Tagged HEADLINES

OP-ED Why infertility is a Jewish issue — and what we can do about it

Matan and Michelle Ben-Aviv with their children Charlie, left, and Samuel, who were conceived with the aid of in-vitro fertilization. Inspired by their journey, the couple launched the Making Miracle Babies Fertility Fund. (Courtesy of Michelle Ben-Aviv)

MIAMI (JTA) — Growing up, I always dreamed of being a mom. Even as a kid I would brainstorm baby names, tell my dolls bedtime stories and swear that I would be a cool mom and let them eat cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had it all… Read more »

7 books to make your summer more summery — and Jewy, too

(JTA) — Summer’s here, and whether from the heat or the humidity or the harrowing election cycle, we bet you could use an escape. So take our advice: Whether you’re lucky enough to be lazing on a beach or packed in like a pickled herring on a subway car, take… Read more »

This Jewish drummer, 24, is busking up the California coast to stomp out Crohn’s disease

Gideon Grossman wants to use his drumming skills to raise money for research into a cure for Crohn's disease, a condition he has had for years. (Screenshot from YouTube)

(JTA) — Gideon Grossman taps out rapid hip-hop beats on his compact setup of bucket drums. He beams at the camera. His drumming is so effortless, it’s hard to believe he suffers from a sometimes-crippling gastrointestinal disease. In addition to flawless rhythm, Grossman has Crohn’s disease, an inflammation of the digestive tract that… Read more »

This Lithuanian concentration camp is now a wedding venue

A boy playing soccer at the entrance to the former concentration camp known as the Seventh Fort in Kaunas, Lithuania, July 12, 2016. (Cnaan Liphshiz)

KAUNAS, Lithuania (JTA) — In this drab city 55 miles west of Vilnius, there are few heritage sites as mysterious and lovely looking as the Seventh Fort. This 18-acre red-brick bunker complex, which dates to 1882, features massive underground passages that connect its halls and chambers. Above ground, the… Read more »

SEEKING KIN In Little Rock, a woman finds her true faith and then Jewish family

Danette Devlin holding photos of the gravestones of her great-grandparents Herman and Cyril Schiff, attesting to her Jewish roots. (Courtesy of Devlin)

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. (JTA) –  Discovering a Jewish past of which she was wholly unaware, Danette Devlin of Little Rock, Arkansas, has also found family. Devlin was raised without any religious affiliation. As an adult she attended Catholic and Episcopalian… Read more »

A 12-year-old hurler always walks on Shabbat, so his teammates pitch in

Jacob Steinmetz, back row, second from right, and his Brooklyn Bluestorm teammates are headed to the Elite World Series in Florida after going 24-0 this season. (Hillel Kuttler)

NEW YORK (JTA) – Jacob Steinmetz delivers the game’s final pitch on a heavenly Tuesday night, producing a neatly turned double play to wrap up a 10-0 victory for the Brooklyn Bluestorm team of 12-year-olds. His teammates surround Jacob in congratulations in a scene familiar for the Bluestorm, which… Read more »

BLOG Cruz may be down, but he is not out as a favorite of the pro-Israel right

Ted Cruz speaking at the Zionist Organization of America’s 2014 gala in New York City. (Screenshot from YouTube)

CLEVELAND (JTA) — Wednesday night’s gripping tale of a dramatic, sudden repudiation of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz by Sheldon Adelson, the major pro-Israel philanthropist and Republican donor, seems a little less consequential in the light of Thursday morning, according to folks who are close with Adelson and his wife, Miriam.… Read more »

Community leader Bill Holmes dies

Local businessman and community leader Bill Holmes, 58, died suddenly on Monday, July 18. “Bill, beloved husband of Shelley Pozez, lived his life fully and gave such joy to our world.  He was a treasured member of our Federation Board who, through the force of his personality and devotion to… Read more »

JCRC holds school supply drive for Homer Davis

Making a Difference Every Day: The Homer Davis Project, an effort to reach out to the under-served school children in the community at Homer Davis Elementary School, is the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s signature social action program. School. This coming school year, 2016-2017, begins the seventh year… Read more »

OP-ED Don’t believe their hype: BDS is a marginal phenomenon

Demonstrators outside the offices of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo protesting his executive order calling for New York companies to divest from organizations that support the BDS movement, June 9, 2016. (Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Ever since the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel began picking up steam three years ago, its proponents have brazenly declared the movement’s inevitable triumph. In April, for example, a pro-divestment group at the University of Chicago issued a statement proclaiming that by the school’s… Read more »

It’s not a bird – it’s SuperMeat: Israeli startup aims to grow meat without the animal

Chickens would be spared under a bioengineering method being developed by the Israeli food tech startup SuperMeat. (Wikimedia Commons)

TEL AVIV (JTA) – The founders of an Israeli food tech startup want you to enjoy your meat without the guilt — in fact, without the animal. SuperMeat, which launched in December and began an online crowdfunding campaign Monday, is developing a method for bioengineering “cultured meat” from animal cells.… Read more »

OP-ED Police, people of color and a Jewish dream of justice

White Jews, and all Americans, must actively participate in the campaigns for racial justice and police accountability, Leo Ferguson writes. (Lior Zaltzman)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Last week, we watched in horror and dismay as violent event after violent event unfolded, each amplifying and recontextualizing the one before it. By Friday morning, July 8, five Dallas police officers were dead, three black men had been killed by the police (including the… Read more »

BLOG The Dallas shooter wanted to stay in this anti-Semitic black militant group

Micah Johnson was reportedly for a short time a member of the New Black Panther Party, a confrontational group that often espouses anti-Semitic ideas. (Facebook)

(JTA) — Investigators may never know with certainty what combination of factors led Micah Xavier Johnson to methodically fire upon police officers in Dallas. Five white officers were killed in the attack, which came during a peaceful rally protesting the shooting deaths of young black men by law enforcement in other cities. Johnson… Read more »

In Rabbinate protest, Lookstein and Sharansky call for revisions, not revolution

After Israel's Chief Rabbinate rejected a conversion performed by prominent modern Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, right, Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Natan Sharansky, left, protested on his behalf. (Ben Sales)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Three months after Israel’s Chief Rabbinate rejected his authority to perform conversions, one of America’s most prominent Modern Orthodox rabbis joined with Natan Sharansky to advance a message: The rabbinate needs to become more open. But not too much more. A widely respected rabbi in New York’s… Read more »

Claims Conference secures major increase in aid to survivors through 2018

(JTA) — The Claims Conference, which manages aid to Holocaust survivors, has negotiated a budget increase through 2018, including the largest one-time increase in homecare funding the organization has ever secured. In talks with the German government, the Claims Conference secured nearly $312 million in homecare funding for survivors… Read more »

A stranger at synagogue told me to take my son ‘somewhere else’

It finally happened. My son is almost 9 months old, and this week, for the first time, a stranger came up to me and asked me to “take him somewhere else.” Even worse, it happened at synagogue. The woman who approached me was quite obviously not a member of… Read more »

ANALYSIS Donald Trump can lay ‘Stargate’ to rest — assuming he wants to

Donald Trump addressing the crowd at a campaign rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 6, 2016. (John Sommers II/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign never recovered after he was caught on video telling a group of millionaires that 47 percent of Americans will always vote for Democrats because they don’t take “personal responsibility” for their lives and are “dependent upon government.” The incident has become a… Read more »