Rochelle Shoretz was the founder and executive director of Sharsheret. (Courtesy of Sharsheret)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Rochelle Shoretz was fond of saying, “There are no problems, only solutions.” Her approach to life was not to dwell on bad news, but to channel the energy that friends described as boundless into somehow making things better. It’s what drove her to establish the… Read more »
(L-R): Kalman Shor, Gittie Shor, Moshe Shor, Ariella Youdelman, Frank Youdelman, Donna Youdelman (Lorraine DarConte)
Ariella Youdelman, daughter of Donna and Frank Youdelman of Tucson, and Moshe Shor, son of Gittie and Kalman Shor of Las Vegas, were married Sept. 7, 2014 at Reflections at the Buttes in Oro Valley with Cantor Avraham Alpert of Congregation Bet Shalom and Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz officiating. Ariella… Read more »
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, rabbi of the Jewish settlement of Efrat conducts the Pidyon HaBen ceremony for a 30-day-old first born son in Efrat, West Bank, May 25, 2015. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — There’s no shortage of Israelis who want to reform the office of the Chief Rabbinate. Ranging from advocates of religion-state separation to leaders of Israel’s non-Orthodox movements to newspaper columnists, some want to end the Rabbinate’s monopoly over the country’s religious services; others want to dissolve… Read more »
Rabbi Joseph Radinsky, rabbi emeritus of United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston, was among those who had to be rescued from their homes by watercraft after Houston was hit with heavy flooding, May 26, 2015. (Robert Levy)
(JTA) – Two synagogues and the homes of countless Jewish residents were damaged in the floods that swept through Houston on Monday and into Tuesday, inundating homes and businesses, sweeping away cars and leaving at least five people dead. Houston, America’s fourth-largest city and home to more than 40,000 Jews, was paralyzed… Read more »
Lillian Fisher
Editor’s note: Lillian Fisher died June 7, 2015 due to complications from congestive heart failure, less than two weeks after this article was published. The Honorable Lillian Fisher will be 94 on June 18. A retired Pima County Superior Court judge, she received the University of Arizona College of… Read more »
At an impromptu Passover seder in Nepal, ginger chutney took the place of horseradish and traditional flat chappati bread was a substitute for matzah.
In April, I spent three weeks in Nepal as a volunteer for Elephant Aid International. Life for captive Asian elephants is a miserable existence of slavery, including painful iron chains around their legs. In cooperation with the government of Nepal, EAI and volunteers from all over the world built… Read more »
The Rosh Hashanah-inspired pomegranate tallit Beth Surdut created for Rabbi Malka Drucker of Santa Fe, N.M., includes a quote from Psalm 96.
From Providence, R.I., to Santa Fe, N.M., to Tucson, with many stops in between, tallit maker Beth Surdut has always been an artist. Her approach to Judaism is as expansive as her art, always growing and changing. “Being brought up Jewish you’re brought up to have an inquiring mind,”… Read more »
As a teenager in Baltimore, Nechama Sonenthal had to grow up fast after her older sister fell into a coma and later needed life-saving brain surgery. That didn’t stop Sonenthal from serving her community while in high school and then traveling to Israel to train with first responders in… Read more »
Israelis lit candles in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square on July 6, 2014 to mourn the death of three teenagers who were abducted and murdered in the West Bank. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
This piece was written by Iris and Ori Ifrach, Rachelli and Avi Fraenkel, and Bat-Galim and Ofer Shaer, the parents of Eyal Ifrach, Gil-ad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel. (JTA) — One year ago, our families were thrust into a nightmare beyond anything we could have ever imagined. Our sons,… Read more »
The relationship between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen here after Obama's arrival in Israel on March 20, 2013, is improving. (Pete Souza/White House)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Two months after questions about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s commitment to a two-state solution threatened to upend the U.S.-Israel relationship, tensions have abated, but not because peace with the Palestinians is any nearer. There has been no more talk recently from President Barack Obama’s White House about “reevaluating”… Read more »
Eyal Fruchter
What’s the best question to ask a person after a traumatic event? Hint: It’s not, “How do you feel?” Instead, ask “What do you want to do?” or “How did you react?” says Eyal Fruchter, M.D., former head of psychiatry for the Israel Defense Forces. Recounting feelings may get… Read more »
A still from "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey" showing children smiling through barbed wire as Allied troops approach, April 1945. (Imperial War Museum)
NEW YORK (JTA) — “This was a woman,” the narrator explains, as the camera pans over a figure so emaciated and burnt that it’s barely recognizable as human. It’s one of the more arresting scenes in “German Concentration Camps Factual Survey,” a highly unusual Holocaust documentary shot and scripted 70 years ago,… Read more »
Adas Israel Congregation’s Rabbi Gil Steinlauf greets President Obama, May 22, 2015. (Ron Sachs)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – President Barack Obama has a message for American Jews: I don’t shy away from disagreeing with Israel publicly, because I care about Israel and our shared values. The president marked Jewish American Heritage Month with a speech Friday at Washington’s oldest Jewish congregation, Adas Israel. His… Read more »
BDS demonstration at the White House in 2010 (Creative Commons)
(J) — Liana Kadisha, a senior at Stanford University, says some Jewish students on her campus feel they have to hide who they are. The 22-year-old knows of several who tuck their Star of David necklaces inside their shirts, self-conscious about drawing attention to their Jewish identity. That’s not… Read more »
Jimmy Wales on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "You present what all sides have said and leave it to the reader to come to the answer." (Wikimedia Commons) TEL AVIV (JTA) — In 2003, two years after the website was founded, the editors of Wikipedia faced a dilemma: How should they refer to the part-fence, part-wall Israel was building along the West Bank border? The article’s first iteration — published amid the bloody second intifada, or Palestinian… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — Forget fancy pastries, cakes or tarts: Trifles are the best dessert you can make for entertaining. They are delicious and look beautiful and impressive, but are actually one of the easiest desserts you can make. The first time I made a trifle was actually after… Read more »
Pope Francis greeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the pope leaves St. Peter's Square at the end of a canonization ceremony in Vatican City, May 17, 2015. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – When considering the Vatican’s creep toward recognition of Palestinian statehood, think “Israel-Vatican” and not “Jewish-Catholic,” say Jewish officials involved in dialogue with the church. A May 13 announcement on an agreement regarding the functioning of the church in areas under Palestinian control raised eyebrows in its reference… Read more »
Israel's national soccer team training in Tel Aviv, Sept. 4, 2013. (Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s diplomatic battles have spread to the soccer field. On May 29, the body that governs world soccer, FIFA, will vote on whether to suspend Israel from international play. FIFA’s 209-member countries will vote on a motion introduced by the Palestinian Football Association, which is… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – A 39-year-old executive with an education startup and a 20-year-old naval academy student were among the seven people confirmed dead from an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia. Rachel Jacobs, the executive, who also is the daughter of former Michigan State Senator Gilda Jacobs, and Justin… Read more »
Fran Katz For longtime community volunteer Fran Katz, working at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is “like coming home.” “This is where I want to be. I’ve been so passionate about Federation for almost 30 years — since Jeff and I got here, we have been volunteering,” says Katz, who… Read more »
