By Kate Lesser, , Seattle The “Books,” etc. edition of the JTNews (Nov. 18) has just arrived. I would prefer not to see a picture of a swastika, and a man holding a gun on the front cover. There must be a better way to go. Continue Reading
By Josh Basson, , Seattle I commend Joel Magalnick for his perceptive column “Seattleites win education prize“ (Nov. 11) as very informative. Glad to hear that Robert Beiser, the campus/Jconnect director was recognized nationally by the Covenant Foundation and awarded a prize of $15,000 over the next three years toContinue Reading
By Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, Congregation Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath The recent revelations concerning allegations of deeply disturbing acts at Penn State University focus attention on the difference between technical legal requirements and moral obligations. The laws in Pennsylvania are less rigorous than those of most states concerning mandated reporting. SomeContinue Reading
By David Dabscheck , JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — The flurry of commentary about an outbreak of hostilities between Iran and the United States or Israel has overlooked a critical issue — the security implications for the American Jewish community. Any military conflict could not only transformContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist About two months ago my family and I visited Whitman College in Walla Walla. We arrived Friday afternoon and headed to the student union to buy challah from Challah For Hunger (which we wrote about in April) before our tour. Later, we joined about 30Continue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Hanukkah is our family’s favorite holiday. We host a different set of guests each night and we like to inject each year with its own special flavor. As the holiday approaches we identify a theme for the year and I try toContinue Reading
By Wendy Rosen , Special to JTNews Now, there’s no doubt about it. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states in its chilling new report on Iran that while it has not yet actually built a bomb, “Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosiveContinue Reading
By Rafael Medoff , JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — Most American Christian leaders strongly condemned the Kristallnacht pogrom that the Nazis carried out against Germany’s Jews 73 years ago this week, when hundreds of synagogues were torched, the windows of thousands of Jewish businesses were smashed, 100 JewsContinue Reading
By Elie Kaunfer , JTA World News Service DENVER (JTA) — I want to challenge one of the mainstay assumptions of organized Jewish life: Jewish continuity is the end goal, and everything is in service of that goal. It’s been 20 years since the release of the 1990 National JewishContinue Reading
By Nevet Basker, , Bellevue I congratulate Rabbi Kinberg on her insightful column (“We need to let the world know how we really feel about Israel,” Oct. 28). She is correct to observe that a millennia-long connection to the land of Israel, and contemporary caring about the future of theContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Waxing nostalgic Diana Brement JTNews Columnist 1 A confluence of events brought Susan Szafir to electronically publish “Bohemia: An Essay,” a brief memoir of part of her father’s life. “I was getting my certificate in non-fiction from the University of Washington,” she says, and neededContinue Reading
By Rabbi Olivier BenHaim , Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue A surprising turn of events happens in next week’s Torah portion, Chayei Sarah. We read: “Abraham breathed his last and died in good ripe age, old and satisfied, and was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried himContinue Reading
By Janis Siegel , JTNews Columnist Travel, particularly international travel, proves for many of us to be one of the best ways to explore different cultures and expand our worldview. In 2010 alone, there were 1 billion international arrivals for business and leisure, according to statistics from the World TourismContinue Reading
By Josh Basson, , Seattle Your front page article by Uriel Heilman (“Shalit deal was best Israel was going to get,” Oct. 14) was quite informative. The illegal kidnapping and hostage taking by Hamas terrorists of Shalit in a June 2006 raid along the Israel-Gaza border aroused enormous concern andContinue Reading
By Rabbi Will Berkovitz , Special to JTNews Hope has feathers, that reason is a plank, that life is a loaded gun that looks right at you with a yellow eye. —Billy Collins Disclaimer: There is nothing altruistic in the following words. My time in Ghana felt like the spiritualContinue Reading
By Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg , Temple B’nai Torah The other morning I checked in with my 60-something-year-old mother. She seemed very tired. “I was up all night,” she told me. “I did not sleep at all.” When I asked her why she did not sleep her response was simple: “IContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist 1 It’s just happenstance, I promise, but readers will see that our featured M.O.T.s have names that inadvertently, but suitably, fit their occupations. People sometimes assume Eric LeVine changed his name to match his work, but his great-grandfather changed it a long time ago. EricContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, There has been quite a bit of public conversation about the troubling issue of bullying. I watched CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s week-long Town Hall meetings on the issue and the new study results. I was alternately moved and upset, and I’m now deeplyContinue Reading
By Rabbi Anson Laytner, , Seattle Does the Israeli government — or ours for that matter — see the sad irony in opposing votes at the UN regarding the recognition of a Palestinian state? Where would Israel be today were it not for the votes taken in 1947? Yet hereContinue Reading
By Josh Basson, , Seattle I commend Mervyn Danker for his perceptive op-ed column (“A Palestinian state should be the result of negotiations,” Sept. 16) as right on the mark. Abbas needs to negotiate directly with Netanyahu without pre-conditions and accept Israel as a Jewish state. Also, the creation ofContinue Reading
