The waterfront at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires includes a wide variety of inflatable toys and surf kayaks. (Uriel Heilman)
WINGDALE, N.Y. (JTA) – The sky is clearing after a damp morning at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, and kids are emerging from their cluttered bunks. An impromptu Frisbee game breaks out on the lawn, while down by the lake a counselor prepares the water trampoline and surf kayaks. On… Read more »
Shabbat services and Jewish life are integral parts of the Szarvas experience. (Courtesy of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee)
SZARVAS, Hungary (JTA) — Escaping a sudden downpour in the summer of 2012, Andras Paszternak and Barbi Szendy ran to find cover inside an empty cabin at their Jewish summer camp, Szarvas, 100 miles east of Budapest. The two senior counselors, then 31 and 36, respectively, chatted as rain drenched the sprawling compound, where… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Pew Research Center poll released last week surveying attitudes among Israeli citizens confirms what many of us who work on Israeli issues already knew: Israel is a deeply divided society, first and foremost between its Jewish and Arab citizens, but also among its Jewish sectors. Ethnicity,… Read more »
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — The recent Pew Research Center study finding that about half of Israeli Jews favor transferring Arabs from Israel reveals the fear, frustration and misery that Israeli Jews feel after being subjected to decades of Arab terrorist attacks that have killed and maimed thousands of innocents.… Read more »
Cannoli hamantaschen (Sheri Silver)
(The Nosher via JTA) — My love of Italian cuisine was honed at a very early age — there was no lack of Italian restaurants, pizzerias and bakeries. If I had to pick my favorite Italian pastry, it would be no contest – I am #teamcannoli all the way.… Read more »
Israeli Arabs protesting in Tel Aviv against home demolitions, April 28, 2015. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash 90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — In a survey that spanned politics, religion and interfaith relations, one statistic stood out: nearly half of Israel’s Jews support expelling the country’s Arabs. The Pew Research Center’s study of Israelis’ attitudes, which had its findings released Tuesday, had asked respondents whether they agreed that… Read more »
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders acknowledging supporters at a campaign rally in Miami, March 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
ANALYSIS WASHINGTON (JTA) – Can Bernie Sanders actually win it? With his surprising victory in the Michigan primary by 2 percentage points on Tuesday — after trailing Hillary Clinton by double digits in the polls — the possibility has inched a little closer to reality. To be sure, Sanders still trails… Read more »
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Concord, N.C., March 7, 2016. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) – America’s political system is broken, and the last thing the country needs is another career politician at the helm. With money more than ever a corrupting influence in politics, the White House should be occupied by someone who isn’t beholden to well-funded lobbyists or super… Read more »
(JTA) — A 29-year-old American business school student was killed in a stabbing attack in the Jaffa area of Tel Aviv. Taylor Force, a student at the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, was on a school trip to Israel when he was killed Tuesday evening, the university said. As… Read more »
A lab technician handling the mosquito that causes the Zika virus at a research facility in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 19, 2016. (Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – Despite recent summer temperatures here topping out at 42 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit), Milena Rozenbrah has become accustomed recently to dressing in pants and long sleeves when she leaves home. A Jewish mother in Brazil’s second-largest city, Rozenbrah is concerned not for the religious… Read more »
A recent photo of Rafi Daugherty and his daughter, Ettie. (Courtesy of Rafi Daugherty)
PERSONAL ESSAY (JTA) — Two weeks ago, I heard a podcast in which two Jewish women named Ronna and Beverly misgendered me repeatedly and made fun of my story. This was not the first time I thought to myself, “Why did I choose this?” To be clear, I was… Read more »
Milk and cereal hamantaschen (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — It’s that time of year, when bloggers and crazy Jewish women everywhere scramble to come up with unique variations of hamantaschen. And I am nothing if not a crazy Jewish woman. As I mulled over what kind of Purim treats to whip up this year, I wanted to… Read more »
Todd Rockoff The Tucson J is growing! The expansion and renovation of the new health and wellness area in 2015 stimulated a wonderful growth in membership (more than 200 units) and an increase in program participation. This investment created a wonderful buzz in our community about our great fitness facility and… Read more »
When local Jewish writer Joni Rubinstein’s children were babies, she began a birthday practice that became a cherished family tradition. “When my first daughter, who is 35 now, was born, I found this tiny little poem that was about birthdays,” says Rubinstein, an elementary school counselor in the Marana… Read more »
A Jewish section has been established at Marana Mortuary and Cemetery, with Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman of Chabad of Oro Valley overseeing religious aspects of the section. “Until now Jewish burial was available in Tucson in two cemeteries, Evergreen and East Lawn. figured I was the obvious… Read more »
Jewish Family & Children’s Services will hold a three-hour, community-wide ethical will writing workshop from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesday, March 22, at the TMC Senior Services/El Dorado Medical Center, 1400 N. Wilmot Road. Ethical wills began as a Jewish oral tradition centuries ago, a way to pass on values… Read more »
(JTA) — In her victory speech after the Nevada primaries, Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton said it’s time to invest in marginalized communities by “ensuring that people with disabilities have the same opportunities to work and fully participate in our society.” That may seem like the standard campaign rhetoric of… Read more »
Emily Briskman (Jewish United Fund) CHICAGO (JTA) — The ideals of open dialogue, debate and civil discourse are pillars of university life. Today, these mainstays of higher education are beginning to crumble with fissures developing over issues of race, gender and, most recently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which now threatens to topple the tower of… Read more »
The Salt Lake Temple at the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Uriel Heilman)
SALT LAKE CITY (JTA) – Phyllis Miller’s experience growing up in Southern California wasn’t much different from that of many American Jews. The product of an intermarriage — her mother wasn’t Jewish but later converted — Miller’s family attended synagogue occasionally, kept the kids home from school on the High… Read more »
Turkish Pizza With Chopped Salad (Samantha Ferraro)
(JTA via The Nosher) — Two years ago, my husband and I went on a food tour across Istanbul, and our guide was boasting about lahmacun, Turkish-style pizza, and how we can’t leave Turkey without trying it. I remember watching the Turks walk around the cobbled old streets, bustling… Read more »
