(JTA) — The Jewish Federations of North America will distribute some $4.6 million in federal funds for Holocaust survivors. The funds will be distributed from the organization’s Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care to 43 direct service agencies and six Jewish federations. Combined with matching grants, the funding will… Read more »
Tagged JFNA
A conference of American Jews seeks dialogue with Israelis. But which Israelis, and to what end?

TEL AVIV (JTA) — On Sunday, a day before thousands of American Jews descended on this Israeli city to air their differences with the nation’s government, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin had a listening session. Rivlin invited a select group of about 100 American Jews to his official residence in… Read more »
Federations create hurricane relief fund

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is joining with the Jewish Federations of North America to help the victims of Hurricane Irma, which battered the Caribbean and the eastern United States earlier this month. At least 42 people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have died as a result… Read more »
Obamacare repeal effort sends jitters through Jewish service groups

NEW YORK (JTA) — Before the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit organized local doctors to provide free care to Jews who lacked health insurance. The Detroit agency closed the doctors’ program after enactment of the health care law, also known… Read more »
Jewish, federal officials consider lessons from Charleston shooting
WASHINGTON (JTA) – When the Department of Homeland Security convened a terror attack simulation for national Jewish leaders, they returned again and again to last month’s deadly shooting attack on a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Last week’s simulation, known as a “tabletop” exercise, posits a possible attack, depicted as… Read more »
Black, Jewish and challenging ideas about the face of federation

(JTA) — When Ilana Kaufman, a program officer at the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, arrived at San Quentin State Prison for a meeting with the Jewish chaplain at California’s oldest correctional facility, the chaplain couldn’t seem to find her — even though Kaufman was standing in plain sight.… Read more »
At G.A., federations zero in on collaboration

There was the vice president of the United States, two Supreme Court justices and an Academy Award-winning actress with a compelling Jewish story. There were Jewish professionals, lay leaders, clergy and recent college graduates. The West Point cadets’ Jewish choir performed. The Israeli prime minister appeared via satellite from… Read more »
What a GOP Senate would mean for the Jewish communal agenda
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Should Republicans win the Senate and maintain control of the House of Representatives on Nov. 4 — as many observers expect them to do — the political gridlock that has characterized much of President Obama’s term is poised to intensify. Jewish strategies, however, will remain the… Read more »
Greece, Israel mission sparks visions of future

We sang “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew to 9-year-old Miriam in the Athens Jewish Community School; we talked with teenagers Gala and Tal at a summer camp near Salonika; we listened in Tel Aviv as Yuval who lost both arms and Tzipi who was paralyzed told us how they used their abilities… Read more »
Op-Ed: Beating back the assault on Israel’s legitimacy

NEW YORK (JTA) — Leaders of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement say they are protesting Israel’s policies in the West Bank. They are doing far more than that. BDS advocates routinely oppose a two-state solution and seek to delegitimize the sovereign, Jewish State of Israel. In some cases,… Read more »
Jewish communal awareness of disabilities is growing, but advocates say not enough

NEW YORK (JTA) — In the coming months, six young Jews with disabilities will start paid internships at major Jewish federations through a pilot program. If successful, the program will expand to communities throughout North America. In the fall, Manhattan’s first Jewish day school for children with special needs… Read more »
End of Congress’ year brings odd reversal on Jewish priorities

WASHINGTON (JTA) — For Jewish and pro-Israel groups, the congressional year is ending with an odd reversal: the prospect, however fragile, of bipartisan comity on budget issues coupled with a rare partisan disagreement on Middle Eastern policy. The groups that deal with social welfare and justice issues are heartened,… Read more »
Op-Ed: Subsidizing Jewish preschool works

CHICAGO (JTA) — In response to the recent pledge by Jewish Federations of North America Chairman Michael Siegal to raise $1 billion to support tuition-free Jewish preschool, some have dismissed the idea as just another pie-in-the-sky fix to the continuity problem. I disagree. First, attending preschools (as well as… Read more »
In budget battles, Obama administration sees Jews as playing key role

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In the battle to end the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration, it’s all hands on deck. Increasingly for the Obama administration, which is deadlocked over the budget with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, that means reaching out to Jews. In conference calls and in appearances… Read more »
In Tucson, JFNA vp stresses unending support for communities in need

When TV cameras have already left scenes of tragedy at home and in Israel, the Jewish Federations of North America is still on the scene. That’s what William C. Daroff, vice president for public policy and director of JFNA’s Washington office, emphasized at a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona… Read more »
Three years on, Jewish groups winding down Haiti operations

NEW YORK (JTA) — It was the poor construction. There had been many earthquakes more powerful than the one that hit Haiti nearly three years ago, and there have been many more since. But few have been deadlier. When the tremor registering 7.0 on the Richter scale struck on… Read more »
Deluged day school, ruined Torahs and devastated communities left in Sandy’s wake

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Rabbi Avremel Okonov arrived Tuesday morning at the school he co-founded 10 years ago in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, the water in the basement had already receded from the high water mark. It only came up to his knees. Everywhere he looked… Read more »
Jewish communities grapple with baby boomer retirement boom
BALTIMORE (JTA) – Every Jewish community wants more Raymonde Fiols among its active retirees. The question is whether those communities are prepared to meet the needs she and hundreds of thousands of “younger seniors” and older ones will have in the near future. Now 76, Fiol has resided in… Read more »
In the New Orleans area, a synagogue dedication, community rejuvenation and Orthodox-Reform bonds

(JTA) — Seven years ago an iconic picture for many Jews of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina was of men waist deep in a flooded synagogue carrying Torahs to safety. On Sunday, in a celebration of physical and spiritual unity, the Torahs of that congregation were carried into… Read more »
Ryan hailed by Jewish GOPers, organizations see him as a face of budget confrontations

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Anointing Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney attached a name and face to his fiscal policy. Jewish Republicans, including the House majority leader, say they are thrilled with Wisconsin’s Ryan emerging as the ticket’s fresh face, hailing the lawmaker as a thoughtful and creative… Read more »