By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I think that Purim should be a time to educate people about the strength of Jewish women. But the day has a life of its own. It is a high-speed kind of an experience packed with a dizzying amount of activities; lotsContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist It happened, as these things often do, at a conference. “It,” being Boundaries of Jewish Identity (University of Washington Press), a new collection of essays on Jewish identity edited by UW Professors Susan Glenn, the Howard and Frances Keller Endowed Professor in History, and NaomiContinue Reading
By Rabbi Berry Farkash, Chabad of the Central Cascades I encountered the following story on several Web sites: A number of years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all startedContinue Reading
By Richard Fruchter, President, Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, Ron Leibsohn, Board Chair, Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, Seattle Over the last two years, the economy has taken its toll on our Jewish community and many of its vital organizations that provide important services. We are not alone in seeingContinue Reading
By Richard Silverstein , Special to JTNews Robert Wilkes, in the last issue of JTNews, wrote this about me: …Many American [Jews]…support pro-Palestinian groups and the BDS movement…and seek to delegitimize Israel. They employ tropes such as “apartheid” and “Israeli-Nazi war machine” to create a smokescreen of twisted facts andContinue Reading
By Rabbi Jill Borodin, Congregation Beth Shalom “Luchot v’shivre luchot menuchim ba’aron” — “The whole tablets and the broken tablets rested inside the Ark of the Covenant” (Babah Batra 14b). The whole and the broken rest together in our sacred covenant. This past week we read in our Torah portionContinue Reading
By Robert Wilkes, , Bellevue David Shayne’s otherwise excellent column defending the IDF against the truly scurrilous charge of war crimes has a statement that I strongly object to (“Dishonest message could have promoted hate crimes,” Jan. 14). He writes, “If the IDF deserves to be singled out, it isContinue Reading
By Robert Wilkes , Special to JTNews Robert Wilkes is a political columnist who writes from a conservative viewpoint. Robert’s column this week concerns matters of Jewish survival and is not about American politics. If you think American politics is discordant, Israel’s is a cacophony. Since the beginning of theContinue Reading
By David Shayne, , Seattle Re: Mr. Wilkes’ letter (whom, for sake of full disclosure, I consider a dear friend) in which he took understandable umbrage at my remarks about My Lai and Haditha, I am truly sorry my words were understood the way he did. He states, “I amContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist It’s become harder and harder to be a physician in private practice these days, especially in primary care, as Dr. Mindy Blaski can attest. We chatted on the phone last month about her recent retirement. It wasn’t just about the challenges of the current health-careContinue Reading
By Ron Cohen, , Netanya, Israel Did it occur to you that boycotting Israel means that you are wishing for your family to starve (“Standing with her grandchild,” Letters, Jan. 14)? If you read the “not-so-fine print” of the platform of Evergreen radicals you will see that the “two-state solution”Continue Reading
By Eric Leibman, , Portland, Ore. Are any of you, and by that I mean Jews and other members of the pro-Israel community, bothered by the fact your tax dollars are being extracted from you to help fund Evergreen State College’s virulently anti-Israel and personally threatening academic environment (“Evergreen: TheContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Are Chinese mothers elbowing out Jewish mothers in the “super-crazed, ambitious, drive-your-child” department? How did we let this happen? I thought that Jewish mothers were firmly planted in the top slot of wild parental determination. Are we sliding? Do you think JewishContinue Reading
By Rabbi Alan Cook , Temple De Hirsch Sinai It was my honest intent to write an upbeat article for my guest stint in the JTNews. A reflection on the promise of the new secular year, perhaps, or an appreciation of something cute that my children had recently done. Truly,Continue Reading
By Howard Gale , Special to JTNews This letter, drafted by Howard Gale of Seattle and signed by 42 other members of Seattle’s Jewish community, was presented to King County Executive Dow Constantine on Jan. 10 protesting the county’s decision to cancel advertisements critical of Israel that would have runContinue Reading
By David Shayne , Special to JTNews Were the ads sponsored by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign to run on Seattle Metro buses this month really so offensive and incendiary that King County chose wisely in not running them? Or do they constitute a legitimate and reasonable political message thatContinue Reading
By Rabbi James Mirel, Co-chair, Seattle MAZON benefit, Seattle Thank you to the JTNews for co-sponsoring the annual MAZON Hanukkah benefit. Your beautiful ad and promotional material enabled us to fill the room to capacity and to raise over $14,000 for MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Thanks also toContinue Reading
By Akiva Kenny Segan, , Seattle As a regular visitor to Israel to guest teach (six trips since 1999 — my next is this April) and as an American Jewish artist and educator whose educational artworks on the Holocaust have been exhibited around the region, editor Joel Magalnick’s article (“ProvocativeContinue Reading
By Josh Basson, , Seattle I commend Joel Magalnick for his insighful article (“Provocative bus ads go to highest levels of county government,” Dec. 24). Edward Mast’s bus ads are misleading and factually in error. Refusing hate speech is not censorship but a matter of common decency. This means theContinue Reading
By Emily Weisberg, , Olympia Since a resolution in favor of divesting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine passed at Evergreen last year, tensions have run high. I understand it may be difficult for those who disagree to speak up. I have been in many positions where my opinion isContinue Reading
