Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent At Jewish Family Service, 2015 will be a time to start deepening the 123-year-old organization’s connection to Jewish values through a renewed vision for all who work there. Called Project Kavod (kavod means “honor” in Hebrew), the initiative will be a three-year education and trainingContinue Reading

By Susanna Heschel, JTA World News Service HANOVER, N.H. (JTA) — The 50th anniversary of the 1965 march at Selma is being commemorated this year with the release of the film “Selma.” Regrettably, the film represents the march as many see it today, only as an act of political protest.Continue Reading

Cuba synagogue

By Zachary Solomon, Jewniverse/JTA World News Service For the kashrut-observant Cuban, there’s only one place to go for a piece of meat. Situated on Acosta Street in Old Havana is Cuba’s sole kosher butcher shop. For nearly 70 years, the privately run business has provided kosher beef to the country’s Jews,Continue Reading

By Mayim Bialik, Kveller/JTA World News Service I grew up in a public school that had enough Jewish kids that I felt represented. I went to Hebrew school twice a week and had a chavurah, or fellowship, through my Reform synagogue with kids my age. A portion of my family was Orthodox. IContinue Reading

By Anthony Weiss, JTA World News Service LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Although it’s now well entrenched in the Hollywood ecosystem, the Sundance Film Festival remains a venue for some of the film industry’s more offbeat voices and still largely unknown talent — and a place for boldfaced names to redefine themselves. JewishContinue Reading

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By Simone Rodan-Benzaquen PARIS (JTA) — The kosher supermarket was chosen deliberately. Men, women and children were shopping and preparing for Shabbat. Only two days before the attack, terrorists had left 10 of the best-known satirical journalists and cartoonists dead at Charlie Hebdo. Three French police officers were also struckContinue Reading

By Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, Va’ad HaRabanim of Greater Seattle This Shabbat we will to begin to read and study the Book of Shemot. It is the book of slavery and of redemption, of Torah and of Mishkan — the beginning of Peoplehood. The Midrash attributes our redemption from bondage to our meritContinue Reading

While I was a bit surprised to learn that the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project has expanded to offer trips for men (“It’s Birthright Israel — for Jewish moms,” Dec. 12, 2014), I was even more surprised to learn that “the women visit a group children’s home and attend a cookingContinue Reading

Apparently the irony of Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) co-opting both the celebration of Hanukkah and the events in Ferguson, Missouri to promote their virulently anti-Israel agenda was lost on JTNews (“Jews in Seattle and beyond light Hanukkah candles for racial justice,” Dec. 19, 2014). Hanukkah is not just aContinue Reading