By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent Seattle Symphony opened the doors of its music discovery center, Soundbridge, on April 17 to “inspire and nurture a love of symphonic music through active participation,” said Seattle Symphony’s Executive Director Deborah Card. In anticipation of the opening, the symphony’s conductor Gerard Schwartz said, “EducationContinue Reading

By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent Among the sea of statistics and personal stories, the message at a recent conference in Seattle on interfaith relationships was that it’s time to move on from debating the impact of interfaith relationships on Judaism and embrace and encourage those families who want to becomeContinue Reading

By Gigi Yellen-Kohn, JTNews Correspondent Celebrated Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt, in Seattle to speak at Hadassah’s Gala for Giving, credited the cycle of weekly Torah readings and Jewish holidays with adding personal meaning to her recent experiences as defendant in a notorious British court case. At the Seattle Sheraton onContinue Reading

By Donna Gordon Blankinship, Editor, JTNews Administrators at the Kline Galland Home can stop holding their breath and get ready for a sigh of relief. It appears this week that the Legislature will be giving the nursing home at least a one-year reprieve on plans to cut Medicaid reimbursement rates.Continue Reading

By Manny Frishberg, JTNews Correspondent If Earl Starr had been just a little bit better at baseball, he might have made his appearance at Safeco Field at an Old Timers’ Game. As a young man he was scouted and signed by the then-Philadelphia Athletics (known universally these days as theContinue Reading

By , Special to JTNews Temple Beth Am, a Reform congregation in Seattle’s Wedgwood neighborhood, is bringing Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights, for a weekend of learning, May 4-6, 2001. Ascherman will speak at services on Friday night, May 4, at 8 p.m. His topicContinue Reading

By David Chesanow, JTNews Correspondent Floyd Cochran used to thrive on hate. “As a child at the age of 8,” he said in a recent telephone interview, “I learned from my local Baptist church that Jewish people were responsible for crucifying Christ. I became involved with the Klan when IContinue Reading

By Abby Brown, Special to JTNews Following the sale of their fraternity house, the alumni of the former Sigma Alpha Mu at the University of Washington have decided to financially support the Jewish Campus Service Corps (JCSC) position at Hillel at the University of Washington. The JCSC outreach program isContinue Reading

By Manny Frishberg, JTNews Correspondent Beginning with the first large waves of immigration from Eastern Europe in the late 19th century, the Jewish community has banded together to help its members. In 1887, that mutual support took the form of the first Hebrew Free Loan Association in Pittsburgh, Penn., providingContinue Reading

By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent Although prayer is meant to calm the spirit and unite people, it has caused divisiveness and contention between members of the Spokane City Council and the Spokane Human Rights Commission. A 1995 resolution by the Spokane City Council to open their council meetings with anContinue Reading

By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent Community members joined together a number of times this past week to remember the Holocaust. Government officials and Jewish community leaders were well represented at B’nai B’rith’s presentation of “Unto Every Person There Is a Name” on April 19 at Seattle’s Westlake Center. Some ofContinue Reading

By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler announced at a press conference April 17 that his office’s Web site would list the names of the American affiliates of those European companies that conducted business during the Holocaust, between 1933 and 1945. Washington state’s Holocaust Victims Insurance ReliefContinue Reading

By Janis Siegel, Special to JTNews The newest addition to the rabbinical community of the Northwest will be a spiritual leader who used to be a lawyer and will move here from his home in Arkansas. No, Bill Clinton hasn’t joined the clergy but Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman has. After havingContinue Reading

By , Special to JTNews This past January, a group of Kline Galland residents began a journey to revive their Jewish spirit by learning to read Hebrew. The following people completed the course on March 25: Shirley Agranoff, Martha Kaufman, David Krakovsky, Harold Lazaroff, Bertha Reynolds, Richard Silver, Naum SlutzkyContinue Reading

By , Special to JTNews Join ex-camper alumni and friends of Camp Solomon Schechter, May 18—20, for a Shabbat weekend. See the updates and changes that have been made to camp since you were a camper, while catching up with old friends and making new ones. Activities will include FridayContinue Reading

By Donna Gordon Blankinship, Editor, JTNews The sixth Music of Remembrance concert, on April 23 at Benaroya Hall, will use movement and dance to help the audience transcend time and emotion when thinking about the Holocaust and loss. “I hope it will be a moving experience for the audience,” saidContinue Reading

By , Special to JTNews Seattle Chapter Hadassah presents Dr. Deborah Lipstadt as the keynote speaker at its May 3 Gala for Giving honoring Lucy Pruzan. Professor Lipstadt is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta where she directs the Institute for Jewish Studies.Continue Reading

By Nance Morris, Special to JTNews On March 18, despite a steady downpour, members and friends of Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch danced in the streets carrying two Torah scrolls from the house where the congregation first held services to their new permanent home. After more than a decade in temporary locations,Continue Reading

By Donna Gordon Blankinship, Editor, JTNews Anti-poverty advocates and Jewish community lobbyists last week commended state senators for taking action to restore cuts to medical assistance for the indigent and the disabled and encouraged the House of Representatives to follow suit. In a statement last week, Jewish and Christian advocacyContinue Reading