Steven Sotloff’s parents to light public menorah in his memory
(JTA) — The parents of Steven Sotloff, the Jewish journalist who was beheaded by a member of ISIS, will light a public menorah in Miami in his memory. Arthur and Shirley Sotloff will light the first candle of Hanukkah on Tuesday night at the Chabad center. “Steve was a proudContinue Reading
‘Homely’ ancient rock adds evidence of King David’s existence
By Menachem Wecker, JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — Dimly lit, the stone slab, or stele, doesn’t look particularly noteworthy, especially when compared to the more lavish sphinxes, jewelry and cauldrons one encounters en route to the room where it is installed. Indeed, in a Twitter post thisContinue Reading
Let us reconnect
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
For Americans aiding Israeli soldiers, rules of engagement vary
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service (JTA) — When the season’s first snowstorm descended on Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights a few weeks ago, it didn’t take long before M, a career sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces, received a phone call from Leon Blankrot. “What do youContinue Reading
Female rabbis at forefront of pioneering prayer communities
By Anthony Weiss, JTA World News Service LOS ANGELES (JTA) — A decade ago in Los Angeles, two organizations opened their doors with a call to prayer — or they would have if they had any doors to open. Ikar, led by Rabbi Sharon Brous, and Nashuva, led by Rabbi Naomi Levy,Continue Reading
Op-Ed: Ferguson and Eric Garner are symptoms of a deeper problem
By Suzanne Feinspan, JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — I sat down last week to write about what happened in Ferguson. As I began to write, there was no doubt in my mind that there would be a “next time” as soon as we hit the next news cycle,Continue Reading
Bellevue’s genealogy sleuths share their family dramas
By Emily K. Alhadeff Associate Editor, JTNews The only thing missing was the campfire on December 8 when 30 people gathered with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State to practice one of the oldest arts in the world: Storytelling. The event, the first of its kind in many years,Continue Reading
10 ways to lose the chip on your shoulder during Christmas season
Nina Badzin Kveller.com MINNEAPOLIS (Kveller.com) — We Jews have two choices in our approach to the Christmas season: Resent it or embrace it. I for one vote for a big, sloppy embrace. In the name of love thy neighbor and tolerance, I say we hug it out with Christmas alreadyContinue Reading
Federation announces its 2015 Ignition grants
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound On Nov. 28, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle announced that 14 organizations would receive nearly $64,000 to help build programs for our local Jewish community. The Federation’s Ignition grant program offers up to $5,000 for pilot or one-time projects that help support theContinue Reading
Iranian speaker shares the recipe to her ‘moral soup’
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Roya Hakakian was 12 when her country erupted in revolution. The daughter of intellectual Jewish parents in Tehran, she did what comes naturally to frustrated youth: She began writing poetry. Poetry, she told me in the restaurant of her downtown Seattle hotel,Continue Reading
Sixty years in the wild: Camp Solomon Schechter celebrates a milestone
By Boris Kurbanov, Jewish Sound Correspondent Sharing stories of its history, reuniting alumni, and looking to the future, Camp Solomon Schechter celebrated its 60th anniversary on Dec. 6 with a gala at the Hilton in Bellevue. The Tumwater-based independent children’s overnight camp was founded in 1954 by Portland’s Rabbi JoshuaContinue Reading
The doctor with the heart of gold
By Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent Each year, many heart disease patients in the U.S. and around the world die waiting for a heart transplant because there are just not enough organ donors to serve all of the patients on waiting lists. Tissue engineering is now becoming a real optionContinue Reading
What will New Republic exodus mean for American Jewish thought?
By Anthony Weiss, JTA World News Service (JTA) — Last week’s departure of most of the editorial team at The New Republic — including Franklin Foer, Leon Wieseltier, Judith Shulevitz and Julia Ioffe — didn’t just blow a hole in the landscape of American journalism. It also threw into doubt theContinue Reading
Knife attack at Chabad headquarters in New York raises security questions
By Steve Lipman, The Jewish Week NEW YORK (The Jewish Week via JTA) — Just three weeks after terrorists killed four worshippers in a Jerusalem synagogue, a man entered a Brooklyn shul and stabbed a 22-year-old Israeli student. New York police officers fatally shot the 49-year-old assailant, who reportedly shoutedContinue Reading
To security officials, Chabad attack underscores importance of preparedness
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. American Jewish community officials have been on theContinue Reading
To security officials, Chabad attack underscores importance of preparedness
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
Israeli student stabbed at Chabad’s N.Y. headquarters, assailant shot dead
(JTA) — An Israeli man studying for the rabbinate in New York was stabbed while praying at Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn. Levi Rosenviat, 22, who lives in the West Bank’s Gush Etzion bloc of settlements, was stabbed at 1:45 a.m. Tuesday in the neck and elsewhere in the synagogueContinue Reading
For the Frishmans, there was no place like Home
By Hillel Kuttler, JTA World News Service The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA) — “Seeking information on Harry and Yetta Frishman, who lived in Paterson, N.J., and moved to Tacoma, Wash., and then Home,” read the brief email to “Seeking Kin.” TheContinue Reading
Army fatigue
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Fresh out of Israel and already scooping up a first place award at the Tribeca Film Festival is “Zero Motivation,” a darkly delightful girl-buddy comedy about the banality of daily life in Israel’s defining institution, the army. “M*A*S*H” meets “Orange is theContinue Reading