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Meet the 27-year-old female rabbi leading a NY Jewish federation

Rabbi Rachel Rubenstein is trying to engage young families in her role as executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County, New York. (Gail Conklin for the Jewish Federation of GreRabbi Rachel Rubenstein is trying to engage young families in her role as executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County, New York. (Gail Conklin for the Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County)
January 4, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi Rachel Rubenstein knows that in the age of Kickstarter, getting young people to give to a Jewish federation can be a hard sell. “In today’s culture, we can go straight to the GoFundMe, and fund so hyper-specifically what you want to fund,” she told… Read more »

Scott Zorn, former Tucson J camp director, dies at 59
January 4, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor
scott zornScott Zorn

The Tucson Jewish community was stunned by the news that Scott Zorn, 59, died Jan. 1, 2019, in Akron, Ohio, with hundreds of Facebook messages quickly going out to his wife, Julie; children, Haley and Dylan; and in-laws, Tucsonans Kathy and David Unger. Zorn was the director of children,… Read more »

‘Game of Thrones’ creator George R.R. Martin discovers he’s nearly a quarter Jewish on ‘Finding Your Roots’

George R.R. Martin, left, shown with “Finding Your Roots” host Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was shocked by his DNA test. (Courtesy of McGee Media/Ark Media)George R.R. Martin, left, shown with "Finding Your Roots" host Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was shocked by his DNA test. (Courtesy of McGee Media/Ark Media)
January 4, 2019 / Curt Schleier, JTA

(JTA) — PBS’ celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots” has had plenty of Jewish guests — Bernie Sanders, Larry David, Paul Rudd and Scarlett Johansson — and the occasional guest, like Paul Ryan, who learn they have a Jewish ancestor on their family tree. But the season five premiere,… Read more »

In northern Brazil, Sephardic converts are giving dwindling Jewish communities a new lease on life

Many in Brazil have converted to Judaism under the supervision of Gilberto Venturas, an Orthodox rabbi, shown here with his wife, Jacqueline. (Courtesy of Sinagoga sem Froteiras)Many in Brazil have converted to Judaism under the supervision of Gilberto Venturas, an Orthodox rabbi, shown here with his wife, Jacqueline. (Courtesy of Sinagoga sem Froteiras)
January 1, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

RECIFE, Brazil (JTA) — Preparing to leave this city’s main Jewish community center, Sabrina Scherb peeks beyond its blast-proof gate into a quiet street strewn with branches and shredded mango fruits. The debris, left over from an overnight tropical storm, is not what’s worrying Scherb, a 22-year-old university student… Read more »

Genetic study finds widespread Sephardic ancestry in Latin America

An Orthodox Colombian family shown in 2012. A new study revealed “widespread” Sephardic genetic ancestry across Latin American countries. (Paul Smith/For the Washington Post)An Orthodox Colombian family shown in 2012. A new study revealed "widespread" Sephardic genetic ancestry across Latin American countries. (Paul Smith/For the Washington Post)
January 1, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — In a genetic study of 6,589 people from five Latin American countries, about a quarter displayed traces of what may be Sephardic Jewish ancestry. Geneticist Juan-Camilo Chacón-Duque and his colleagues published their findings last week in Nature Communications magazine, in an article titled “Latin Americans show wide-spread… Read more »

How Facebook monitors harmful content: 5 takeaways
January 1, 2019 / Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTA

(JTA) — Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg insists that the massive social network is a force for good, but the company keeps getting called out for being slow or unable to curb the worst tendencies of users and abusers. In the latest probe of its practices, The New York Times… Read more »

Nelly Ben-Or risked all to play the piano. It helped her survive the Holocaust.

Nelly Ben-Or sits by one of her two pianos in her London home, Dec. 13, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)Nelly Ben-Or sits by one of her two pianos in her London home, Dec. 13, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
January 1, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

LONDON (JTA) — Like countless world-class pianists, Nelly Ben-Or began playing piano at the age of 5 and never stopped. That discipline helped Ben-Or, 86, became an international concert pianist and the person most widely recognized for adapting the Alexander technique for posture and movement improvement for musicians. But… Read more »

The story behind Frank Sinatra’s $10,000 yarmulke

Sinatra received the yarmulke at a fundraiser for a Jewish school in New Jersey in 1981. (Courtesy of Pauline Schwartz)Sinatra received the yarmulke at a fundraiser for a Jewish school in New Jersey in 1981. (Courtesy of Pauline Schwartz)
January 1, 2019 / Stephen Silver, JTA

(JTA) — When a huge auction was held at Sotheby’s last month of items belonging to Frank Sinatra and his wife Barbara, the item that made the most headlines was one of the smallest: a hand-knit yarmulke, owned by Frank, which was purchased for nearly $10,000 by an unknown… Read more »

‘Clueless’ creator Amy Heckerling on her Jewish roots and how men have it much easier in the film industry

Amy Heckerling at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, April 18, 2016. (Mike Coppola/Gett)Amy Heckerling at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, April 18, 2016. (Mike Coppola/Gett)
January 1, 2019 / Curt Schleier, JTA

(JTA) — Officially and for the record, despite her Jewish-sounding name, Cher Horowitz is not a member of the tribe. In fact, the Valley Girl heroine of the iconic 1995 film “Clueless” was never intended to be Jewish, says her creator, Amy Heckerling. “I wasn’t thinking in terms of… Read more »

Outside Amsterdam’s Portuguese Synagogue, Spanish olive trees endure northern winters

The olive trees outside of Amsterdam’s Portuguese synagogue get wrapped up every year. They are shown here in February 2018. (Hans Kaljee)The olive trees outside of Amsterdam's Portuguese synagogue get wrapped up every year. They are shown here in February 2018. (Hans Kaljee)
January 1, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Each year at the height of winter, city workers descend on the square opposite Holland’s oldest synagogue and pull gigantic yellow tarps over the canopies of 25 olive trees. The trees, each 250-300 years old, are Amsterdam’s oldest. They were brought here in 2010 from central… Read more »

A millionaire’s plan to rebuild an Alabama Jewish community may be going south

Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith, center, who retired as rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Dothan, Ga., in 2017, speaks on a local interfaith panel in 2014. (Bob Howard/The Village Square/Flickr)Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith, center, who retired as rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Dothan, Ga., in 2017, speaks on a local interfaith panel in 2014. (Bob Howard/The Village Square/Flickr)
January 1, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

(JTA) — Seven years ago, Lisa and Kenny Priddle left New York to help build up the Jewish community of the small Alabama town of Dothan. They were attracted by the idea of shoring up the Jewish community in the South and also by the offer of a $50,000… Read more »

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