Joan Rivers, comic who broke barriers for women, dies at 81
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joan Rivers, who broke barriers for women in comedy and on television, has died. Rivers, 81, died Thursday a week after being rushed to Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital after her heart stopped during throat surgery at a clinic. Doctors at the hospital put her in an inducedContinue Reading
How Islamic State became ‘the best-funded terrorist group in history’
By Dmitriy Shapiro, JNS.org/Washington Jewish Week After months of rampaging through Iraq and stoking international fears that the Islamic State terrorist group could spread, a combination of Iraqi and Kurdish security forces, aided by targeted United States airstrikes, appear to have pushed back the self-proclaimed caliphate’s rampage in the region. Continue Reading
After Gaza conflict, preparing for a potentially stormy year for Israel on campus
By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org This summer’s 50-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has come to a close if a cease-fire reached last week holds, has spurred a sharp rise in both anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents around the world. At the same time, the boundary between anti-ZionismContinue Reading
Our bridge across generations
By Anne Boher, Special to the Jewish Sound Note: This piece complements Erin Pike’s story, The Jewish capacity for love. Recently, Emily Ziskind, director of life enrichment at The Summit at First Hill, asked my husband Leslie and me if we’d like to join a group of young people fromContinue Reading
The Jewish capacity for love
By Erin Pike, Special to the Jewish Sound Note: This story complements Anne Boher’s story Our bridge across the generations. Love has been on my mind. Exactly one year ago I was in Israel, falling in love with its natural beauty and powerful spiritual energy. It was no accident thatContinue Reading
A scattered community united by SPARK
By Dikla Tuchman, Jewish Sound Correspondent On Sunday, August 31, South Seattle’s newly formed Eruv Cooperative hosted SPARK, an outdoor Jewish music festival in Seward Park. Hundreds of community members and Jewish music appreciators piled into Seward Park Amphitheater to enjoy artists like singer-songwriter Ari Lesser, local Seattle-based recording artistContinue Reading
Thinking strategically, SHA hires principal to move school forward
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound This fall the Seattle Hebrew Academy welcomes Rabbi Daniel Loew to its faculty as principal, a new position created to bridge the school’s Judaic and general studies. Loew comes to the Modern Orthodox, dual-curriculum, early childhood-8th grade day school from theContinue Reading
Steven Sotloff sounded the unanswered alarm about ISIS
By Felice Friedson, The Media Line “As the international media is fixated on the struggle between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, few reporters are focusing on Syria. But a spate of kidnappings of foreign journalists in Syria has made the country a mini-Iraq that few want to venture into.Continue Reading
Drawn together by hopes for peace
By Jacob Greene, Special to the Jewish Sound For several months this year, I lived in Israel. The majority of my time I spent studying with Alexander Muss High School in Israel, along with 29 American and Canadian teenagers, with support from an Israel scholarship from the Jewish Federation ofContinue Reading
ISIS video purports to show beheading of Steven Sotloff
(JTA) — The Islamist ISIS organization has released a video that apparently shows the beheading of the American journalist Steven Sotloff. The nearly three-minute video, titled “A Second Message to America,” was released Tuesday afternoon on Twitter and other online outlets. Sotloff family spokesman Barak Barfi said in a briefContinue Reading
Hamas Abused Political Rivals in Gaza
By Abdullah H. Erakat, The Media Line WEST BANK – As support for the Islamist Hamas movement soars in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, members of the rival Fatah movement charge they have been harassed, beaten, and in some cases, even killed by members of the Islamist HamasContinue Reading
Merle D. Cohn
February 9, 1919–August 16, 2014 Merle D. Cohn, 95, a longtime Mercer Island resident and prominent Seattle attorney, passed away on August 16, 2014, surrounded by his family. Raised in Seattle, Merle attended Garfield High School and the University of Washington, where he earned his BA in political science and hisContinue Reading
Richard (Dick ) Galanti
April 21, 1927–August 4, 2014 Dick Galanti was born April 21, 1927 and passed away on August 4, 2014 at the age of 87. He was born to Matilda and Behor (Bill) Galanti of Seattle. He was preceded in death by his wife Jeanette and siblings Katherine Akrish and AlbertContinue Reading
Fellowship and education
By Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Columnist Naomi Weiss Newman doesn’t like to play favorites, but the consummate volunteer for so many Jewish organizations in the Seattle area, admits to a soft spot for Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology. Fifteen years ago, she was the driving force behind the formationContinue Reading
Pay attention: A simple discovery tool for ADHD
By Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent Israeli researchers from Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa and the Goldschleger Eye Research Institute at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, found what they’ve called a “foolproof” method of diagnosing children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Given ADHD’s uncodified set of symptoms, itsContinue Reading
New AJC director hopes to make Seattle a required destination on the road to change
By Dan Aznoff, Jewish Sound Correspondent The recently named regional director of the American Jewish Committee in Seattle will need cooperation from the Chamber of Commerce and the tourism bureau to implement the changes she hopes to bring to the advocacy organization. Texas native Lila Pinksfeld took on the leadershipContinue Reading
The governor was an anti-Semite
By Russell Lidman, Special to The Jewish Sound Governor John R. Rogers enjoys a prominent place in this state. Schools are named after him in Seattle, Spokane, Olympia and elsewhere around the state. His statue is located in Sylvester Park in downtown Olympia, in front of the Office of theContinue Reading
A little sweetness in this season of renewal
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist Rosh Hashanah is right around the corner, and what could be more appropriate for the New Year than a dessert featuring honey as well as egg-rich crepes? You can even substitute apples for the plums if you’d like to add another traditional element. IContinue Reading
5775 minus one: No limits
By Rabbi Harry Zeitlin, Congregation Beth Ha’Ari You don’t need a rabbi to let you know which way the wind blows — the world is in crisis. Massacres in Syria and Iraq and Nigeria and Mali, regional wars between Russia and Ukraine, renewed race riots in the United States, muchContinue Reading