By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, The earthquake in Haiti really got me thinking. I donated to relief work — that was a given. Yet I find myself glued to news broadcasts, watching the reports of the dreadful situation and the efforts being made to reach out toContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist I’ve wanted to interview Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson for a long time, so I was very excited when we finally talked on the phone last week in a wide-ranging and entertaining conversation. Nancy has been serving food, cooking food or writing about foodContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, Tahoma National Cemetery’s chief bugler, Bernie Moskowitz. (Courtesy Bernie Moskowitz) It wasn’t too hard to track down Bernie Moskowitz. The Tahoma National Cemetery gladly gave me the number of their Chief Bugler and Bernie was home when I called. After a discussion about getting a decent bagelContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist A guilty secret: I’m hooked on “Hoarders,” the new hit TV show on A&E. So it was great to find out it was conceived and is produced right here in Seattle by Jodi Flynn, director of development for Screaming Flea Productions, and her team. “WeContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I saw the Coen brothers’ new film A Serious Man, and I don’t know what to think. Is it good for the Jews or not? I couldn’t help but squirm during the film, thinking about what my non-Jewish fellow viewers were thinkingContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Al Ziontz photo by Marianne McCoy “People urged me to write the book — specifically my wife,” says Bellevue resident Alvin Ziontz of his memoir, A Lawyer in Indian Country. Seventy-eight-years old when he started in 2006, he remembers thinking, “I’d better get busy.” He’dContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist With H1N1 so much in the news these days, I wanted to talk to someone on the front lines of fighting this new virus, and settled on Gary Goldbaum, M.D., MPH, health officer for the Snohomish Health District. Before getting to the flu, I neededContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Chanukah is our family’s favorite holiday. As it approaches every year I try to plan something a bit different and uniquely special for our eight nights of celebration. Of course we already do the usual Chanukah activities, make latkes, play dreidel, haveContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Don Shifrin, M.D. was a tad nonchalant when I spoke to him about winning the American Academy of Pediatrics Holroyd-Sherry Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of children, adolescents and the media. It’s clear, however, that he is extremely passionate about his areaContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist A UW graduate is rubbing shoulders and leashes with some of Hollywood’s most popular stars and their pets. Jacob Fenton, originally from Portland, graduated from the University of Washington in 2001 with a business degree. While attending the U, he served as undergraduate president ofContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, With the fall holidays now over, we’ve begun to read the Torah from the beginning. Determined to have a new beginning myself, I attended services on that first Shabbat of the new Torah cycle. Following along the reading I came across aContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Why North Bend? That was the foremost question in my mind when I heard renowned concert violists Emanuel and Lenore Vardi had moved to Seattle’s far east side. There is a story, of course, with two parts. In 1992 Manny, as he’s called, injured hisContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Seven Washington residents are among hundreds of volunteers nationwide nominated for the first United Jewish Communities local heroes award. (UJC is the national umbrella body that serves local Jewish federations). We’ve got profiles of each here. Margot Kravette is the only local volunteer to beContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Ilana Long is a funny person; and if you saw her perform stand-up comedy in the days before she had kids, you know this. For those who have missed those days, Ilana has written a book, The Binky Conspiracy: True Tales of Mommydom, so youContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, A non-Jewish person I work with came in this week with a very harsh criticism of a Jewish practice that I found myself ill-equipped to handle or explain. She went on to describe something I had never heard of — the swingingContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Sculptor and glass artist Gabriel Bass, a Mercer Island native now living in Jerusalem, recently completed and installed a ner tamid (eternal light) and menorah commission for the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda. The commission came from a California couple who are deeply involved withContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I don’t know when I started noticing this or maybe once I did notice it, I just started to notice it more. What I’m talking about is the habit some people have, when talking, to throw in a “God willing” about anyContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Harry Rutstein’s book, The Marco Polo Odyssey: In the Footsteps of a Merchant Who Changed the World, recently won the independent publisher’s association prize for best travel book. Harry is the only person to travel Polo’s route from Italy to China (others have traveled sectionsContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Northwest Yeshiva High School graduate Matthew Feldhammer is now doing graduate research in biochemistry at the University of Montreal. Recently he was awarded a first place Prix d’Excellence (Prize of Excellence) in all categories by Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center at the University of Montreal forContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Helene Israel tells me she was so consumed mourning her late husband, Jerry, that she never put an obituary in the paper. But now that she’s had a chance to recover from his death a year ago, she wanted to share an honor he receivedContinue Reading
