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By Lea Hanan, , Seattle After reading about Rabbi Schwartz’s sentencing and the comments from Rabbi David of the Seattle Kollel, I would like to say the following to Rabbi David and Rabbi Schwartz. I am sorry that you thought that parading a group of a hundred supporters in frontContinue Reading

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By Rabbi Marc Angel and Rabbi Avraham Weiss , JTA News & Features NEW YORK (JTA) — The Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Rabbinical Council of America have concluded an agreement related to conversion that will allow the two groups to work together. This solves a problem that reachedContinue Reading

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By Sidney Stock, , Bellevue With my first step onto Israeli soil, my initial thought was of finally being home — but in a surprising way. This thought was: “Now, in Israel, if I commit some illegal act, for the first time in my life I’ll be judged on theContinue Reading

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By Ami Eden , JTA News & Features NEW YORK (JTA) — Barack Obama has spent months fending off successive waves of highly misleading and outright false e-mail campaigns, but this week the Democratic front-runner found himself scrambling to respond to an indisputable YouTube-documented outrage: the inflammatory sermons of hisContinue Reading

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By Rabbi Shalom D. (Berry) Farkash, Chabad of the Central Cascades Since it is Purim today, we need to say l’chaim, so l’chaim, l’chaim v’livracha! Opening the previous JTNews, I saw the Purim edition called “The Backward” and this brought to my mind an interesting halachah I learned in yeshivahContinue Reading

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By Celia Y. Weisman, Director of Development, Spectrum Dance, Seattle Thank you for publishing Leyna Krow’s thoughtful article, “Political movement: Spectrum Dance Theater Takes on the Holocaust and other humanitarian crises,” (Feb. 22). As Krow discusses, “The Theater of Needless Talents,” — Spectrum’s world premiere — deals with powerful issuesContinue Reading

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By Gary Mokotoff, , Bergenfield, N.J. sthumous baptism of Jews by the Mormon Church, [that it was] was the act of “just nine people out of 13 million Mormons” is not true (The record keepers,” Feb. 22). Until the Mormon Church signed an agreement with certain Jewish organizations in MayContinue Reading

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By Joel Magalnick , Editor, JTNews That members of the West Seattle Torah Learning Center sent Judge George Holifield 100 letters in support of Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz says something about their devotion to their rabbi. But was it the right thing to do? Rabbi Schwartz was convicted in January ofContinue Reading

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By Miriam Swedlow, , Seattle I was disappointed by Leyna Krow’s recent article about the Seattle Orthodox Day Schools (“Learning curve,” Feb. 8). While I applaud her for writing an article that openly discusses an issue that has remained in whispered corners of the Orthodox community, her article completely overlookedContinue Reading

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By Rabbi Yechezchel Kornfeld, Congregation Shevet Achim The “Hot Topic” in all Jewish communities throughout the world is how best to ensure the continued existence of our people. What must be said at the onset is that the existence of the Jews is not in danger. God has already promised,Continue Reading

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By Linda Clifton, , Seattle Thank you so much for your detailed coverage of recent successful efforts to move the 2008 Democratic county conventions off [of] the weekend that Passover begins. While I agree that the party’s scheduling of precinct caucuses on a Saturday is both unfortunate and serious, it’sContinue Reading

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By Natalie Gerson, , Bellevue I received the JTNews on Friday, January 11, and quickly turned to the Best of Everything. I was particularly interested in the tradition section. The Best Challah category stated that Leah’s and other kosher bakers were pushed out by the Great Harvest Bread Company inContinue Reading

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By Aviram Sela, Commander, Keren Artillery Battalion, Israel I would like to thank [Seattle Friends of the Israel Defense Forces] for your generosity and for donating the battalion a mobile gym. The gym is in constant use. Practicing at the gym allows [for] keeping a high level of physical fitnessContinue Reading

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By Mark Schreiber, , Seattle Congratulations to JTNews on their well-designed attempt to rehabilitate Rabbi Schwartz’s image. The first article painted a vivid picture of the rabbi’s remarkable wisdom and learning (sadly his wisdom did not lead to his learning that he might be better off taking the bus). OnceContinue Reading

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By Keith Gormezano , , Seattle As a Jew and a safe driver, I was pleased that the jury convicted Ephraim Schwartz for “assault — injury by vehicle,” a gross misdemeanor. No one is above the law. First, to me, using a cell phone while driving is driving recklessly. Period.Continue Reading

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By Tree McCurdy, , Seattle Oy! When all is said and done, it looks like the Democratic Party Chair is more in tune with Passover than our local Jewish journalist! Dwight Pelz’s apology for the scheduling error clearly admitted that, as scheduled, the convention conflicted “with the needs of JewishContinue Reading

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By Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum, The Kavana Cooperative We’ve experienced a dramatic shift in the content of our Torah reading over the past couple of weeks. For the months since Simchat Torah, we’ve been captivated by the gripping narrative that led us from the creation of the world, through the storiesContinue Reading

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By Robert Jacobs, Northwest Regional Director Stand With Us, Seattle rats bow to pressure, change Passover plans,” the JTNews didn’t credit Jeremy Sher, a Democratic Party activist, former State Democrats technology director, and a member of the Jewish Democratic Caucus, with putting together the movetheconvention.com Web site in just overContinue Reading

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By Josh Basson, , Seattle Ron Kampeas’s insightful column was quite informative (“Bush goes to Israel,” Jan. 11). Bush wants illegal settlement outposts removed. Kampeas points out that Olmert’s “predecessor, Ariel Sharon, argued with the Americans that Israel’s actions on settlements would come after Palestinians demonstrated an ability to preventContinue Reading

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By   ,   Is it a religious imperative or a matter of convenience? Though Jewish Democratic activists are claiming victory in the rescheduling of the party’s county conventions from the morning of the first evening of Passover, we believe that it’s a hollow victory. An online petition drafted byContinue Reading