Duhenah Reveaka of Bobruisk, Belarus is among those survivors who rely on Claims Conference funding for aid. (Sarah Levin/JDC) NEW YORK (JTA) — The first sign that something was amiss at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany happened to fall on an auspicious date on the Jewish calendar: Nov. 9, 2009, the anniversary of Kristallnacht. Greg Schneider had been at the helm of the Claims Conference,… Read more »
Alan Kaufman, owner of The Pickle Guys, the only pickle store in the once pickle-filled Lower East Side of Manhattan, June 2012. (Josh Lipowsky/JTA) TEANECK, N.J. (JTA) — Walk into a kosher deli and a big bowl of pickles is typically waiting at the table. Ever wondered why? “Pickles are vital to the deli experience,” says Rabbi Gil Marks, author of “The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food.” Deli mavens know that the tastiest cuts… Read more »
Sheldon Adelson, right, seen here with then-President George W. Bush and Israeli President Shimon Peres at a Jerusalem conference in May 2008, is at the center of controversy over contributions earmarked for Republican candidates. (Nati Shohat /FLASH90/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sheldon Adelson, whose cash and rhetoric has hit candidates hard this election cycle, just got swiped himself. The National Jewish Democratic Council wants Republicans, including presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney, to stop taking “dirty money” from Adelson because of allegations surrounding his lucrative casino properties in… Read more »
The Tower Bridge in London, decorated with the five Olympic rings in preparation for the 2012 Summer Games, June 2012. (Iain Farrell via CC) LONDON (JTA) — For the British Jewish community, the most memorable moment of the London Olympics may be a somber one. On Aug. 6, several hundred people are expected to attend a commemoration for the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics.… Read more »
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, January 13, 2011. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Mitt Romney’s announced trip to Israel, at the height of his campaign to wrest the presidency from Barack Obama, could be a twofer, drawing closer two critical constituencies: evangelicals and foreign policy hawks. A Romney campaign official confirmed to JTA a New York Times story this… Read more »
Family, friends and Israelis pay their respects to former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir as his coffin is seen displayed at the Israeli parliament prior to his funeral at Mount Herzl, Israel's national cemetery, July 2, 2012. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — When Yitzhak Shamir was Israel’s prime minister, he liked to point American visitors to a gift he received when he retired as director of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. It was a depiction of the famed three monkeys: See no evil, hear no evil, speak no… Read more »
Cantor Avraham Alpert Congregation Bet Shalom has hired Cantor Avraham Alpert as its full-time clergy, starting July 14. An Arizona native, Alpert was most recently cantor at Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas and had previously served as cantor of the Mosaic Law Congregation in Sacramento, Calif. He holds a bachelor’s… Read more »
Rabbi Robert Eisen Congregation Anshei Israel will hold a Siyum HaShas celebration on Thursday, Aug. 2 at 7 p.m. to mark Rabbi Robert Eisen’s completion of studying the entire Talmud. In the early part of the 20th century, the practice called Daf Yomi (page-a-day) of reading one two-side page of the Talmud… Read more »
Shas lawmaker Nissim Zeev, shown during a plenum session in the Israeli Knesset on June 11, 2012, is demanding a public debate on abortion, which he has said publicly is akin to "murder." (Uri Lenz/FLASH90/JTA) JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s paradoxical approach to abortion — the procedure is illegal unless approved by a committee, which gives the go-ahead to 98 percent of the requests — could radically change if a Knesset member has his way. Nissim Zeev of the Sephardi Orthodox party Shas, who has… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt less than three weeks before the protests there led to Mubarak's downfall in January 2011. (Moshe Milner/GPO/Flash90/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi is the declared winner of Egypt’s presidential race and his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, reportedly continues to lie near death in a coma — just like the legacy he tried to craft for himself and his country. Mubarak, 84, once the entrenched… Read more »
Sheila Wilensky The Arizona Jewish Post is celebrating two journalism awards this spring. Associate Editor Sheila Wilensky received a first place 2011 Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism from the American Jewish Press Association for “Healing and hope for Tucsonans as Jan. 8 anniversary nears.” Published in the Dec.… Read more »
Tucsonan Nina Straw is a proponent of the ‘Blessings in a Backpack’ program to feed schoolkids on weekends. Nina Straw grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in Milford, Conn. The concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world) was part of her daily life. “My father lived Judaism,” she told the AJP. “He was a gentle, quiet man who walked the talk. He taught us to live… Read more »
The Butwin family of Tempe, Ariz., shown in a photo from May 2009 (Yafit Butwin's Facebook page) The Phoenix-area Jewish community is grieving after hearing of the suspected murder-suicide of a local Jewish family that was active in Jewish life. The Butwin family of Tempe was found burned to death in the family’s SUV on June 2. Police believe that James Butwin died of a gunshot… Read more »
Kindergarten students in yellow caps run out into the school yard to rehearse for their end of year concert at the Athens Jewish Community School. (Gavin Rabinowitz/JTA) ATHENS, Greece (JTA) – When the bell rang, the sixth-graders who had been playing basketball rushed off to a computer class. Their place in the yard at Athens’ Jewish Community School was taken by two dozen giggling 4- and 5-year -olds practicing dance steps for the year-end concert. “One,… Read more »
Marika Weinberger, a Holocaust survivor and former president of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants. (Henry Benjamin) SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — When Australia’s highest court soon rules on whether the 90-year-old Karoly “Charles” Zentai should be extradited to Hungary, it likely will be passing judgment on the last known Nazi war criminal suspect residing in the country. The pending end of the drawn out legal proceedings is… Read more »
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak during an Independence party meeting at the Knesset, May 21, 2012. (Uri Lenz/FLASH90/JTA) (JTA) — Was Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s recent suggestion that Israel take “unilateral action” to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a hint at a policy under discussion or just an off-the-cuff remark? And how will the response of others — such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — shape the… Read more »
Rabbi Sally Priesand (Courtesy Sally Priesand) (Cleveland Jewish News) — When Sally Priesand became the first woman to be ordained a rabbi in the United States on June 3, 1972, she had no intention of being a pioneer. “I didn’t think about breaking any barriers or championing women’s rights,” Priesand told the Cleveland Jewish News… Read more »
An Egyptian woman casting her vote in the city of al-Mahalla in northern Egypt, May 23, 2012. (Nehal ElSherif via CC) WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Egyptians stunned even themselves in the vote to elect their next president — and observers are warning that the United States and Israel should be ready for continued uncertainty in their relations with Egypt. Two finalists emerged following the roller-coaster first round at the polls… Read more »
Justice Gabriel Bach, the prosecutor in the trial of Adolf Eichmann, in front of the Vossius Gymnasium in amsterdam. (Cnaan Liphshiz) AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Gabriel Bach knew he was Jewish and that the Nazis were a serious threat, but at 13, leaving his new school and home in Amsterdam proved heartwrenching. What if, the boy wondered, he could stay just a few more weeks to finish the academic year? Bach… Read more »
James Lago, a street merchant in Juba, South Sudan, with the Israeli flag. (Armin Rosen) JUBA, South Sudan (JTA) – This city in the world’s newest country is not your typical Arabic-speaking capital. For one thing, most of the city’s inhabitants are Christian. For another, the Israeli flag is ubiquitous here. Miniature Israeli flags hang from car windshields and flutter at roadside stalls, and… Read more »
