By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Jean (Mosseri) Naggar was 19 when her family received an expulsion notice. It was 1957 Cairo, in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, and Jews were fleeing Egypt en masse. The office they were to report to, ironically, was on aContinue Reading
By Boris Kurbanov, Special to Jewish Sound When I was 14, my friend Yoni and I took in a Yankees game on a late spring night. As we watched Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Shawn Green — first-round draft pick, two-time All-Star, Jew — take batting practice in the humid NewContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick Editor, The Jewish Sound Attitudes about Israel can be grouped into three different age groups, according to author and newspaper columnist Ari Shavit, and the gap, he said, is astonishing. People 70 and older can look to the Holocaust and see Israel as their safe haven. PeopleContinue Reading
By Dan Aznoff, Special to The Jewish Sound Mercer Island resident Alan Woog had some unfinished business. Five years ago, Woog shared the Northwest Senior United States Tennis Association indoor doubles championship in the 85-and-over division. Word of his athletic prowess apparently spread across the tennis circuit because there were noContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound After more than two hours of debate on May 20, the University of Washington student senate voted against resolution 20-39, for the UW to divest from certain corporations that do business with Israel, 59-8 with 11 abstentions. Jewish students opposed toContinue Reading
By Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent A volunteer for Sephardic Bikur Holim was arrested and charged on May 2 for the crime of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, with an additional finding of probable cause for having committed child molestation, according to the findings of a Seattle PoliceContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound He may be retiring from his current post, but Rabbi Jim Mirel is far from finished. “I don’t consider it the end. Death is the end. It’s a continuation,” says the longtime senior rabbi of Bellevue’s Temple B’nai Torah, who will retire atContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound “The priest desires. The philosopher desires. And not to have is the beginning of desire.” So wrote Wallace Stevens, the American poet whose words inspired the title of Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg’s first book, “The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis.” “It’sContinue Reading
By Dikla Tuchman, Jewish Sound Correspondent To just look at Adeena Sussman’s résumé of food writing over the last 13 years is enough to make your mouth water. Sussman, invited to Seattle to cater a young-women-focused Hadassah event earlier this month, brought a wealth of knowledge and Israeli cooking experience.Continue Reading
Francine “Frannie” Cohen was honored last night as Edmonds’ Citizen of the Year in a ceremony that focused on the almost-inconceivable amount of volunteer work she does for her community. Here’s the video of her accepting the award: And a story on MyEdmondsNews.com.Continue Reading
By Robert Wilkes, Special to The Jewish Sound May 10, 1972. A sky swarming with Navy jets approaching the North Vietnamese coast at 15,000 feet. I’m the wingman on the right of the lead A-6. A division of F-4 Phantom fighters prepares to race forward and attack anti-aircraft sites. OtherContinue Reading
(JTA) – The student senate at the University of Washington voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposed measure on divestment from Israel. The vote Tuesday night of 59 against, 8 in favor and 11 abstentions followed a 3 1/2-hour debate, according to StandWithUs, a pro-Israel campus group. The resolution was sponsoredContinue Reading
By Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent As the Seattle Orthodox Jewish community recovers from the conviction of a local religion school teacher on child molestation charges, a second male adult, a Sephardic Bikur Holim volunteer was arrested and charged on May 2 with the same crime. Eli Varon, a 28-year-oldContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound Standing in the building where nearly eight years ago she lay on the floor, bleeding from a gunshot wound inflicted by a man who minutes later would kill one of her coworkers, Cheryl Stumbo stood before press, colleagues and former coworkers to launchContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound On his blog at Macklemore.com, the local rap star explains that the costume he wore at his concert Friday night was not in any way intended to depict Jewish stereotypes. As he wrote: Family, friends and fans alike who know me well, knowContinue Reading
By Janis Siegel, Correspondent, The Jewish Sound Although turning 40 is usually a time for review, the theme of the University of Washington Stroum Center for Jewish Studies’ 40th Spring Gala in May is “looking forward” even as it celebrates its last four decades of immense growth. In 1974, now-retiredContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Reut Cohen knows what it feels like to be a minority. The Mizrachi Israeli grew up in Kiryat Haim, a suburb of Haifa, in a family that struggled economically. In high school, she came out of the closet. “The Israeli society isContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound On April 15, as Jewish students were celebrating the first day of Passover, a resolution was introduced to the University of Washington student senate calling on the university to divest from corporations that do business with Israel. Resolution 20-39 calls upon theContinue Reading
JNS.org A sapling grown from the original tree that stood outside the hiding place of Holocaust teenage diarist Anne Frank was planted on the U.S. Capitol’s west front lawn. Frank wrote about the original tree in her diary. “Our chestnut tree is in full blossom,” Frank wrote on May 13,Continue Reading
By Dikla Tuchman, Jewish Sound Correspondent At about this time last year, Greg Wagner was your average sales guy at Microsoft. But like many long-time tech industry folk here in the Pacific Northwest, Wagner was ready to embark on his next big adventure: Crafting outlandish grilled cheese sandwiches fromContinue Reading
