By Matthew E. Berger, other WASHINGTON (JTA) — A deadline for making Holocaust-era insurance claims is being extended until the end of the year because additional policyholder names recently were made public. Lawrence Eagleburger, the chairman of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, said 120,000 names will beContinue Reading

By Rick Larsen, other The resignation of Mahmoud Abbas and the appointment of Ahmed Qurei as his replacement as the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority have fully thrown off course the Road Map to peace. Only one month ago I traveled to Israel as a member of the largestContinue Reading

By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent “We’re a home for cultural Jews,” says Judi Gladstone, one of the founders of the Secular Jewish Circle of Puget Sound. It is “a community that celebrates the cultural richness of our heritage and we focus on education, cultural activities and social activism.” For RoshContinue Reading

By Manny Frishberg, JTNews Correspondent Romance novels are one of those guilty pleasures that too often go unacknowledged, let alone talked about. However, they are wildly popular and, except for an approximate 60/40 skew in favor of females over males, the mix of income, education race and professions of theContinue Reading

By Manny Frishberg, JTNews CorrespondentContinue Reading

By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent Since time immemorial, blessing the lulav and etrog has been the Jewish way of thanking God for the blessings of the earth on the holiday of Sukkot. They are symbols of the harvest. They are brought to the synagogue on the holiday to thank GodContinue Reading

By Daniel Kirsch, Special to JTNews If you’re sorry to see the summer’s gone and you’re looking for something fresh to help usher in the Jewish, academic, and fiscal years, try out this release by the Hip Hop Hoodios. In their debut EP, Raza Hoodio, the Hoodios — a playContinue Reading

By Gigi Yellen-Kohn, JTNews Correspondent In the season when both body and soul gear up for the High Holidays, we could use some inspiring music. Whether you’re preparing the New Year’s card mailing list, the shopping list, or the list of personal amends to make, it’s good to have audioContinue Reading

By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent Using energetic brushstrokes, strong primary colors and titles like, “Grinding Down the Rail,” “Go with it, Dude!’” and “Digital Dig,” in the new art style he calls, “Dynaism,” 84-year-old Mercer Island resident Phil Flash hopes to capture the vibrant, active spirit of today’s dynamic timesContinue Reading

By Rabbi Doug Donelizko Slotnick, Special to JTNews One of the most delightful aspects of being Jewish is the frequent realization that what we take for granted needs to be explored and examined. So it is when we explore our family histories. The last names — surnames — we bearContinue Reading

By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent Two years ago, before the attacks of Sept. 11, Andrea Cohen had not been a very public person. That day, however, when two planes downed the World Trade Center towers in New York, another took out a chunk of the Pentagon, and a fourth crashedContinue Reading

By Deborah Ashin, JTNews Correspondent “Hello, Mrs. Rabbi Singer. Is Mr. Rabbi there?” When Rabbi Beth Singer’s husband Jonathan was a youth rabbi in New York, she would often get calls from kids who didn’t quite know how to address the rabbinic couple. Eighteen years ago, the Singers, now atContinue Reading

By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent For the first time, the University of Washington will be offering a credit course in modern Hebrew, open to the general public. The UW Extension, in a partnership with the Jewish Studies program and Near Eastern Studies, will begin night classes for the community asContinue Reading

By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent Early this summer, the School of Jewish Communal Service at the Hebrew Union College asked Kim Isaacs to nominate her choice for Alumni of the Year. She didn’t have to think twice about who deserved the award: Seattle’s own Rabbi Dan Bridge. “He’s just beenContinue Reading

By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent In the largest, most strategic campaign to date in its 30-year history, the Jews for Jesus, made a two-week, whirlwind tour through the Puget Sound, leaving pamphlets, tracts and targeted home mailings in its wake. This not-for-profit organization, dedicated to preaching Christianity to Jews proclaimingContinue Reading

By Manny Frishberg, JTNews Correspondent Inspector Stanley Parker of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has just shared a drink at the Craggy Rock Saloon with his colleague, Sheriff Hap Hazard, when shots ring out, and — with a considerable flourish — the local lawman falls dead. “That shot came fromContinue Reading

By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent As athletes, Seattle’s contingent at the annual Jewish Community Center Maccabi Games in St. Louis did very well, bringing back medals in all colors. However, Matt Grogan, assistant director of the Stroum JCC and a longtime fan of everything Maccabi, said the gold should goContinue Reading

By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent Like many other day camps, kids spend their days making art and music. At Seattle’s Middle East Peace Camp, however, some of the children had just arrived in the United States. Others were first-generation Arab-Americans or Palestinian-Americans. Some were Jewish. But for five summer daysContinue Reading

By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent Iyar Dalva wrote a verse of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” in Hebrew. He then performed the entire song, his fingers strumming on his guitar, in front of the entire Camp Solomon Schechter population at its annual talent show. This Israeli teenager — and the seven othersContinue Reading