By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Northwest Yeshiva High School grad Gilah Kletenik spent eight weeks this summer on an Orthodox Union-sponsored Congressional internship program in the other Washington. Gilah discovered the program when she was a Lieberman scholar in high school, a related OU program. She learned to be aContinue Reading
By Jeremy D. Sher, , Seattle I’d like to appreciate Rob Jacobs’s impact as head of our regional ADL. As a Zionist peacenik, I experienced first-hand the pivotal role Rob played in bridging difficult issues in our community. Through his levelheaded and magnanimous disposition, Rob welcomed a large group ofContinue Reading
By Barbara Lahav, , Mercer Island It was with great surprise and a heavy heart that I read of the unplanned departure of Rob Jacobs as the local Executive Director of the ADL. I want to publicly thank Rob for his devoted community work during his tenure at ADL. ItContinue Reading
By Rainer Waldman Adkins, Chairperson, Greater Seattle Chapter Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, Seattle As Rob Jacobs departs the position of Director for the Pacific Northwest Region of the Anti-Defamation League, the Greater Seattle Chapter of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, which defines itself as “pro-Israel and pro-peace,” wishes to honor his pivotal roleContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist On a quiet dead-end street in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood, Zachary Self and Aaron Walker-Loud have set up shop, doing that enviable thing: blending professional work and the art they love. In a combination recording studio and music school, Zach mixes sound in the basement whileContinue Reading
By Phillip Klitzner, Owner, Nosh Away, Seattle Over the past few days, I understand that there has been a lot of negative feedback regarding the Jewish festival in relation to Nosh Away and other food vendors. I sincerely value the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and all of the workContinue Reading
By Rabbi Mordechai Farkash, Congregation Beis Menachem – Lubavitch As any good homeowner knows, it’s not the little boxes with the flashing lights that protect your home. It’s the police station. You just need to make sure those little boxes are properly connected. A mezuzzah on your doorpost works muchContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, As we prepare to dip that apple in honey and to get into gear for major honey cake baking, I wonder about the theme of sweetness at this time of year. Rosh Hashanah is a time of judgment, introspection and somber reflection.Continue Reading
By Rabbi David Fine, Union for Reform Judaism The Jewish traditions and rituals surrounding the greatest of our joys — birth, reaching adulthood, marriage — are in and of themselves transformative. They give us a structure around which we celebrate. While the parents of a newborn may be exhausted, extendedContinue Reading
By Ami Eden , JTA News & Features NEW YORK (JTA) — Harvard University law professor Noah Feldman would have stood on much stronger intellectual ground had he simply sent the following notice to the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times, the usual address for high-powered wedding announcements:Continue Reading
By Rabbi Shmuley Boteach , JTA News & Features Noah Feldman was a brilliant, Orthodox Jewish Rhodes scholar who arrived in Oxford in 1992 in my fourth year as rabbi at the university. He and I quickly hit it off. For one thing, there was scarcely a subject — JewishContinue Reading
By Rabbi Anson Laytner, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee, Seattle A number of people have asked me why I was in China so early and it made me wonder if JTNews would want to clarify the following for your readers (“M.O.T.: A local rabbi’s ties to China,” July 20). AsContinue Reading
By Susan Alhadeff, , Seattle Manny Frishberg’s reporting on the movie A Mighty Heart (“One of the unlucky ones,” July 6) leaves open a question as to whether Daniel Pearl’s last recorded words were “I am a Jewish-American” or not. Indeed, not only did he state that, but also, “MyContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Many readers may remember the Bar and Bat Mitzvah twinning program of the 1980s, which paired Soviet Jews denied the right to practice their religion with young Americans who were becoming Jewish adults. The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous has spun off on this ideaContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, My father recently passed away and I find myself saying the Kaddish prayer on a daily basis. Even after reading it over many times, I still don’t understand the connection between it and the death of my father. I hear Kaddish saidContinue Reading
By Josh Basson , , Seattle Strengthening weakly Dan Baron’s insightful front page column was quite informative (“Uncertainty hampers progress for Israel, Palestinians,” July 6). Baron highlights the redrawing of the Palestinian political map following the Hamas violent takeover of Gaza, thus complicating Israel’s plans to forge new ties toContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Columnist Although Rabbi Anson Laytner has served in a variety of professional positions in Seattle over the years, and is currently the director of the Greater Seattle chapter of the American Jewish Committee, he’s had a long standing avocation as a member of the Sino-Judaic InstituteContinue Reading
By Rabbi Eliakim Koenigsberg , Special to JTNews The customs we observe on the day of Tisha B’Av are strikingly similar to those of an avel, a mourner, one whose close relative has recently passed away. We abstain from washing ourselves, putting on perfume, and wearing leather shoes. Instead, weContinue Reading
By Sharon Asia Finegold, , Seattle Now that the play about Rachel Corrie has come and gone, the various executive directors of the organizations who responded cooperatively and local volunteers are pleased that our various efforts were so helpful for many attendees of the play and the larger community. VitallyContinue Reading
By Philip R. Scheier, , Seattle I was quite touched by the unhappy plight of so-called Progressive Jews here in the soul-searching news report by your correspondent Manny Frishberg, (“Progressive Jews confront how they are treated,” June 22). The lead paragraphs cite a litany of problems for Jews here withContinue Reading
