(JTA) — The United States is tightening controls on military sales to Israel in the wake of the conflict in Gaza.On July 20, days after Israel began its ground invasion in Gaza, Israel requested and received a shipment of munitions from the Pentagon without prior approval from the White House,Continue Reading
By David Chivo, Special to the Jewish Sound What if every family attending Bellevue’s Jewish Day School hastily packed up and left Seattle by year’s end? Would our community take notice? What if campers attending the Stroum Jewish Community Center’s summer programs begged their parents to stay home, fearing verbalContinue Reading
By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA World News Service (JTA) — My friend Alain Azria gave me a puzzled look when I told him, with some indignation and disbelief in my voice, that I had just heard talk of killing Jews at an unauthorized anti-Israel demonstration last month in Paris. A youngContinue Reading
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel extended immigration benefits to non-Jewish spouses in same-sex marriages.On Tuesday, Interior Minister Gideon Saar instructed the government to extend the benefits of the Law of Return to all married couples.The law affords non-Jewish spouses of Jewish immigrants full citizenship and immigration benefits, but Israel hadContinue Reading
By Rafael Medoff, JNS.org This year marks the 100th anniversary of the expulsion of thousands of Jews from Turkish-ruled Palestine to Egypt, in a dramatic reversal of the historic exodus from the Land of the Pharaohs to the Land of Israel. But from that tragic episode in 1914 would emergeContinue Reading
Rabbi Berele Paltiel Chabad of Snohomish County Just over two years ago, my wife Goldie and I with our two little girls moved from New York City to Edmonds, Wash. to run the Chabad of Snohomish County. It has been an exciting two years, meeting many wonderful people while learningContinue Reading
(JTA) — Palestinian rocket crews fired dozens of rockets at Israel as a 72-hour cease-fire came to a close, and Israel renewed its attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza. The Israeli strikes were carried out by aircraft over Gaza on Friday morning, Army Radio reported. The strikes resulted in the death of a 10-year-old boy,Continue Reading
Editor’s note: The print version of JTNews notes that a rally being held on Sun., Aug. 10 would be taking place at Westlake Center. The rally will be held at Seattle Center. We apologize for any inconvenience. One week after approximately 600 people turned out for a peaceful demonstration inContinue Reading
By Abdullah H. Erakat, The Media Line WEST BANK — Prior to the outbreak of the 29-day war between Israel and Hamas and despite the failure of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace initiative, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly was a happy camper having survived unscathed in theContinue Reading
I find it highly offensive that the Jewish Federation demanded that an NRA lobbyist be fired because he voiced his opinion that Jews should be against restrictive gun laws (“On anniversary of shooting, Jewish Federation tells NRA spokesman to step down”). The idea that the Holocaust could not have beenContinue Reading
I am writing about my dismay over the fact that recently there were two separate solidarity events for Israel; the first taking place in Pioneer Square and the second at Congregation Beth Shalom. One was co-sponsored by the Orthodox congregations and the other co-sponsored by the Conservative, Reform and otherContinue Reading
By Rabbi Jack Riemer, JNS.org Sara Davidson’s “The December Project” is a new book that should be read by all senior citizens, and by those who hope to live a long life, for it raises a question that most of us have not been taught how to answer: What shouldContinue Reading
Marvin and Lore celebrated 60 years of marriage on July 11, 2014. They celebrated with a family Shabbat dinner at the home of Ronald and Barbara Coe, followed by services on Sat., July 12 at Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation with a Kiddush luncheon sponsored by their children, Greg Coe, RobertContinue Reading
Jessica Epstein and Chaya Lieberman will be married August 10, 2014, at Roswell River Landing in Roswell, Ga. Rabbi H. David Rose will officiate. Jessica is the daughter of Laurence and Valerie Epstein of Mercer Island. She graduated from Northwest Yeshiva High School on Mercer Island and American Jewish UniversityContinue Reading
By Rivy Kletenik, Jewish Sound Columnist Here I am in June of 1964, about to turn 6, holding my first Matryoshka doll. I am standing next to my twin, who is proudly displaying his cosmonaut. That wooden “little matron,” a gift from my parents’ trip to Russia, kicked off aContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound One compared Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. Another showed what looked like a Jewish person eating a baby. These signs and others being carried at weekly rallies in Seattle’s Westlake Center protesting the now-ended war in Gaza spurred the localContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound The news out of Turkey, when it comes to politics and Jewish life, is bleak. The positive relationship between Turkey and Israel has been deteriorating at least since Turkey began showing support for Hamas during Israel’s 2008-09 war in Gaza, andContinue Reading
By Boris Kurbanov, Special to The Jewish Sound The history and tales of Jewish immigration to Washington is documented in an exhibit now on display at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry. “Shalom! Open for Business: Tales of Jewish Merchants in Washington State” is a joint project of the WashingtonContinue Reading
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service (JTA) – Now that the latest Gaza conflict appears to be over — or nearly so — it’s time to take stock of the winners and losers. Who won the war? Perhaps more than the other two Gaza conflicts in the last sixContinue Reading
