Tagged Washington DC

The Israel Project chairman says reports of its demise are premature. An insider says its entire staff was laid off.

Josh Block, Israel Project CEO, speaks on on PBS News Hour on March 7, 2019. (PBS News Hour/Screenshot)
July 10, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Israel Project’s chairman says that reports of the advocacy organization’s demise are premature in the wake of the surprise departure of its CEO. An insider told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the organization has let go of all of its staff without notice or their… Read more »

How Washington, D.C. got a bunch of new kosher restaurants

Maharat Ruth Friedman with the manager of Khepra's Raw Food Juice Bar, a vegan restaurant she and Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld recently certified kosher. (Courtesy of Friedman)
April 16, 2018 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — For years, the nation’s capital had only one full-fledged kosher restaurant. But as of this week, that changed. The clergy at Ohev Shalom-The National Synagogue, a Washington D.C. Modern Orthodox congregation, have given kosher certification to three vegan restaurants in the District (along with two others in the suburbs).… Read more »

In the Trump era, imams and rabbis struggle to come up with a strategy to counter anti-Muslim hostility

Abdul Rashid Abdullah of the National American Muslim Association on Scouting speak at a Muslim-Jewish gathering in Washington, D.C., while Rabbi David Shneyer of Kehila Chadasha looks on, Dec. 11, 2016. (Ron Kampeas)
December 16, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – A year ago, when several dozen Washington-area Jewish and Muslim religious and lay leaders jostled for spots in a group picture, the mood was convivial. The most novel item on the agenda for that November 2015 confab was bringing in non-Middle Eastern Muslims into the Jewish-Muslim… Read more »

Biden, remembering Peres, pleads for triumph of tolerance over bigotry

Vice President Joe Biden addresses a memorial for Shimon Peres in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2016. (Ron Kampeas)
October 10, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Vice President Joe Biden said Shimon Peres’ legacy should be one of tolerance at a time of rising bigotry. “At a time when the currents of bigotry and anger and isolationism are on the rise, when too many are quick to cast blame on the outsider,… Read more »

Wandering Jews: Former Tucsonans thrive in new locales – Josh Protas
September 15, 2011
Josh Protas, head of the Washington office of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, pauses in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building on Aug. 4, 2011, on his way to a meeting in the United Methodist building to discuss strategy for interfaith advocacy related to the debt “super committee” and the budget negotiations.

Josh Protas is a vice president and director of the Washington office of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. In Tucson, he was director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and JFSA senior vice president for planning and community affairs. Previously, he… Read more »