By Goldie Gendler Silverman, , Seattle In a letter on August 19 (“No more criticism“), Michael Behar asked, “Would it be too much to expect that Washington’s sole Jewish newspaper serve as an unapologetic advocate of the Jewish State?” The answer to that question is, Yes, it is far tooContinue Reading
By Jerry Shulkin, , Mercer Island I most recently attended an elaborate and impressive Bat Mitzvah. That prompted my daughter to ask about my Bar Mitzvah almost 70 years ago in Minot, North Dakota. At its height during the early ’40s the congregation numbered about 40 families. This year aContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist 1 “We started Purple about 10 years ago — 10 years ago exactly,” Larry Kurofsky told me a few weeks ago about the well-known restaurant with branches in Seattle, Kirkland, Bellevue and Woodinville. After graduate school, Larry and his wife Tabitha started a restaurant togetherContinue Reading
By Randy Kessler, , Mercer Island The debate between Joel Alperson (Judaism is more than tikkun olam,” Aug. 5) and Eric Yoffie (“Judaism is always tikkun olam — and more“) offered two very different perspectives on whether non-Orthodox movements can survive long-term. And while it’s interesting to read point-counterpoint argumentsContinue Reading
By Michael Behar, , Seattle Week after week, month after month, in articles, op-eds and letters, the very legitimacy of the State of Israel is battled out on the pages of the JTNews. Israel’s critics are granted more than sufficient ink in the Seattle Times, The New York Times andContinue Reading
By Lillian Faderman , The Advocate Americans have every reason to envy Israel’s enlightened policies toward their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens. So it puzzles me deeply when I hear of LGBT groups lending their sympathy to opponents of Israel. The rights we have been fighting for and stillContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, A friend of mine is getting married this fall and came to me with some questions about the wedding ceremony. She and her fiancé are pretty secular, but she is still oriented toward tradition. She needs some help understanding one of theContinue Reading
By Rabbi Jaron Matlow , Congregation B’nai Torah Before I was a rabbi, I was a career Navy officer. I am also a veteran on total disability. With this part of what defines me, one thing I do is volunteer as a pastoral counselor and benefits advocate at the DisabledContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist It was a quiet evening at home when Arlene G. Cohen’s husband Steve turned to her and said, “Do you want to move to the South Pacific?” Steve was a tax attorney in private practice and had seen an ad for a job in Saipan,Continue Reading
By Joel Alperson , JTA World News Service OMAHA, Neb. (JTA) — A lot of my hometown of Omaha, Neb., was under water in the final days of July. Pumps were set down at various locations, including at a nuclear power plant located not far from town that had toContinue Reading
By Rabbi Eric Yoffie , JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — I have no patience for survival Judaism. Whenever I hear someone talk about what Jews must do in order to “survive,” I head for the door. Joel Alperson has joined the long list of Jewish communal leadersContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist A native of our fair state, Sheila (Schain) Stuart, has just completed a term as mayor of Cambridge, England. Born in Seattle, Sheila moved with her parents, Sid and Vicki Schain, to Yakima and then the Tri-Cities for a time, before the family settled inContinue Reading
By Josh Basson, , Seattle I commend Anav Silverman for her perceptive op-ed column (“No yellow brick road for Palestinian UN bid,” July 8) as right on the mark. Silverman rightly points out the lack of accountability of funds among the Palestinian leadership and that the majority of Palestinians livingContinue Reading
By Rabbi Bruce Kadden, Temple Beth El I have just returned from spending a week on the faculty of Camp Kalsman, the regional Union for Reform Judaism camp, culminating with the camp’s fifth anniversary celebration. The opportunity to spend a week at camp has been one of the highlights ofContinue Reading
By Ilana Cone Kennedy , Special to JTNews I am honored to have recently been selected as a recipient of the Pamela Waechter Jewish Communal Service Award. Having known and admired Pam, this award is especially meaningful to me. In a recent discussion about the award, two of the HolocaustContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist They’re out there at their keyboards, typing out their thoughts for you. Writing daily, weekly, or when they have something to say, these bloggers are hard at work on our home shores. (By complete coincidence, the three Jewish bloggers sampled here came originally from NewContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I confess: I became drawn in and addicted to the Casey Anthony trial. There is something captivating about this mystery — I cannot get enough. I cannot believe that she is going to allowed to go free; a mother who did notContinue Reading
By Robert Wilkes , Special to JTNews I can only imagine what my grandfather experienced as a Jew in the Ukraine before he immigrated to America in 1905. In my earliest memories he is very old; my mother was the last in a large family. In his musty Victorian houseContinue Reading
By Tani Zarelli, , Vancouver, Wash. In response to Simcha Shtull’s comments on Israel controlling the lives of 2.5 million Palestinians (“Israel must act,” Letters, June 24). This is a topic of discussion that can have many different views. Everyone has their opinion on how to solve the tension betweenContinue Reading
By Jeff Morton, , Gig Harbor As a black American who keeps a watchful eye on Middle East anything, the person from Seattle who writes: “Israel currently controls the lives of 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank. I therefore find it difficult to understand Wendy Rosen’s dire prediction” (“Continue Reading
