Exploring the ‘Yiddish Atlantis’
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Underneath the rubble and ashes of Eastern Europe lies a buried civilization, and one of its excavators is former West Seattle resident Gerardo Ojeda-Ebert. This spring, with Rabbi Olivier BenHaim and members of Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue, Ojeda-Ebert will travel toContinue Reading
Spanish citizenship becomes a reality for Sephardic Jews
By Boris Kurbanov, Jewish Sound Correspondent Today, an estimated 40,000 Jews call Spain their home. But five centuries ago, the nation was home to one of Europe’s largest and most vibrant Jewish communities — a group that flourished before its expulsion in 1492. Those exiled Jews — who came toContinue Reading
Discover Jewish Cuba with the Jewish Federation
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Not long after the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle announced it would be leading a delegation to Cuba this spring, President Barack Obama announced that international relations would be restored between the United States and the small island nation after decadesContinue Reading
What happened in 2014? Test your knowledge
By Joel Magalnick Editor, The Jewish Sound Now that 2015 has begun, what from the past year are you trying to forget? Fear not, because we’ve got 14 stumpers to jog your memory with Jewish Washington’s second annual news quiz! 1. The Napkin Friends food truck is so JewishContinue Reading
Dr. Ira L. Karp
February 18, 1928 — December 12, 2014 In Palo Alto, Calif. at age 86 after a short, catastrophic illness. Beloved husband of Dr. Laenu Adelilah Greenberg Karp for 57 years until her death in 2012; loving father of Rabbi R. Reuel Karpov, Ph.D. and Yonah Karp (Harold Bobroff); adoring grandfatherContinue Reading
How kids can choose their literature, one Jewish book at a time
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound Over the past six years, hundreds of families throughout the Puget Sound region have taken advantage of PJ Library, a program where small children receive a Jewish book each month in the mail. But because the program tops out at age 8, manyContinue Reading
Jewish cartoonist Georges Wolinski among 12 dead in Paris shooting
By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA World News Service (JTA) — An attack on the Paris headquarters of a French satirical magazine has left at least 12 people dead, including the Jewish caricaturist Georges Wolinski. Two of the reported fatalities in Wednesday’s attack were police officers, according to the French daily newspaperContinue Reading
Northwest Yeshiva High School: A Jewish Model U.N.
By Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent The Northwest Yeshiva High School, a coed Orthodox school for grades 9 through 12, is somewhat of a Jewish United Nations in that it mixes things up by accepting all denominations of Jews from Orthodox to Reform, as well as the unaffiliated into itsContinue Reading
A trip to remember, for remembrance’s sake
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound They’ve done this trip before, but this summer, the Holocaust Center for Humanity is doing something new. Added onto the educational trip through Warsaw and Krakow that the organization formerly known as the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center will be an optionalContinue Reading
Fleeing Cuba was the third narrow escape for a doctor from Transylvania
By Dan Aznoff, Jewish Sound Correspondent For one Bellevue retiree, President Obama’s decision to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba rekindled memories of his parents’ clandestine escape from the island nation more than 50 years ago. Gabe Sterns remembers clearly how it took dramatic action from both U.S. senators fromContinue Reading
Derech Emunah: A place for girls to grow into themselves
By Tori Gottlieb, Jewish Sound Correspondent For families who wanted their daughters to have an Orthodox Jewish high school education in a single-gender setting, Derech Emunah was founded in 2012. Now in its third year, the school boasts a small student body of 10 students who take classes together inContinue Reading
Streit’s closing Lower East Side matzah factory after 90 years
NEW YORK (JTA) — Streit’s said it will close the company’s 90-year-old matzah factory on New York’s Lower East Side. Aron Streit, Inc., a family-owned business, said it will leave the facility at 148-154 Rivington St. following the Passover baking season in April. “The economics just finally caught up withContinue Reading
Add a little soda to your diet
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Correspondent When you want to serve bread with dinner, the two obvious options are to buy a nice artisan loaf, or make your own yeast bread — which is terrific, but not something we all make time for, or think about far enough in advance.Continue Reading
Bringing smiles to kids and a twist on the tisch
By Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Columnist “It started in 2012,” explains Zoe Mesnik-Greene, when “I saw a video about children…with cleft palate condition.” She can’t pinpoint why, but that video made her want to do something. “I asked myself, am I going to take action…or just put it on Facebook?”Continue Reading
Watch who you’re calling a Neanderthal!
By Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Columnist The next time you question someone’s place on the evolutionary chain by calling that person a Neanderthal, it might be wiser to look elsewhere, a team of scientists led by Israeli researchers have found. As it turns out, we humans share 99.84 percent ofContinue Reading
Argentina’s president adopts Jewish godson to counteract werewolf legend
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Argentina’s president adopted a Jewish godson under a law intended to counteract an old legend about werewolves. President Christina Fernandez described in seven tweets her meeting with her new godson, Yair Tawil, a member of a Chabad-Lubavitch family. Tawil was adopted under a law passedContinue Reading
State Dept: Palestinian U.N. statehood resolution is not constructive
(JTA) — A draft Palestinian statehood resolution set to be introduced at the United Nations is counterproductive, the U.S. State Department said. “We don’t think this resolution is constructive,” State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters Monday at a regular news briefing. “We think it sets arbitrary deadlines for reachingContinue Reading
Threat of terror increases mortality risk
By Samantha Badgen, The Media Line That terrorism causes psychological trauma is nothing new. Most would agree that causing trauma is one of terrorism’s primary goals. But now a study in Israel has found that exposure to even the threat of terrorism, not an actual terror attack, can have negativeContinue Reading
For Cuban Jews in U.S., rapprochement with Castro regime cause for concern
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service (JTA) – For many Cuban Jews – the majority of whom now live in the United States – it has been a bittersweet week. Like countless Jews around the world, they cheered the release of Alan Gross, the American Jewish telecommunications contractor whoContinue Reading
USY reverses interfaith dating ban
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) – United Synagogue Youth voted to relax its rules barring its teenage board members from dating non-Jews. The amendment was adopted Monday in Atlanta at the annual international convention of the Conservative movement’s youth group. The change affects the 100 or soContinue Reading