Julie Wiener
By Julie Wiener
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The Schmooze The Israeli Barack Obama
(JTA) — Israel is getting crowded with big-name residents. In February a Jordanian named Yitzhak Rabin enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces. Now, an African American convert to Judaism in Jerusalem has officially changed his name to Barack Obama, the Times of Israel reports. A special committee at the Interior Ministry approved Mark Hardie’s request…
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News Gisela Dollinger, Holocaust Survivor Who Escaped With Husband, Dies at 111
(JTA) — Gisela Kohn Dollinger tricked death twice. Soon after Kristallnacht, when she was 36, Dollinger persuaded the Gestapo to release her husband from the Dachau concentration camp, and the two of them fled Austria for Shanghai, where she almost died of typhoid. After that, death seemed to forget all about her – until last…
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Fast Forward Menachem Stark Wins $18K Raffle After Death
(JTA) — Menachem Stark, the Hasidic Brooklyn landlord and father of seven who was abducted and murdered in January, was the winner of an $18,000 raffle drawn Wednesday night, according to the Jewish Political Updates website. He had bought $100 worth of raffle tickets in December, part of a fundraiser for a Bobov charity that…
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Culture Gary Shteyngart’s Schechter School Tale of Woe
(JTA) — If it is true that there is no such thing as bad publicity, then Gary Shteyngart may be one of the best things to happen to the Conservative movement’s at-times-beleaguered Schechter Day School Network. Shteyngart, the Soviet Jewish immigrant writer known for acclaimed comic novels like “Absurdistan” and “Super Sad True Love Story,”…
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Opinion Battle Over Purim Children’s Book With Two Dads
(JTA) — The line between respecting diverse religious beliefs and violating the rights and dignity of gays and lesbians is at the center of a debate between gay advocates and the PJ Library over a children’s picture book featuring a family with two fathers. “The Purim Superhero,” by Elisabeth Kushner, was published by Kar-Ben Publishing…
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News Disabled Needs Grow Even as Jewish Groups Focus on Issue
(JTA) — In the coming months, six young Jews with disabilities will start paid internships at major Jewish federations through a pilot program. If successful, the program will expand to communities throughout North America. In the fall, Manhattan’s first Jewish day school for children with special needs will open. Meanwhile, the Foundation for Jewish Camp…
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Fast Forward Ukraine-Born Jan Koum’s $19B WhatsApp Sale 10% of Homeland’s GDP
(JTA) — Jan Koum’s birthday was Monday, but he received his big gift early. The Ukraine-born CEO and founder of WhatsApp has catapulted from relative unknown to a poster boy for rags-to-riches immigrant triumph since his rapidly growing messaging company was sold last week to Facebook for a record-breaking $19 billion. Koum, who just turned…
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Opinion Does Rick Jacobs Think Intermarriage Is Good?
(JTA) — For an article I wrote on a recent flare-up in the intermarriage debate, I did two interviews with Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Twice I asked him whether there was any value in articulating a communal preference for in-marriage over intermarriage, and the second time I followed…
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