By Emily K. Alhadeff , Associate Editor, JTNews “No one conceived of the notion there would ever be vibrant Jewish life in the Soviet Union,” said Asher Ostrin. “Now they’ve disproved it big time.” Ostrin has worked with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee since 1986, first serving as theContinue Reading
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By Joel Magalnick , Editor, JTNews You haven’t truly heard The Four Questions until you hear them recited in multiple languages. Most of us at our seders will hear them in two: The usual Hebrew and their English translations. But at the first of what is hoped to become anContinue Reading
By Janis Siegel , JTNews Correspondent The newest research on the United States Jewish population shows that it is growing. Locally, some say the size of the “tribe” may even be underestimated. Plagued by the ongoing decrease of landline telephones and a growing aversion to phone surveys, researchers today areContinue Reading
By Gigi Yellen-Cohn, JTNews Correspondent He was a force to be reckoned with, this large-voiced man, the composer Bonia Shur. When Shur died last August at the age of 89, Rabbi David Ellenson, president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, paid him tribute for having “composed for andContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff , Associate Editor, JTNews Have you heard this one? An American Jewish woman travels to the Himalayas in search of a famous guru. She finds a Sherpa, who cautions her about the perilous trek. And, he warns, “Once we get there, you are only allowed toContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick , Editor, JTNews When he was growing up, Hen Mazzig’s mother would often tell him she hoped she wouldn’t have to send him to the army, because Israel would have reached peace with its neighbors, rendering the military unnecessary. “Unfortunately, this day seems to be far,” MazzigContinue Reading
By Janis Siegel , JTNews Correspondent We are “citizens of the globe and cosmopolitans,” said Michael Rosenthal, professor and philosophy department chair at the University of Washington, as he introduced a UW panel, Circumcision as a Human Rights Issue, “and the rights of the child to bodily integrity have beenContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, JTNews Passover begins this year on Monday, March 25. Here is a comprehensive list of the public seders going on around Washington State, including alternative seders and Passover-related events. Please contact the organizations directly for further details and reservations. First and second night sedersContinue Reading
By Tim Klass , JTNews Correspondent A plan to collect tolls on the Interstate 90 floating bridge is raising a double whammy of concern and uncertainty across Mercer Island, not the least among its Jewish institutions. “Tolling could make membership and access to [Congregation Herzl-Ner Tamid] cost-prohibitive and burdensome forContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff , Associate Editor, JTNews For those of you who still think kosher wine means kosher-aisle, bottom-shelf Kedem Concord Cream Red, sip on this: Bartenura Moscato has the highest sales of imported Moscatos in the United States. Eighty-five percent of the signature blue bottle dessert wine sellsContinue Reading
By Mathias Cohanim , Special to JTNews For the past two years, Northwest Yeshiva High School’s Green Team has run three shoe drives to donate as many shoes as possible to people in need. We do this through Redeeming Soles, a two-year-old Seattle-based non-profit organization. Though we initially started organizingContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews Home Care Pulse, one of North America’s top quality-assurance firms for in-home senior care, has given Jewish Family Service’s HomeCare Associates its Best of Home Care award. The award is based on client-satisfaction surveys conducted on thousands of home-care organizations across the continent. Caregivers takeContinue Reading
By , JTNews Correspondent At the international convention for the BBYO youth group last month, several members from the Evergreen Region brought home awards: Jessica Markowitz won the Anita Perlman BBYO Stand UP Award for her consistent work in trying to improve her community. She performed her community service bothContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, JTNews Two years ago, Stopsky’s opened with the tagline “tradition, updated,” and the community-focused Mercer Island delicatessen seems to have found its groove — if getting the attention of established foodie magazine Bon Appétit is any indication. On February 25, BonAppetit.com ran “Brisket andContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, JTNews On January 17, the Samis Foundation promoted Rob Toren from grants director to executive director. Toren, an ordained rabbi and former director of Judaica at the Jewish Community Centers of Cleveland, Ohio, had served as grants director since 1997. Founded by Sam IsraelContinue Reading
By David J. Litvak , Special to JTNews Despite the incessant rain, Portland, the City of Roses, is one of America’s most charming cities. The city is home to weekend markets and microbreweries, a great science center and zoo (part of Washington Park, which also includes the city’s Holocaust memorial),Continue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, JTNews It’s hard to believe that Madeleine Albright, who fled Prague with her parents in 1939 and lost three grandparents in the Holocaust, never had any idea her family was Jewish. “Stunned is not even a word,” said the former secretary of state toContinue Reading
By Janis Siegel , JTNews Correspondent Israeli professor and counter-terrorism expert Dr. Jonathan Fine used his meeting at a Seattle home this month to reinforce one of his primary messages to Jewish audiences today: You must educate yourself to refute the smear campaign and propaganda ruining Israel’s global image today.Continue Reading
By Tim Klass, JTNews Correspondent For Shalom Simchon, Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, trade missions involve more than drumming up business for Israeli companies and boosting investments by U.S. businesses in Israel. Also on his agenda during visits to leading businesses in the San Francisco Bay and PugetContinue Reading
