By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist The media have cast lobbyists and lobbying in a negative light lately, from the Jack Abramoff scandal to questions of whether lobbyists should be able to buy legislators lunch. (No!) But what is life like for a lobbyist “on the ground?” To find out IContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist There’s no doubt that Phil Levin is passionate about his job. This enthusiasm is one reason the board of the Seattle Aquarium gave him their conservation research award, donating $10,000 to the aquarium’s research center in his name earlier this year. A community ecologist, conservationContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist This column is dedicated to my father, who celebrated his ninetieth birthday this past week of Parshat Yitro, in which the Torah records the episode of the revelation at Sinai and Ten Commandments. Dear Rivy, I have always wondered about the Ten Commandments. AreContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Freelance writer Michelle Goodman has been sharing her experience and advice with other self-employed writers for a long time, so it was logical that her first book be The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube. The book launchesContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Deborah Rosen of Mercer Island has been nominated to serve as a national vice-president of the American Jewish Committee. She’ll be formally elected at the AJCommittee annual meeting in Washington, D.C., this May and will be the first Washington state resident to serve as aContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I grew up without a Jewish education, but have come to love learning. I have finally, after many years of wavering, gotten up the courage to take a beginner’s Hebrew class. I am really struggling and ready to give up. With soContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Long-time Seattle resident Meta Buttnick was honored in her home state of Alaska in November. The occasion was a fund-raising dinner to benefit the nascent Alaska Jewish Historical Society Museum and Community Center, a project of Rabbi Joseph Greenberg of Chabad in Anchorage. Ninety-three-year-old ButtnickContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist For Sol Sylvan, it all started with a party. A family reunion, that is. In the process of preparing for the 1995 event, “a first cousin of mine wanted to find members of the family we hadn’t heard from in a while,” explains Sylvan, whoContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Please settle this argument between myself and my spouse. I say dreidels are a Jewish version of a typical child’s toy that we plunked Hebrew letters on, she claims that the dreidel is a uniquely Jewish toy. Which is it? Before settlingContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Diana Brement JTNews Columnist For their many years of support of Pacific Lutheran University, Kurt and Pam Mayer of Tacoma recently received a special recognition award from the university. Kurt recently concluded 10 years of service on the school’s board of regents, the only JewishContinue Reading
By Diana Brement , JTNews Columnist Recently I attended a birthday party. Not unusual, you think, but this was a celebration of the 100th birthday of Zara Tarshis at The Summit at First Hill retirement home in Seattle. She is their first resident to reach this milestone. The party wasContinue Reading
By Diana Brement , JTNews Columnist Although Richard Kline is in Seattle doing the very serious and dramatic role of lawyer Boris Max in the Intiman’s production of Native Son, he is still best known as Larry Dallas, the unrepentant ladies’ man on the long-running sitcom, ‘Three’s Company.’ ‘Yes,’ heContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I recently read about the ‘kosher chicken’ scandal on the East Coast. It seems that a supermarket had been re-packaging non-kosher chicken as kosher for quite some time. Community members are beyond furious. Is it really such a tragedy to eatContinue Reading
By Diana Brement , JTNews Columnist A really great tekiah gedolah (big shofar blast) ought to give the listener a little chill, but for the past few years, when I’ve heard Alan Schulkin render of that call to repentance, I’ve also gotten a little teary. Alan’s presence on the bimaContinue Reading
By Diana Brement , JTNews Columnist Michelle Weinberg started a chapter of the networking and referrals organization, Business Networking International, in the Green Lake area of Seattle recently. The owner and operator of Design One!, a promotional products company (that’s anything you can put your company name, logo or sloganContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, My daughter is getting married and we are having a Jewish wedding. Her father and stepfather are not Jewish. I would like her to dance with her dads to ‘Butterfly Kisses’ by Bob Carlisle, but some lyrics might not be appropriateContinue Reading
By Diana Brement , JTNews Columnist The Washington State Jewish Historical Society will hold its annual meeting on the 17th of this month at Temple De Hirsch Sinai with a new executive director its helm. Lisa Kranseler was the force behind ‘From Synagogues to Cinemas,’ the exhibit about Seattle architectContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist I am so deeply disturbed about the events of this summer. It seems like all we Jews have been experiencing is misery. I do not know how to get out of this overwhelming sense of sadness and depression. Is the situation in IsraelContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I am reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I am enjoying it very much. The storyline is laced with fascinating religious-themed exchanges between characters. Though the discussions are of a Christian nature they have gotten me thinking aboutContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, In honor of Mother’s Day I decided to prepare a speech, a d’var Torah, about mothers and daughters in the Torah. I thought it was a good idea. I began my research in earnest but had quite a hard time findingContinue Reading
