By Shelley Adatto Baumgarten, Special to the Jewish Sound “What makes a fried donut a birmuelo?” I recall my then 9-year-old daughter asking me at the beginning of the eight-day festival of Hanukkah. A birmuelo, I explained to her, is not simply a donut made from flour, water, yeast, sugarContinue Reading
(JNS.org) Ahead of Americans’ nationwide feasting on Turkey for Thanksgiving last week, newly released statistics showed that Israel is the surprising world leader in consumption of turkey per capita. According to figures from Israel’s turkey industry, agriculture ministry, and foreign ministry, the average Israeli eats about 28 pounds ofContinue Reading
By Ed Harris A Jewish friend of mine once described Thanksgiving as his favorite holiday. He said Thanksgiving is the only celebration of the season that serves to unite people of all faiths, unlike Christmas and Hanukkah, which are drawn from entirely different religious traditions. In making this assessment, however,Continue Reading
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The International Criminal Court said it will not open a war crimes case against Israel in the Mavi Marmara incident. The Hague court on Thursday reportedly closed a preliminary investigation into the May 2010 incident in which nine Turkish passengers, including one U.S. citizen, were killedContinue Reading
(JNS.org) The Israel Police and the Shin Bet security agency believe that dozens more Israeli Arabs are planning to join the Islamic State terror group after leaving Israel for Turkey or Jordan. Israeli authorities believe that at least 30 Israeli Arabs are already fighting for Islamic State, the al-Qaeda-affiliatedContinue Reading
By Rafael Medoff, JNS.org This year marks the 100th anniversary of the expulsion of thousands of Jews from Turkish-ruled Palestine to Egypt, in a dramatic reversal of the historic exodus from the Land of the Pharaohs to the Land of Israel. But from that tragic episode in 1914 would emergeContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound The news out of Turkey, when it comes to politics and Jewish life, is bleak. The positive relationship between Turkey and Israel has been deteriorating at least since Turkey began showing support for Hamas during Israel’s 2008-09 war in Gaza, andContinue Reading
By Abraham Foxman, Special to the Jewish Sound When it comes to the safety of the Jewish community in Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to think he can have it both ways. On one hand, he makes clear that the Jewish community should feel safe in their ownContinue Reading
Saying that a return to normal relations with Israel could come in a matter of weeks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said one issue is holding up the final signatures on the agreement: That of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. Read the full article from the Jerusalem Post.Continue Reading
By Ty Alhadeff, Stroum Center for Jewish Studies It has been 40 years since Dr. Rina Benmayor visited Seattle to record romansas (ballads) among local residents of the Sephardic community. Dr. Benmayor followed in the footsteps of her mentors to capture the musical traditions that the Jews of Spain andContinue Reading
By Ed Harris Recently, my wife and youngest son, Izzy, went to Los Angeles on midwinter school break. The first day of our vacation was spent at Disneyland. While at the Magic Kingdom I reminisced about my first Disney experience, at Disney World in Florida, which took place on aContinue Reading
