By Jessica Halfin, Israel 21c We all love the classic Hanukkah sufganiya — a light and puffy fried donut made from yeasted enriched dough, filled with red jam and topped with a generous dusting of powdered sugar. There are few greater joys than taking a bite and letting the jam squirt out the other end,…
PARTY: Beth Israel teenagers, above, enjoy a day at the beach with their youth group, Portland Area Reform Temple Youth. Editor’s Note: This story about Jewish youth groups was written by Melissa Diamond for our May 2014 issue. While Melissa is now a senior at the University of Washington in Seattle, the sentiments she shared…
Pictured above: Michael R. Bloomberg speaks at the October 2014 dedication of Johns Hopkins University’s Malone Hall. Photo courtesy Will Kirk / Homewood Photography According to a post on Johns Hopkins University website, philanthropist, business leader and three-term New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will commit a record-breaking $1.8 billion to support undergraduate financial…
Pictured above: Smoke billows from the Woolsey fire in California. Photo by Shutterstock By Nicky Blackburn Israel 21c Israeli NGO, IsraAID, is sending an emergency response team to California to help communities affected by the unprecedented fires that have killed 80 and destroyed over 13,000 homes and buildings. More than 1,300 people are still listed…
Today, the first of dozens of Jewish Community Center and JCC camp professionals from across the United States and Canada are arriving at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh (JCCPGH) to help meet the community’s needs as it heals from the Tree of Life massacre. Among those responding will be rabbis from JWB Jewish Chaplains Council who…
ABOVE: Michael Mendelson. “Everybody” Design by Jeff Hayes, Kisha Jarrett and Mary Beth Leavens Artists Repertory Theatre presents Everybody, an inventive twist on a medieval morality play (see schedule below). Death tells Everybody that their time is up. But Everybody doesn’t want to greet Death alone, so Everybody seeks the company of their friends Stuff,…
Editor’s note: Oregon Jewish Life recently wrote about the effort to mandate Holocaust and genocide education in Oregon. By Janice Weinman Anti-Semitism has been called the oldest form of hatred. In America, we are now witnessing a horrifying escalation of anti-Semitic violence, such as cemetery desecration, vandalization of Jewish schools and synagogues and inflammatory anti-Zionist…
By Harvey A. Schwartz The touchy feely phrase “What you believe becomes your reality” is making the rounds of pop psychology. People who claim uncommon wisdom promote this phrase as the road to everything – from financial well-being to a fulfilling sex life. Here’s an ominous thought. What if you believe, as many folks now…
ADL: 60% more anti-Semitic incidents in 2017 than in 2016 By Rabbi Barry Cohen Have we ever found ourselves in a place we never imagined … in a dangerous place we never expected to be? This week’s Torah portion, Vayeitzei, describes how our patriarch Jacob in his youth found himself in such a place, after…
A NEW DAWN IN BEIT SHEMESH: Gila Green took this photo walking in Beit Shemesh shortly after the community elected its first female mayor. The tribalism that reigned in Beit Shemesh for a decade is over By Gila Green I live in Beit Shemesh, the city that made global headlines when a Jewish man…
