Meet Rabbi Shaul Engelsberg: Returning to Seattle to lead
Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound When Rabbi Shaul Engelsberg moves to Seattle from Detroit next month, he’ll be taking on a new role in the community, but he’s not exactly new. The Orthodox rabbi lived in Seattle from 1994 to 1999, where he taught Judaics at Seattle HebrewContinue Reading
Meet Rabbi Adam Rubin: From congregant to professor to rabbi
Deborah Gardner, Special to The Jewish Sound In 1997, Adam Rubin was in services at Congregation Beth Shalom listening to Rabbi Dov Gartenberg. Rubin was spending the academic year in Seattle before returning to Los Angeles to finish his Ph.D. in modern Jewish history. He loved the synagogue and theContinue Reading
Temple B’nai Torah’s Rabbi David Lipper: Hearing people’s stories
Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound Rabbi David Lipper believes in the power of storytelling. He tells of a new documentary in which its producers built a large box and filled it with pen, pad, a video camera and one question: What does God mean to you? “Over the course ofContinue Reading
Keeping special-needs kids safe when rockets are falling around them
Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent AKIM Israel, Israel’s National Association for the Habilitation of the Mentally Handicapped, and the largest provider of services to the disabled, is now moving hundreds of kids and their families to safer cities in the north of the country to keep them stable and calm. AKIM’sContinue Reading
For two Americans, service to Israel ends in tragedy
By Hillel Kuttler, JTA World News Service BALTIMORE (JTA) — Sean Carmeli, a sergeant in the Israeli army, was stationed in Israel’s South awaiting possible orders to enter Gaza. He was exchanging Facebook messages with his friend Ian Benisti, a U.S. Marine reservist who was visiting Israel from California. TheContinue Reading
US airlines cancel flights to Israel
NEW YORK (JTA) –United, U.S. Airways and Delta Airlines canceled their flights to Tel Aviv after a rocket fired from Gaza struck near the Israeli airport. Delta and United both said they were suspending all flights to Israel until further notice. A spokesman for American Airlines, the parent company of U.S. Airways, told JTA that theContinue Reading
Despite obstacles, Seattle rally for Israel resounding success
Dikla Tuchman, Jewish Sound Correspondent Hundreds of supporters gathered in downtown Seattle’s Occidental Park Sunday in a solidarity rally in support of the State of Israel. The rally was organized by the Pacific Northwest chapter of Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs and cosponsored by the American Jewish Committee, Hadassah, Sephardic BikurContinue Reading
Rabbi Paul Strasko: Kitsap’s polyglot takes the pulpit
Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Correspondent “We have been back all of three weeks,” said Rabbi Paul Strasko when we spoke last week. The newly appointed rabbi of north Kitsap’s Congregation Kol Shalom, located on Bainbridge Island, and his wife, Sandra Andrews-Strasko, have returned to the Northwest after living in Europe andContinue Reading
From grizzly bears to Gaza rockets: Alaskan olim head for Israel
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service (JTA) — Rebecca Scoggin lived in a lot of places growing up: Juneau, Nome, Fairbanks, Homer, Anchorage. But except for the two years she lived in Seattle after high school, she never lived outside Alaska. At least she hadn’t until a few monthsContinue Reading
Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg: A new path in Woodinville
Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Correspondent Hometown: Eugene, Ore. Favorite book: “I pretty much inhale books — I can’t name a favorite.” Favorite Jewish historical figure: Rabbi Israel Salanter Hidden talent: Able to identify individual breeds in mixed-breed dogs. “It is a gift.” Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg used one leadership transition to createContinue Reading
Fleeing ‘place full of death,’ Jews from eastern Ukraine weep for homeland
By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA World News Service DNEPROPETROVSK, Ukraine (JTA) — Anatoly Lazaurenko’s face betrays no emotion as he watches footage of an old woman he used to know lying in the rubble of what once was his home in the war-torn city of Slavyansk. Oblivious to her mangled face,Continue Reading
In riot outside synagogue, French Jews were left to protect themselves
By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA World News Service (JTA) — For the past 14 years, French Jews have grown accustomed to coming under attack during periods of conflict in the Middle East from hostile elements within their country’s large Arab and Muslim communities. One recent incident, however, stood out: the JulyContinue Reading
Rabbi Ruth Zlotnick continues Beth Am’s legacy of justice
Dan Aznoff, Special to the Jewish Sound Despite the fact that she grew up 3,000 miles away from Seattle and speaks with an East Coast accent, Rabbi Ruth Zlotnick believes she will be coming home in August when she takes her place on the bima as the new senior rabbi atContinue Reading
UNRWA condemns discovery of rockets in Gaza school
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A United Nations agency condemned the discovery of rockets discovered in one of its schools in the Gaza Strip.The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which assists Palestinian refugees, said in a statement issued Thursday that about 20 rockets were discovered hidden on the premises of aContinue Reading
Israeli college students wage a social media battle over Jewish state’s image
By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org Australia’s Sydney Harbor is up in flames. Large letters superimposed on the scene ask, “How would they react?” That image and many others like it have been distributed by an Israeli student initiative called “Israel Under Fire,” which now boasts more than 57,000Continue Reading
Israel launches Gaza ground operation
(JTA) — Israel launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip to destroy tunnels it says are used for terrorist activities. “A large IDF force has just launched a ground operation in the Gaza Strip,” the Israel Defense Forces’ spokesman’s office said late Thursday on its Twitter feed. “A new phase ofContinue Reading
Kerry slams Hamas for ignoring cease-fire
WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ripped Hamas for ignoring a cease-fire call and affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself.“I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a goodwill effort to offer a cease-fireContinue Reading
Report: Antwerp shop owner won’t sell to Jews in ‘protest’
(JTA) — A Belgian Jewish woman said an Antwerp shop owner refused to serve her “out of protest.”The woman, identified by the initials B.H., told police and the Jewish monthly Joods Actueel that she was declined service on Monday when she entered his clothes store in the shopping district ofContinue Reading
Egypt’s regional role changing in Israel-Hamas crisis
By Linda Gradstein The Media Line Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is in Egypt today in an attempt to push forward a cease-fire between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement, although a truce still appears to be days, if not weeks, away. Hamas today officially rejected an Egyptian proposal forContinue Reading
Hey parents, it’s 3:30 p.m. Do you know where your kids are? Maybe at Hebrew school?
By Tori Gottlieb, Jewish Sound Correspondent How many people have fond memories of their childhood Hebrew school programs, of sitting in their synagogues’ classrooms or social halls after a full day of English and algebra, going over alphabets and pronunciation and vowels, without understanding much of what was going on?Continue Reading