By Simone Rodan-Benzaquen PARIS (JTA) — The kosher supermarket was chosen deliberately. Men, women and children were shopping and preparing for Shabbat. Only two days before the attack, terrorists had left 10 of the best-known satirical journalists and cartoonists dead at Charlie Hebdo. Three French police officers were also struckContinue Reading
By Daniel S. Mariaschin, JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — Before the HarperCollins Middle East atlas story is deleted from email inboxes, it pays to spend another moment ruminating on the damage caused by companies that ought to know better. On its website, HarperCollins bills itself as “one ofContinue Reading
By Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, Va’ad HaRabanim of Greater Seattle This Shabbat we will to begin to read and study the Book of Shemot. It is the book of slavery and of redemption, of Torah and of Mishkan — the beginning of Peoplehood. The Midrash attributes our redemption from bondage to our meritContinue Reading
While I was a bit surprised to learn that the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project has expanded to offer trips for men (“It’s Birthright Israel — for Jewish moms,” Dec. 12, 2014), I was even more surprised to learn that “the women visit a group children’s home and attend a cookingContinue Reading
Apparently the irony of Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) co-opting both the celebration of Hanukkah and the events in Ferguson, Missouri to promote their virulently anti-Israel agenda was lost on JTNews (“Jews in Seattle and beyond light Hanukkah candles for racial justice,” Dec. 19, 2014). Hanukkah is not just aContinue Reading
By Rabbi Marc D. Angel, Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals The Shabbat of Hanukkah was observed among Sephardim of the Ottoman Empire as “Shabbat Halbashah,” the Shabbat of providing clothing for the needy. Traditionally, the rabbi would deliver a sermon that day on the mitzvah of charity and lovingkindness.Continue Reading
Federation CEO Keith Dvorchik echoed many of my feelings in his recent column (“As we mourn, let us stop the divisiveness about Israel,” Nov. 21). We, the Jewish people, are 0.2 percent of the world’s population. In today’s world, however, it’s easy to feel close only to those Jews whoContinue Reading
By Ron Kampeas, JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — The stabbing of a rabbinical student at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in New York underscores three things that Jewish security officials have been urging in recent years: Be alert for copycats, cooperate with law enforcement, and don’t stay away from shul. AmericanContinue Reading
By Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, Special to the Jewish Sound “Bringing down Israel will really benefit everyone in the world and everyone in society, particularly workers.” These words were spoken by Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, at a Nov. 12 panel discussion at U.C. Berkeley organizedContinue Reading
By Rabbi Seth Goldstein, Special to JTNews One of my challenges as a rabbi is to make Judaism relevant across demographics. Part of the challenge comes from the fact that what necessitates how we teach Judaism to kids is different than how we teach Judaism to adults. And very oftenContinue Reading
By Keith Dvorchik, Special to the Jewish Sound I read with horror this week about the attack in a synagogue in Israel that left five dead, many injured, and millions of Jews around the world demoralized and shaken. How did we arrive at such a place when the vicious murdersContinue Reading
By Tziporah Heller Dear friends, Yesterday at about 7 a.m. my daughter Miri called. “Mordechai just came home from shul. He said that Arabs came in and are shooting, and that a man with an axe is hitting everyone. Some of the people threw chairs at them, but it didn’tContinue Reading
By Mark Dratch NEW YORK (JTA) – In a recent JTA Op-Ed, Rabbis Marc Angel and Avi Weiss made a number of claims about the Rabbinical Council of America’s conversion system. While some of their arguments have merit, they paint only a partial picture of what we’re doing in theContinue Reading
By Avi Weiss and Marc Angel NEW YORK (JTA) — The Israeli government recently moved to decentralize the conversion system by allowing local courts to convert individuals on their own. Ironically, as Israel moves away from centralization, here in America the Rabbinical Council of America is enthusiastically embracing it. TheContinue Reading
By Rabbi Adam Rubin, Congregation Beth Shalom While most Americans are religious — the great majority of our fellow citizens continue to assert a belief in the Divine (though this has declined in recent years, according to most surveys) — it’s how we’re religious that I find interesting. In orderContinue Reading
By Rabbi Bernie Fox, Northwest Yeshiva High School Jewish education should no longer be marketed as the foundation of Jewish continuity. I have been professionally engaged in Jewish education for over 35 years. Until recently, I believed that we should promote intensive Jewish education as the only proven means ofContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound Every morning, Seattle mayor Ed Murray wakes up, walks his dog, then gets a report on what happened overnight throughout the city. Invariably, he told a crowd of nearly 200 at Temple De Hirsch Sinai on Oct. 19, there will have been anContinue Reading
By Elana Sztokman, JTA World News Service MODIIN, Israel (JTA) — With the news that Rabbi Barry Freundel, a prominent Orthodox rabbi, has been arrested for peeping at the naked bodies of his female congregants through a secret camera in the mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath, many disturbing questions areContinue Reading
You published an op-ed written by Ms. Gown and Mr. Bridge (“Fighting extremism and tolerance in Israel and Seattle,” Oct. 3), which urged action concerning the problem of gender-segregated bomb shelters in Israel during the Gaza action. In fact, based on my research, they were referring to one outrageous incidentContinue Reading
By Eugene Lipitz, Special to The Jewish Sound When my daughter Sophie went to Israel, one moment for her seemed a profoundly transformational experience. It wasn’t seeing the Western Wall or the huge variety of Jewish people so different from her own experience. It wasn’t even going to a venture capital meetingContinue Reading
