By Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Columnist “I’ve been doing geometric designs my entire life,” says Dorienn Medrano, whose designs were featured on the front and inside cover of a recent Jewish Day School alumni newsletter. But surprisingly, Dorienn adds, “I didn’t realize I was artistic” until a few years ago.Continue Reading
By Margaret Hinson, Special to the Jewish Sound June 20 is World Refugee Day and a fitting time to consider our community’s ongoing commitment to refugee resettlement. Jewish Family Service was originally founded to help Jews resettling in Seattle, and more specifically to help Eastern European Jews fleeing pogroms —Continue Reading
By Paula Libes Chester, Special to The Jewish Sound The Seattle Jewish community came together Wednesday night, May 28, at a packed Temple De Hirsch Sinai to hear Ari Shavit, author of “My Promised Land,” and the Reverend Kenneth Flowers, of Greater New Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit,Continue Reading
Dear Ari Shavit: I was one of the under-30 audience members in your audience at Temple De Hirsch Sinai on May 28 — one of the “lost” youth who avoided the issue of Israel when I was in college because it was, as you said, “radioactive.” I am going toContinue Reading
I was astonished by Rivy Poupko Kletenik’s misreading of Paul Greenberg’s intent in his article, “Holocaust Day Again” (“Be quiet? Not a chance!” May 9). To my mind, what he expressed is the very opposite of Kletenik’s claim of his disrespect for remembering the Holocaust. He is telling us thatContinue Reading
Two recent articles in The Jewish Sound caught my eye regarding language and words. In “A story of Polish-Jewish reconciliation, propelled by history’s personal gaps” (Dec. 20, 2013), the wordage — however unintentionally — defeats the purpose and intent of the story re: the goals of the person the articleContinue Reading
I just spent a couple of fun-filled hours perusing the archives in the Jewish Transcript (since renamed JTNews). It was a walk down memory lane — checking in on many of my relatives who I knew as a child but who have since passed away. I also learned about relativesContinue Reading
By Rabbi Oren Hayon, Special to The Jewish Sound In his biography of Pyrrhus of Epirus, Plutarch recounts the details of the ancient Greek general’s costly victory against Rome at Asculum in 279 BCE. According to Plutarch’s account, shortly after the battle, Pyrrhus considered the devastating losses to his MacedonianContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Columnist “Humbling,” is how Seattle’s Joshua Gortler described receiving an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Yeshiva University (YU) May 22. Speaking the week before, he said the most remarkable thing was that this could happen to “an immigrant kid who [came] to this countryContinue Reading
By Ed Harris, Jewish Sound Columnist I knew being a father would bring surprises: Becoming a “Dancing Dad” is one, however, I never saw coming. I am in fact a terrible dancer, much to my wife’s disappointment, as her favorite leisure-time activity when we first met was folk dancing. EarlyContinue Reading
By Rabbi Jessica Kessler Marshall, Temple Beth Or I sat listening as a group of friends shared about their lives: One had an 85-year-old father who had just been diagnosed with cancer. My friend faced the uncertainty of his dad’s surgery and personal guilt that he lived far away, thusContinue Reading
By Rafael Medoff, JNS.org U.S. officials say it would be “too risky” to send commandos to rescue the 300 schoolgirls being held hostage by Islamist terrorists in Nigeria. If that’s the problem, they should look to the late George McGovern for the solution. Back in 1944, theContinue Reading
By Rachel Lerner, JTA World News ServiceNEW YORK (JTA) — The recent vote by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations rejecting J Street’s membership bid was not entirely surprising. J Street had been reaching out to conference members and community contacts for weeks. We knew that gainingContinue Reading
The rejection of J Street’s application for membership in the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is curious (Presidents Conference rejects J Street’s membership bid). Never mind what some may consider J Street’s controversial Mideast positions or its separately incorporated political action committee, the rejection speaks worlds aboutContinue Reading
Emily Alhadeff’s reflections (“Court’s decision highlights a bigger problem,” April 25) on the Olympia Food Co-op’s decision to cleanse its shelves of Israeli products are very acute in suggesting that nearly all BDS agitprop against Israel can fairly be labeled “Jews Against Themselves.” But she overlooks one paradox: The symbioticContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, Jewish Sound columnist 1 “For improving health — and giving hope — to the world’s most vulnerable people,” Celina Schocken recently received a distinguished alumni award from Lakeside High School for her work in international public health. Now living in the New York area, Celina returned home toContinue Reading
By Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent It’s happened to all of us. Whether we drank too much coffee before bedtime, ate too much rich or spicy food, exercised too close to lights out, or consumed too much alcohol, we toss and turn, and maybe fall asleep for a while beforeContinue Reading
By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, Jewish Sound Columnist Dear Rivy, I can barely contain myself. I just read the article by Paul Greenberg, “Holocaust Day Again” — posted all over the Internet. It is revolting on so many levels. Here is what he writes: Another year, another Holocaust Day — justContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist This salad is great to have in your back pocket for those potlucks and picnics that are starting to pop up on your calendar. It is easy to make, light and healthy, and packed with flavor that adults will love, but manageable for kidsContinue Reading
By Richard A. Block, JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — Freedom of the pulpit is a cherished Jewish value, yet some rabbis hesitate to share their “true views” about Israeli policy from the pulpit, as a study last year from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs found. ThereContinue Reading
