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By Allen M. Gown, M.D. , , Seattle So the Va’ad would like to prevent us from accidentally ingesting insects with our food (“The food network,” July 11)? Perhaps the rabbis of the Va’ad might not be happy to learn that in all likelihood all the food they consume, includingContinue Reading

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By Rev. Barry Keatin, Maplewood Presbyterian Church , Edmonds My name is the Rev. Barry Keating and I am the minister of Maplewood Presbyterian Church in Edmonds, Wash. I am also one of the board members of the Washington State Holocaust Education and Resource Center. You published recently a wonderfulContinue Reading

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By Benjamin Pollock , , San Francisco, Calif. Jewish progressives like Richard Silverstein need to return to their roots and rediscover who is the true underdog in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is not Israel that needs the harsh prod of a boycott, excuse me, a divestment campaign to be pushedContinue Reading

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By Joel Magalnick , Editor, JTNews Well, it’s official. The cost to insure my family now exceeds the size of my wife’s paycheck. To many of you who are in the unenviable position of having to self-insure your families, this comes as no surprise. Keeping covered is very expensive. ToContinue Reading

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By Barbara H. Brandt , The Secular Jewish Cirlce of Puget Sound There are two persistent commandments in the Torah: have no strange gods and welcome strangers. Why welcome strangers? The paradigmatic passage is in Leviticus 19: “You shall not oppress the alien. The ger (stranger) who resides with youContinue Reading

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By The National Council of Jewish Women Seattle Section, , The National Council of Jewish Women Seattle Section, was disappointed to see an ad in “The Shouk” section of the JTNews (May 16) selling “Superb Israeli Pistols.” This is the same issue with a front-page article about the [Naveed] HaqContinue Reading

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By Neil Goldberg , , kirkland Richard Silverstein is entitled to his opinion on the divestment issue against Israel (“Divesting, not boycotting,” June 13). That, of course, is his right. What he should not be entitled to: self-proclaimed comments invoking how they are not meant to prevent Israel from protectingContinue Reading

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By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Ari Livne of Mercer Island was named a Presidential Scholar in the arts last month. Ari, who just graduated from Lakeside School, explained to me that the award is an honor and also an opportunity. Most Presidential Scholars are nominated through SAT scores, but artsContinue Reading

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By Dave Kaplan, , Seattle Richard Silverstein writes: “Israel listens when the Diaspora makes its views known. If local Jewish groups don’t, you can’t blame the outside world when it decides it has had enough.” That line alone struck me as the crux of why some of these crazy SeattleContinue Reading

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By Ursula Rychter , , Seattle After subscribing to the JTNews for 45-plus years, I am hereby canceling my subscription. The constant anti-Israel bias of the current editorship — and, I assume, the overseeing board — has finally gotten to me and my patience has run out. Your full-page coverageContinue Reading

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By Michael Zimmerman , , Chicago, Ill. I am compiling memoirs and stories for a book about volunteers to Israel who traveled there in June 1967 to help. Many served as nurses, mechanics, farm and kibbutz workers, drivers, etc. Time is passing, and the record of the stories must beContinue Reading

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By Rabbi Beth Singer, Temple Beth Am We Jews, like all other constituencies in America, have been caught up in the drama, headache and excitement of a presidential primary that included the first serious Mormon candidate. It also included, of course, the first woman and the first African-American to makeContinue Reading

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By Randy Kessler, , Mercer Island Why is it that “peace activists” like Richard Silverstein (“Divesting, not boycotting,” June 13) always tell us that they are supporters of Israel right as they support anti-Israel policies like Initiative 97? This is the height of duplicity and an insult to the intelligenceContinue Reading

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By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Recent Oberlin College graduate Laura Kanter has received the Oberlin Hillel Award for Leadership in the Oberlin Jewish community, presented by the Cleveland Hillel Foundation, for the work she has done over the past four years. Among the jobs she held there, Laura was co-chairContinue Reading

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By Richard Silverstein , Special to JTNews The debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is about to heat up considerably here in Seattle. Peace activists have taken a page from the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, which have proposed resolutions divesting church funds from companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation. InitiativeContinue Reading

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By David Shayne , Special to JTNews The last JTNews featured an article about Norman Finkelstein’s participation in local “Naqba” observances. While discussing his remarks at length, the article omitted pertinent facts about Finkelstein himself and the origin of “Naqba” day. Although described as an “academic lecturer,” Finkelstein is notContinue Reading

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By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist With their fundraising auction on June 8, Chamber Music Madness will celebrate its 10th year of teaching young people to play chamber music. The program teaches sight-reading, repertoire, and the democratic process required of small groups of musicians (usually the string quartet, two violins, aContinue Reading