s report on religious freedom described a “global increase” in anti-Semitism and said the “rising tide of anti-Semitism” was among the key trends of last year. The executive summary of the report for 2011, released July 30, also detailed the “impact of political… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Seven years on, many Jews still have lingering questions about the addition to the pro-Israel lobbying scene of Christians United for Israel, the project of evangelical leader the Rev. John Hagee. Hagee believes he has a biblical mandate to press on and is undeterred. “As Isaiah… Read more »
State Treasurer Josh Mandel , a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, ias shown during his service as a Marine in Iraq. (Citizens for Josh Mandel) WASHINGTON (JTA) — A flood of money brought in by prominent national political action committees has become the norm in this year’s U.S. Senate race in Ohio, which pits first-term incumbent Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, against Republican Josh Mandel, the state treasurer and a Jewish Iraq war veteran. Because… Read more »
Mitchell Flint standing in front of his P51 Mustang fighter plane in Israel in 1948. (Courtesy Tom Tugend) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — After a 64-year detour, Mitchell Flint, a former fighter pilot for the United States and Israel, has finally landed for the London Olympic Games. In the summer of 1948, Flint, with a four-year wartime stint as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot in the Pacific under… Read more »
More than 90,000 people packed MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the Siyum HaShas, celebrating the completion of the Daf Yomi page-a-day Talmud study cycle, Aug. 1, 2012. (Yisroel Golding/Siyumphotos) EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (JTA) – As a light drizzle tapered off over MetLife Stadium, more than 90,000 Jews packed into the home of the NFL’s Jets and Giants for an event quite unlike any the popular sports and concert venue had ever seen. They came dressed in black and… Read more »
LONDON (JTA) — Was the only Israeli on the International Olympic Committee instrumental in stopping a tribute to the Munich 11 at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Games? In the past few weeks, a war of words has erupted between the official, Alex Gilady, and the families… Read more »
Left to right, Ed Hofland, David Rosenblatt and Yosef Abramowitz, co-founders of the Arava Power Company. (Courtesy Arava Power Company) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Yosef Abramowitz is running out of time. With only minutes to go until he has to speak to a group of donors at the Jewish National Fund, Abramowitz looks like he just finished a workout. He’s wearing sneakers, shorts and a white T-shirt featuring an… Read more »
Some Jewish leaders accused Rep. Michele Bachman, left, for launching a "witch hunt" following her allegations that Huma Abedin had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) – Rep. Michele Bachmann has incurred the wrath of leading Jewish groups and some Republican leaders, even though she may be one of Israel’s staunchest defenders in Congress and one of its best-known Republicans. The reaction was spurred by the Minnesota congresswoman’s call for an inquiry into… Read more »
Alexandra "Aly" Raisman performing a leap on the balance beam at the 2010 World Championships. (John Cheng) (JTA) — Aly Raisman, a Jewish American, won the floor exercise in helping the U.S. women’s team to the gold medal in the gymnastics competition at the London Olympics. The Americans on Tuesday won their first team gold medal in women’s gymnastics since the Atlanta Games in 1996, finishing… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) – It was a weekend of Israel love politically that highlighted two approaches to showing affection for the Jewish state: Go to Israel, as Mitt Romney did, or go pro-Israel, as the Obama administration did. The pictures told the story, or as it were, stories: Romney in… Read more »
Sprinter Steven Solomon, the only Jewish member of the Australian Olympic team, playing for the Australian junior soccer team at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel. (Peter Haskin) SYDNEY (JTA) — Moments after Steven Solomon walked into Ramat Gan Stadium for the opening of the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel, the Australian teenager sent his parents a photo with a message describing how amazing it was to be at his first “Jewish Olympics.” On July 27, Solomon,… Read more »
Leslie Lyndon, former cantor of the Masorti New North London Synagogue, carrying the Olympic torch in London, July 25, 2012. (Ian Ellis) LONDON (JTA) — For Leslie Lyndon and the London Jewish community, it was a minor miracle. When Lyndon carried the Olympic torch through a north London neighborhood last week, it was more than representative of how Jewish Londoners have embraced the Olympic spirit. This was five years since Lyndon,… Read more »
Danny Danon, chairman of World Likud and deputy speaker of the Knesset, owes his rapid political rise in part to his unapologetic Israeli nationalism. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90/JTA) JERUSALEM (JTA) – If there’s one thing Danny Danon doesn’t do, it’s shy away from controversy. Danon, a deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset and chairman of World Likud, has come under fire for describing African migrants in Israel as a “national plague,” for hosting controversial U.S. TV personality… Read more »
